The Rise of Symmetry Concepts

in the Atomistic and Dynamistic Schools

of Crystallography, 1815-1830

The most important contributions in the period covered here (1815-1830) came from a group of crystallographers who adhered to the dynamistic concept of matter formation rather than Hatiy's atomistic conception : Christian Samuel Weiss (1780-1856), Moritz Ludwig Frankenheim (1801-1869), Johann Friedrich Christian Hessel (1796-1872) and Justus Gtinther Grassmann (1779-1852).

To make it clearer in which respects these theoreticians built upon Hauy and in which they differed, I shall start with some summary remarks on Hatiy's concept of symmetry.

Rev. Hist. Sci., 1989, XLII/1-2