Thales

Born: c. 624 BC in Miletus, Turkey

Died: c. 547 BC (at about age 77), Location unknown
Nationality: Greek
Famous For: Formulated the five theorems of geometry

Thales remains one of the most distinguished of all figures in the

history of mathematics. He is considered the true father of Greek
math, science, and even philosophy. Considering the impact of Greek
innovations in these disciplines, Thales may actually be considered
the father of these disciplines for Greece and for the world in general.

Thales Early Years

Thales was born around 624 BC. Due to the loss of records, there is very little known about him.
It is known, however, that Thales had traveled early in life to Egypt and Babylon. During this
tenure, he learned a great deal about astronomy and geometry. From his experiences, he was able
to craft his own discoveries.

One of those discoveries was deductive mathematics which helped shaped theories of logic and
math. He would soon develop the revolutionary concept called Thales Theorem which noted
there are three points in a circle: A, B, and C. The diameter would be the line between points A
and C.

Thales Theories and Theorems

There were several other innovative theorems that Thales would be credited with discovering.
While they are not thought about as anything staggering by todays advanced mathematics,
Thales early research would make many simple deductions that would influence the evolution of
math immensely. Attributed to Thales would be the notion a circle can be bisected by its diameter
and that in an isosceles triangle, the base angles are equal.

His work was not always great though. He did have the dubious distinction of noting the earth
was disk shaped and not round and they it floating on an ocean. The ocean, incidentally, was
infinite. This notion was, obviously, disproved at a later point in human history. The time it took
to disprove it was well over a thousand years after Thales noted his theory.

Thales as a Philosopher

While known mostly as a mathematician, Thales was also a philosopher in his own right. He
championed scientific inquiry. He tried to avoid looking at mythology for answers to the origins
of the natural world. He looked into the reasons for humanitys existence and tried to do so
without seeking answers in Zeus or the other gods of antiquity.

Within his philosophical musings, he was the first to truly flesh out the notion of examining
things from the perspective of general principles and more rational, tight-knit hypotheses. Such
innovative concepts had a profound impact on the sciences. As a result of his work, some have
called him the Father of Science, although this title might be a bit of an overstatement.
 Plato

Greek philosopher who was a student and follower of Socrates. He

founded the Academy school in Athens. His works consisted of
"dialogs" between Socrates and others. Like Socrates, he was
interested in moral, not natural philosophy. He believed that the heads
of government should be "philosopher kings" and developed a course
of study stressing abstract thought for their education in the Republic.
Plato advocated the "quadrivium" (the four math fields of study in the
liberal arts), which starts with arithmetic, then progresses to plane
geometry, solid geometry, and finally astronomy and harmonics.
Plato believed that knowledge was "forgotten" at birth, and could be
remembered. He saw the search for understanding as an attempt to
gain pure knowledge, or "forms." In Eikos Mythos (A Likely Story), he said that cosmology Eric
Weisstein's World of Physics is, at best, a likely account. In Timaeus, he presented his
cosmology, Eric Weisstein's World of Physics which consisted of forms, particular objects, God
the Craftsman, absolute space, and brute matter. As a craftsman, God could not make a perfect
world from imperfect material.

Plato believed all substances to be composed of air, earth, fire, and water. He believed in a
spherical Earth Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy which was the center of his universe, and a
motion of planets along crystalline spheres. Plato invented a theory of vision involving three
streams of light: one from the what is being seen, one from the eyes, and one from the
illuminating source. In keeping with his belief that philosophy should be pursued for the
attainment of pure knowledge, he proposed studying astronomy as an exact mathematical science
based on the assumption that motions were regular and circular. He wanted to discover the truth
behind appearances, but believed that absolute truth could not be derived.

