Energeticism: Everything is energy
What’s more fundamental: energy or matter? After thermodynamics’ success, some scientists said everything is energy and got plenty of pushback.
After the great success of thermodynamics some scientists started to doubt that mechanics, the theory describing the movement of matter, was fit to describe the underlying nature of reality.
They believed that thermodynamics teaches us that energy is more fundamental than matter, leading them to the theory of energeticism. Not only was this theory met with scepticism, its proponents were pretty much attacked by scientists backing the more accepted theory of atoms.
Everyone loves an underdog, but unfortunately this story ends with the destruction of energeticism when atoms were experimentally discovered.
Credits
- Created and Produced by: Rita Neves (Research Associate at the University of Sheffield)
- Created and Produced by: Sofie Ried (PhD Student at the University of Sheffield)
- Intro/Outro Music: Andrew Glover
Correct as of content publication - 01/04/2026