Thales of Miletus (c. 620 B.C.E.—c. 546 B.C.E.) by jerrod
The ancient Greek philosopher Thales was born in Miletus in Greek Ionia. Aristotle, the major source for Thales's philosophy and science, identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, the question of the originating substances of matter and, therefore, as the founder of the school of natural philosophy.
http://thomquinn.com/thales/
http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/
Thales was alive many years ago.He died about 2,562 years ago.His birth was 2,636 years ago.
In his later years Thales traveled to Egypt, where he learned about astronomy and mathematics. He may have traveled to Babylon; if he did, it would have been during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
Thales' hypotheses were new and bold, and in freeing phenomena from godly intervention, he paved the way towards scientific endeavor. He founded the Milesian school of natural philosophy, developed the scientific method, and initiated the first western enlightenment.
Thales of Miletus (c. 624 - 546 B.C.) was an early Pre-Socratic philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from the Greek city of Miletus in Ionia (modern-day Turkey). He was one of the so-called Seven Sages of Greece, and many regard him as the first philosopher in the Western tradition.
Thales is known as the first philosopher in the western tradition and we use philosophy constantly so if he hadn't been who knows how long it would have been before our species started using philosophy
A reference to Thales was made in The Nutty Professor where a servant said "how do you hope to learn anything about the stars if you don't even know what lies under your feet?"
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