Plato also described the five regular solids, the tetrahedron, Eric Weisstein's World of Math cube,
Eric Weisstein's World of Math octahedron, Eric Weisstein's World of Math dodecahedron, Eric
Weisstein's World of Math and icosahedron, Eric Weisstein's World of Math now known as the
Platonic solids. Eric Weisstein's World of Math.
 Socrates

Socrates (469-399 B.C.) was a classical Greek philosopher who is

credited with laying the fundamentals of modern Western philosophy.
He is known for creating Socratic irony and the Socratic method
(elenchus). He is best recognized for inventing the teaching practice
of pedagogy, wherein a teacher questions a student in a manner that
draws out the correct response. He has had a profound influence on
Western philosophy, along with his students Plato and Aristole.
Though much of Socrates' contribution is to the field of ethics, his
input to the field of epistemology and logic is also noteworthy.

Socrates as Citizen of Athens:

Socrates is remembered chiefly as a philosopher and the teacher of Plato, but he was also a
citizen of Athens, and served the military as a hoplite during the Peloponnesian War, at Potidaea
(432-429), where he saved Alcibiades' life in a skirmish, Delium (424), where he remained calm
while most around him were in a panic, and Amphipolis (422). Socrates also participated in the
Athenian democratic political organ, the Council of the 500.

As a Sophist:

The 5th century B.C. sophists, a name based on the Greek word for wisdom, are familiar to us
mostly from the writings of Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon, who opposed them. Sophists
taught valuable skills, especially rhetoric, for a price. Although Plato shows Socrates opposing
the sophists, and not charging for his instruction, Aristophanes, in his comedy Clouds, portrays
Socrates as a greedy master of the sophists' craft. Although Plato is considered the most reliable
source on Socrates and he says Socrates was not a sophist, opinions differ on whether Socrates
was essentially different from the (other) sophists.

Contemporary Sources:

Socrates is not known to have written anything. He is best known for the dialogues of Plato, but
before Plato painted his memorable portrait in his dialogues, Socrates was an object of ridicule,
described as a sophist, by Aristophanes.

In addition to writing about his life and teaching, Plato and Xenophon wrote about Socrates'
defense at his trial, in separate works both called Apology.

The Socratic Method:

Socrates is known for the Socratic method (elenchus), Socratic irony, and the pursuit of
knowledge. Socrates is famous for saying that he knows nothing and that the unexamined life is
not worth living. The Socratic method involves asking a series of questions until a contradiction
emerges invalidating the initial assumption. Socratic irony is the position that the inquisitor takes
that he knows nothing while leading the questioning.
 Aristotle

Aristotles father was a doctor at the court of Philip II of Macedon.

When Aristotle was about 17, he left home and set off for Athens,
where he wanted to study philosophy under the great Plato (p. 20).
He stayed in Athens for twenty years, studied all manner of
subjects including biology, philosophy, mathematics and
astronomy, and he also taught pupils. Then, in 342 he was invited
back to Macedon to become tutor to young Alexander, Philips
son. Aristotle taught Alexander for about five years, and he
inspired the young prince with his enthusiasm for wisdom and for
the free expression of ideas. In 336 Alexander became king and
his tutor went back to Athens. There he opened his own school of
philosophy. The students used to walk about under trees, discussing this or that philosophical
argument, and this led them

Aristotles basic thinking was about how to solve the problems that men actually came across in
their lives. Plato, on the other hand, had been much more concerned with what mans life ought
to be like. Thus, Aristotle was like a modern scientist; he looked at facts and tried to work out
new ideas from those facts. This gave rise to the science of logic, or rules of reasoning. Aristotle
had a profound influence upon mediaeval writers and scholars, and he is still an important
influence to-day.to become known as the Peripatetics, for peripateting means walking around, in
Greek.

Aristotles basic thinking was about how to solve the problems that men actually came across in
their lives. Plato, on the other hand, had been much more concerned with what mans life ought
to be like. Thus, Aristotle was like a modern scientist; he looked at facts and tried to work out
new ideas from those facts. This gave rise to the science of logic, or rules of reasoning. Aristotle
had a profound influence upon mediaeval writers and scholars, and he is still an important
influence to-day.