Thales
Birth: Around 624 BC, Miletus
Death: Around 547 BC, Miletus
Thales Theorem: The diameter of a circle always subtends a right angle to any point on the circle.
In high school math, Thales is known with this theorem even though he is one of the most important names in the history of science. The funny thing is that he most likely didn’t even find this theorem. Then, who is this Thales guy we ought to know?
Thales is known as one of the Seven Sages of Greece as well as the first known natural philosopher.
Seven Sages of Greece are the seven important figures of 7th and 6th century BC Greece including Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Myson and Chilan.
Natural philosopher title comes from Thales’ diversity as it is said that he worked in mathematics (especially geometry), engineering, astronomy, and philosophy. There is not even a single written work of his left today. Everything we know about him was written by others centuries after his death. This had led many legends after his name.
Historians believe that Thales visited Egypt where he learned mathematics and engineering. He is known as the first person who introduced geometry to Greeks. It is said that while he was in Egypt, he calculated the length of pyramids by just looking at their shadow.
Whenever the sun makes 45 degrees with Earth, the shadow of a particular object becomes equal to its own length. This is known as one of the methods Thales used in his calculation.
According to another legend, he guessed the time of the solar eclipse in 585 BC. During his time, people were able to guess the lunar (moon’s) eclipse. Although, it was impossible to guess where and when the solar eclipse was gonna occur using 6th BC’s knowledge and technology. Today we believe that even if this happened, it was just an astonishing guess for Thales.
Still, some believe that Thales really guessed the solar eclipse thanks to his brilliance. After all, he was one of the Seven Sages. Actually, as Socrates stated, he was the only natural philosopher inside that prestigious group.
Thales believed that everything comes from water. According to him, the Earth was shaped like a disk and it floats on an infinite ocean. He suggested that the earthquakes were the result of the Earth’s movement on the ocean. This was a first in the history of science as Thales’ ideas were based on logic instead of supernatural phenomena.
kmatematikatolyesi.com 