The development of the concept of atoms and molecules

Abstract

The concept that all matter is made up of atoms was suggested by Dalton in 1803. It was a very useful concept, which could explain many of the experimental observations, but people were sceptical and considered atoms to be hypothetical objects until the beginning of the 20th century. By the end of the 20th century, advances in science and technology led to imaging of atoms and molecules. Now we are in a position to actually ‘see’ them using the scanning probe microscopies.