bill cobbett wrote:Hermey mate, there's no substitute for the hard and laborious work of the scientific method which includes collecting data and in the case of gravity it's taken 500 years to acquire it, to get anywhere near a decent description of gravity. Now where is the data for the Ancients mate, their observations as you call them, isn't the truth that there is very, very little of it and in the case of many it was a simple fleeting, observation? ... and no matter how insightful the fleeting observation, it ain't Science.
Billyboy, there was
nothing fleeting about the work of ancient Greek scientists, engineers, physicians, physicists, mathematicians and astronomers. And it's
science by anyone's definition...
Thales discovered the solstice and equinox. He invented abstract geometry, including the notion that a circle is bisected by its diameter, and that the base angles of isosceles triangles are equal.
Anaximander of Miletus invented the gnomon on the sundial providing a way to keep track of time, and he created a map of the known world.
Pythagoras realized that the earth and sea are not static: that valleys are formed by running water and hills are eroded by water. He stretched string to produce specific notes in octaves after having discovered the numerical relations between the notes of the scale. He is credited with being the first to realize the Morning Star and Evening Star were the same.
Anaxagoras made important contributions to astronomy. He saw valleys, mountains and plains on the moon. He determined the cause of an eclipse - the moon coming between the sun and earth or the earth between the sun and moon depending on whether it's a lunar or solar eclipse. He recognized that the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars, and Mercury move.
Hippocrates studied the human body and discovered there were scientific reasons for ailments.
Eudoxus improved the sundial (called an arachne or spider), made a map of the known stars, devised a theory of proportion, which allowed for irrational numbers, a concept of magnitude, and developed a method for finding areas and volumes of curvilinear objects.
Aristotle classified animals and is the father of zoology.
Theophrastus was the first botanist we know of. He described about 500 different types of plants and divided them into trees herbs and shrubs.
Aristarchus is held to be the original author of the heliocentric hypothesis.
Euclid thought that light travels in straight lines or rays. He wrote a textbook on algebra, number theory, and geometry that is still relevant.
Archimedes discovered the usefulness of the fulcrum and lever. He began the measurement of the specific gravity of objects. He is credited with having invented what is called the screw of Archimedes.
Eratosthenes made a map of the world, described countries of Europe, Asia, and Libya, created the first parallel of latitude, and measured the circumference of the earth.
Hipparchus produced a table of chords, an early trigonometric table, which leads some to call him the inventor of trigonometry. He cataloged 850 stars and accurately calculated when eclipses, both lunar and solar, would occur. Hipparchus is credited with inventing the astrolabe. He discovered the Precession of the Equinoxes and calculated its 25,771-year cycle.
Ptolemy founded the Ptolemaic System of geocentric astronomy that held for 1400 years. Ptolemy wrote the Almagest, a work on astronomy that provides us with information on the work of earlier Greek astronomers. He drew maps with latitude and longitude, and developed the science of optics.
Galen discovered nerves of sensation and motion, and worked out a theory of medicine that doctors used for hundreds of years.
