Vortex theory of the atom

Based on the idea of stable, knotted vortices in the ether or aether, it contributed an important mathematical legacy.

William Thomson, who became better known as Lord Kelvin, first conjectured that atoms might be vortices in the aether that pervades space.

In the seventeenth century Descartes developed a theory of vortex motion to explain such things as why light radiated in all directions and the planets moved in circular orbits.

William Thomson, later to become Lord Kelvin, became concerned with the nature of Dalton's chemical elements, whose atoms appeared in only a few forms but in vast numbers.

He was inspired by Helmholtz's findings, reasoning that the aether, a substance then hypothesised to pervade all of space, should be capable of supporting such stable vortices.

Tait's work especially founded the branch of topology called knot theory, with J. J. Thomson providing some early mathematical advancements.

Kelvin's insight continues to inspire new mathematics and has led to persistence of the topic in the history of science.