physics: Greek Contributions

The earliest history of physics is interrelated with that of the other sciences. A number of contributions were made during the period of Greek civilization, dating from Thales and the early Ionian natural philosophers in the Greek colonies of Asia Minor (6th and 5th cent. b.c.). Democritus (c.460–370 b.c.) proposed an atomic theory of matter and extended it to other phenomena as well, but the dominant theories of matter held that it was formed of a few basic elements, usually earth, air, fire, and water. In the school founded by Pythagoras of Samos the principal concept was that of number; it was applied to all aspects of the universe, from planetary orbits to the lengths of strings used to sound musical notes.

The most important philosophy of the Greek period was produced by two men at Athens, Plato (427–347 b.c.) and his student Aristotle (384–322 b.c.); Aristotle in particular had a critical influence on the development of science in general and physics in particular. The Greek approach to physics was largely geometrical and reached its peak with Archimedes (287–212 b.c.), who studied a wide range of problems and anticipated the methods of the calculus. Another important scientist of the early Hellenistic period, centered in Alexandria, Egypt, was the astronomer Aristarchus (c.310–220 b.c.), who proposed a heliocentric, or sun-centered, system of the universe. However, just as the earlier atomic theory had not become generally accepted, so too the astronomical system that eventually prevailed was the geocentric system proposed by Hipparchus (190–120 b.c.) and developed in detail by Ptolemy (a.d. 85–a.d. 165).

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Particles, Energy, and Contemporary Physics
• Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
• Birth of Modern Physics
• Advances in Electricity, Magnetism, and Thermodynamics
• Development of Mechanics and Thermodynamics
• The Scientific Revolution
• Preservation of Learning
• Greek Contributions
• Modern Physics
• Classical Physics
• Bibliography

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