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Thales was known as an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. There are many claims to him in regards to mathematical discoveries, predictions and understandings of nature. However there is no physical evidence to suggest such claims are true. His prediction of the solar eclipse on May 28, 585 may have merely been a guess. The primitive state of astronomy at the time could not have possibly led him to predict such a thing. One theory is that the as Thales was the savant at the time, people may have assumed he would be able to predict such things because of his status. Thales made his fortune from another prediction. He predicted that the following year would bring a huge olive crop. In light of this he bought all the olive presses in Miletus and nearby Chios and when harvest time came he rented out the presses at a high profit. Thales is said to have travelled at length and in doing so taken geometry to the Egyptians. |
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