One of the earliest steps towards atomic physics was the recognition that matter was composed of atoms. It forms a part of the texts written in 6th century BC to 2nd century BC, such as those of Democritus or Vaiśeṣika Sūtra written by Kaṇāda. This theory was later developed in the modern sense of the basic unit of a chemical element by the British chemist and physicist John Dalton in the 18th century. At this stage, it wasn't clear what atoms were, although they could be described and classified by their properties (in bulk). The invention of the periodic system of elements by Dmitri Mendeleev was another great step forward.