Lucrezio e la chimica

Recent historiography has pointed out the influence on early modern chemistry of different classical theories of matter. Among these the reading and interpretation of Lucretius is a particularly interesting example. While the De rerum natura has been regarded by religious authorities as a dangerous heterodox work, between 1500 and 1800 chemists throughout Europe became progressively interested in adopting Lucretius’ qualitative atomism. I shall argue that such atomism played an important role not only in building an alternative philosophy of matter to that of Aristotle, but also in developing more concrete and operative options, such as the definition of chemical reaction.