t of western development, a more traditional view of modern physics might begin in early Greece. The discovery of the studies and technologies of these previous cultures does in some regard require a glance farther back.A Greek philosopher named Herodotus supposedly reported that Pythagoras lived in both Egypt and Babylon where he studied mathematics (Lindberg 13). It is impossible to determine whether this is historical fact or merely legend. It would be extremely difficult to ascertain exactly how much of the Greeks thinking was influenced by such cultures; if in fact it was influenced at all.Many texts choose the ancient Greek port of Miletus as the beginning of the discovery of nature that we commonly think of as the original physics. The town of Miletus is credited as the home of a Greek philosopher named Thales and what is know of Thales is taken from the writings of Aristotle (Spangenburg 8). Thales is consideredto be the first example of a person leaving supernatural explanations in an effort to better understand the natural world (Lindberg 29). If Thales of Miletus recorded any of his own ideas, none have survived. At least none have yet been discovered.Anaximander, another Greek philosopher, was a student of Thales and expressed a belief that all life originated in the sea (Lindburg 29). He was also the first person in recorded history to recognize the curvature of the earth. Anaximander attempted to write an account of the history of the universe and surmised that the earth was cylinder shaped (Spagenburg 9).The most significant of all Greek philosophers was Aristotle (Spangenburg 13). Aristotle is most often remembered as the student of Plato and the teacher of a young student known as Alexander the Great (Lindberg 47). The cosmological ideas of Aristotle include the notion that the planets, moon and stars were in constant circularmotion (Bynum 26). Although Aristotle was not the first person to purpose that the ea...
