Ancient+Greek+Science

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In regards to science, Thales of Miletus was considered the father of science in the sense that he tried to explain natural phenomena through reasoning rather than the usage of magic or some other mythical reason. Throughout Greek time, reasoning began to develop and people began to look at life with greater perception and logic. Philosophers such as Aristotle and scientists such as Eratosthenes greatly contributed to sciences like biology, botany, and earth science by trying to elaborate on why volcanoes erupt, how plants live and grow, and other natural events. //Contributed by Danny Tsang.//



Archimedes, and ancient Greek scientist pictured above at left, discovered the physical law of displacement. This occurs when an object moves the same volume of water as the object which is placed in it. This allowed for huge advancements in physics. Archimedes also used levers and pulleys to move heavy objects. In addition to discoveries in math and physics, he also invented weapons to help the Greeks fight off Roman invasion. For example, he invented the catapult in the year 21 BC. **Jill Baltz**
 * Ptolemy extended on the work of famous philosopher Hipparchus' system of eccentric circles and epicycles to explain his geocentric theory of the solar system. Ptolemy's theory included 80 epicyclces that explained the movement of the Sun, Moon, Earth and other planets. He believed that the Sun, the Moon and the other planets revolved around the Earth, hence the term geocentric. "Geo" meaning of the Earth and "-centric" meaning centered. Katie Afflebach﻿**



This diagram is a Eudoxon model, showing his ideas of spheres of planets and stars rotating about the earth. Many consider this to be an Aristotelian model because he adopted it for his own ideas. However, Aristotle's model would include severa; more spheres and would include the 4 basic elements of the "imperfect world"- fire, earth, air, and water- on the diagram. Meghan McLane



Democritus of Abdera was a Greek scientist that proposed that all matter was made up of individual atoms. He believed that atoms were always moving around and clustering in different way to form new forms of matter. Democritus assured that this was the reason why everything in our world changed. **Chet Simmons** http://www.livius.org/gi-gr/greeks/scientists.html