Thales of Miletus

Born in circa 624 B.C. in Miletus, which is located on the western end of what is now Turkey, was a great man who is immortalized as a man of great vision who ironically we know very little about. Thales (pronounced 'THAY-leez') is know as the first Western philosopher, however more specifically a philosopher of natural philosophy or rather cosmology. Cosmology by definition is the study that seeks to explain the order and working of the universe in terms of scientific explorations that account for the structure and movement evident therein. This is which he was the first to explain by mathematical functions.

Thales began to wonder, as all philosophers do, if there was one stuff that everything came from. Was the stuff in an acorn the same as the stuff in the oak tree from which it came? Is the stuff in an apple the same as the stuff in a human body that metabolizes food? This wondering spawned a theory no one before him had ever had, much less considered. His answer was water; water was the underlying source of all things. He theorized that changes evident were changes of quantity rather than quality; the first of his time to probe deeply into the question of the origin, or furthermore, the reality of the universe. His water theory was as follows: as water evaporates it becomes air, wind, clouds, rain, and as that rain falls it comprises the Earth's oceans. When water freezes it becomes snow and ice, and due to atmospheric conditions, turns into dirt, sand, rocks, glass etc. Sadly none of Thales' works have survived the years, however other philosophers speak of him. Aristotle states Thales' theory was formed by observing simple events. Aristotle thought perhaps Thales recognized how important moisture in the air was to all living things, as a manner to sustain them all; plants need moisture to grow and animals need plants to eat and then humans eat the animals etc., and ultimately the seeds of all living things need moist conditions to grow.

Most historians regard Thales as a marvelous anticipation of scientific thinking and others as nothing but a transparent rationalization of a myth. Thales believed the Earth was a flat disk and that is floated on an expanse of endless water, however rather than it be a radical assumption, but rather an assumption of the fundamentally material unity of things that exists as their apparent diversity. Thales' theory was the first recorded monism in history, he as states the world as alive and matter and life inseparable, he even goes on to state plants even have their own immortal soul. When Thales was asked what/who is God?, he simply answered "That which has no beginning or no end", the first idea of an infinite.

The subject everyone can agree on is Thales undeniable accomplishments in the field of math. His life's work was using his mathematical skills to solve everyday situations. Many of Thales' cementers claim him to be the first to propose these axioms in geometry: the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal; the idea of vertical angles; given that the diameter bisects a circle into two equal halves, which has been proven; Two triangles are congruent when they have a side equal in both triangles, known now as a*s*a = a*s*a.

Most noted in Thales' life, however, is when he journeyed to Egypt and devised a way to measure the exact height of the Great Pyramids, by using a human shadow and comparing it to the Pyramid's. Another account is when he predicted the solar eclipse on May 28 585 B.C, which has been confirmed by the historian, Herodotus, and modern-day astronomy. During the war between Lydea and Persia, which took place, the same year Thales served as a tactical adviser to King Croesus, and enabled the King's army to cross the impassable river Halys, by engineering a method to divert it into two tributaries. A bridge was then constructed over the now easily maneuverable river.

All in all Thales was the first of his time to pursue the greater reason, and use his vast skills in mathematics to solve everyday situations. He founded the Ionian School and after his death in circa 548 B.C. he was proclaimed to be one of the Seven Great Wise men of Greece.

Works Cited

Thales of Miletus. Biographical Encyclopedia of Mathematicians Vol. 2.

Don Allen. Thales of Miletus 1997.

<http://www.math.tamu.edu/~don.allen/history/thales2/thales2.html> (9 Sep. 2002).

Thales. Encarta Encyclopedia 2001.