Acta Baltica HistoriaeDivisible et Philosophiae Atoms Are S Ncientiarumot Atoms Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring 2018 ) DOI : 10.11590/abhps.2018.1.03 Divisible Atoms Are Not Atoms Stanislav Južnič Dunajska 83, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract: The aim of the article is to help change the self-contradictory term ‘atom’. In this project, the support of modern Chinese scientists is expected. The contributions of Chinese to some researches in sciences are focused on finding out the preferences and most frequent stages of (European) paradigms involved in Chinese networks. Some predictions of future interests of Chinese sciences are provided. The Chinese holistic Confucian distrust in atoms is discussed as a possible new paradigm which could rename atoms as the destructible divisible entities of future physics, and with more difficulties also of chemistry. The word ‘atom’ meaning an indivisible not a compound entity is basically in contradiction with the characteristics of the item it is supposed to describe. The suffix ‘a (ἄ)’ provides a negation in Ancient Greek language. The suffix should be omitted to use tom (τομος) to manage the actual situation of a-toms (toms) as compound of elementary particles. In the late 19th century after the European Spring of Nations, two basically different concepts of atoms of chemists and physicists accomplished a kind of symbiosis. The suggestion is put forward that while indivisible atoms soon became contradictions in physics, they still retain some value in chemistry, which should be important for the panning strategy of attempt to change the name of atom. Keywords: 17th–18th centuries, China, Confucian distrust in atoms, history of chemistry, history of exact sciences, Jesuits, scientific-industrial revolutions Acta Baltica Historiae et Philosophiae Scientiarum 55 Vol.