What was Plato contribution to the atomic theory?
One of the most intriguing concepts that caught the imagination
of Plato around the time of 350 B.C. was the existence and
uniqueness of the five regular solids, which are now known as the
five "Platonic solids". It is not certain who first discovered
these regular solids first, but many believe that it was spoke of
as early as the Pythagoreans. However, sources including Euclid
indicate that Theaetetus, a friend of Plato's, was the first to
write the first complete account of these five shapes. Plato's
theory ultimately constructs the basis for what is to be Book XIII
of Euclid's Elements. Plato, in any case, was extremely impressed
by these definitively regular solids, and later on in life was
intrigued to write his theory of everything in relation to these
five polyhedrons. (Devlin 115) The most intriguing aspect of these
shapes to Plato at the time was that these were the only shapes
that constituted perfect symmetry within a non-planar set of
points. The names of these shapes are the hexahedron (cube),
tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron and the dodecahedron. It is
very clear that each of the sides of these polyhedrons must not
only be a regular polygon, but must be equal to ever