Professor and Head of the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University David Helfand invites the reader to immerse himself in the study of the most mysterious and at the same time the most elementary phenomenon in the Universe - the atom. Go from the origin of the concept of "atom" to modern research and experiments with its participation Find out how atoms are used to examine works of art, why 65 million years ago the dominant species on the planet became extinct - dinosaurs and how humanity moved from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle. In PDF A4 format, the publishing layout of the book is saved.