~~Democritus~~

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Name: Democritus Date of birth and death: ~460-370 BCE Country of origin: Thrace, Greece

Democritus is known as the 'laughing philosopher' because of his emphasis on the value of cheerfulness. He was born into a wealthy family and used his father's wealth to travel in the pursuit of knowledge. He was a student and associate of Leucippus and he seems to have taken over and elaborated the views of Leucippus. Despite this, the developed atomist system is often accredited to Democritus. His works survive only in secondhand reports. He was said to have wrote //Great World System// and worked on fields including ethics, mathematics, music, and cosmolo Like Leucippus, Democritus held that there are smallest indivisible bodies from which everything else is composed. These bodies constantly moving about in an infinite void space. The bodies or atoms are infinite in number and vary in size and shape. They are perfectly solid and repel or collide by means of tiny hooks and barbs on their surfaces. He said atoms determine the properties of the masses they make up. His theories led to the spherical, solid, indivisible atomic model. []