Thales

About Thales

Who is it?: Philosopher
Birth Place: Greek
Died On: c. 546 BC (aged c. 78)
Era: Pre-Socratic philosophy
Region: Western philosophy
School: Ionian / Milesian Naturalism
Main interests: Ethics Metaphysics Mathematics Astronomy
Notable ideas: Water is the arche Thales' theorem Intercept theorem

Thales Net Worth

Thales was born in Greek, is Philosopher. Thales, better known as Thales of Miletus, was an ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and businessman, born in the seventh century BCE in the area now known as Asia Minor. Recognized as one of the Seven Sages of Greece, his main contribution lies in trying to provide scientific explanation behind worldly phenomenon that had been hitherto explained by mythological beliefs. For this, Aristotle had called him the first philosopher in Greek tradition. Unfortunately, neither his works nor any contemporary source has survived. Available information about this pre-Socratic philosopher comes mainly from the writings of Greek historian Diogenes Laërtius, who flourished in the 3rd century AD and had quoted Apollodorus of Athens, who lived around 140 BCE. Because of the time gap, it is very difficult to assess his works or give any personal details about him. Indeed, modern scholars have now started casting doubts on numerous acts and sayings that had been attributed to Thales. All said and done, there is no doubt that Thales was a multi-dimension figure, much revered in his own time and thereafter.
Thales is a member of Philosophers

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Thales images

Famous Quotes:

Megiston topos: hapanta gar chorei (Μέγιστον τόπος· ἄπαντα γὰρ χωρεῖ.)

The greatest is space, for it holds all things.

Biography/Timeline

1605

Less controversial than the position that Thales learnt Babylonian mathematics is the claim he was influenced by Egyptians. Pointedly Historian S. N. Bychkov holds that the idea that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal likely came from Egypt. This is because, when building a roof for a home - having a cross section be exactly an isosceles triangle isn't crucial (as it's the ridge of the roof that must fit precisely), in contrast a symmetric square pyramid cannot have errors in the base angles of the faces or they will not fit together tightly. Historian D.R. Dicks agrees that compared to the Greeks in the era of Thales, there was a more advanced state of mathematics among the Babylonians and especially the Egyptians - "both cultures knew the correct formulae for determining the areas and volumes of simple geometrical figures such as triangles, rectangles, trapezoids, etc.; the Egyptians could also calculate correctly the volume of the frustum of a pyramid with a square base (the Babylonians used an incorrect formula for this), and used a formula for the area of a circle...which gives a value for π of 3.1605--a good approximation." Dicks also agrees that this would have had an effect on Thales (whom the most ancient sources agree was interested in mathematics and astronomy) but he holds that tales of Thales' travels in these lands are pure myth.

1870

The 1870 book Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology noted

1932

Historian D.R. Dicks and other historians divide the ancient sources about Thales into those before 320 BC and those after that year (some such as Proclus writing in the 5th century C.E. and Simplicius of Cilicia in the 6th century C.E. writing nearly a millennium after his era). The first category includes Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes, and Theophrastus among others. The second category includes Plautus, Aetius, Eusebius, Plutarch, Josephus, Iamblichus, Diogenes Laërtius, Theon of Smyrna, Apuleius, Clement of Alexandria, Pliny the Elder, and John Tzetzes among others.

1962

Thales was probably born in the city of Miletus around the mid-620s BC. The ancient Writer Apollodorus of Athens writing during the 2nd century BC, thought Thales was born about the year 625 BC. Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC, described Thales as "a Phoenician by remote descent". The later Historian Diogenes Laertius, in his Lives of the Philosophers, references Herodotus, Duris, and Democritus, who all agree "that Thales was the son of Examyas and Cleobulina, and belonged to the Thelidae who are Phoenicians." He then states that "Most Writers, however, represent him as a native of Miletus and of a distinguished family."

2013

Aristotle laid out his own thinking about matter and form which may shed some light on the ideas of Thales, in Metaphysics 983 b6 8–11, 17–21. (The passage contains words that were later adopted by science with quite different meanings.)

2014

This story indicates that he was familiar with the Egyptian seked, or seqed, the ratio of the run to the rise of a slope (cotangent). The seked is at the base of problems 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60 of the Rhind papyrus — an ancient Egyptian mathematical document.

2019

Thales applied his method to objects that changed to become other objects, such as water into earth (or so he thought). Thales also applied his method to the act of change itself, approaching it through lodestone and amber (which, when electrified by rubbing together, also attracts). As for the ability of a mover to move something else without being changed itself, Thales saw a commonality between that and the power of a living thing to act. The lodestone and the amber must be alive, and if that were so, there could be no difference between the living and the dead. When asked why he didn’t die if there was no difference, he replied "because there is no difference."