Final answer:
John Dalton revolutionized the understanding of matter in the early 19th century with his atomic theory, which provided a scientific foundation for the idea that matter is made up of indivisible particles called atoms.
Step-by-step explanation:
The 17th century marked a pivotal period in the history of science, with profound changes in the way matter was understood. Before John Dalton's work, the Aristotelian view dominated, which did not include the atomic concept. It was Dalton's atomic theory in the early 19th century that fundamentally transformed scientific thought. He used quantitative measurements to back up the ancient hypothesis of atomism proposed by Leucippus and Democritus.
Dalton's atomic theory provided a set of postulates to explain the behavior and interaction of matter. The key elements of his revolutionary theory were that all matter is composed of atoms, which are indivisible and indestructible particles, atoms of the same element are identical in mass and properties, compounds are formed by a combination of two or more different kinds of atoms, and a chemical reaction is a rearrangement of atoms. This scientific method of testing hypotheses with experiments and observations has continuously supported the atomic theory, retaining its validity even through modern revisions and advancements in atomic science.