What was science like in ancient Greece?

Among all ancient societies in the West, the Greeks were the first to collect and compare facts, to combine them consistently within a large whole, to explain the universe without resorting to magic and superstition, and they were the first natural philosophers to produce ideas and design solid explanations. They did not resort to gods to cover up the weak and dark points in their explanations; but all of these did not appear suddenly.

Those who are closely interested in history know this point well: Yes, eastern societies made great efforts to develop our world and even pioneered it. However, eastern science began to lose its power in the 8th century BC and could not respond to the moves of the West. There was a revival on the Aegean coast from the west of Anatolian lands with great poets such as Homer and Hesiod.

These coasts of Anatolia are surrounded by very different civilizations. The ports on these coasts were places visited not only by the inhabitants of the Aegean, but also by the Phoenicians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Anatolian tribes.
One of the Palestinian cities was closer to the Greek cities than the other Palestinian cities. Here, before the end of the 7th century BC, some holy books were written by Jewish clergy. The integration of individuals from these civilized societies with very different beliefs and views provided a very useful environment for the development of science.

Let's come to the famous scientists of Ancient Greece among all this wealth and the concepts with which they changed our world:

First of all, let's state this: Scientific studies in the Greeks began in the city of Miletus, to the south of Izmir, west of the Söke-Milas road. The information and skills carried from the civilized countries of the world by travelers and merchants were reprocessed and evaluated here and given a new identity. In other words, they gave great importance to knowledge without prejudice. Perhaps their most important characteristic was that they took information that did not belong to them, thought about it, developed it and came up with new concepts.

Let's start with Thales. He was a statesman, mathematician, astronomer and a great businessman. He was also one of the "Seven Sages" in the Greek tradition. During a long war between the Lydians and the Persians, he predicted a solar eclipse on May 28, 585, and the two kings who were greatly affected by this event immediately put an end to this war. The following point should not be overlooked in this story: The Babylonians knew in advance about the "Saros period", which allowed them to predict solar eclipses. Thales learned this when he went to Egypt. He either personally saw or heard about the solar eclipse in Egypt in 603. It could be calculated that another eclipse would occur 18 years and 11 days later. This corresponded to 585 snakes. Thales was the first Greek mathematician. At the same time, geometry became a deductive science for the first time with Thales. Thales concluded that when the shadow of an object is equal to its own height, the shadows of all other objects are also equal to their own heights. He also measured the height of the Egyptian Pyramid in this way. Thales was also interested in measuring how far a ship is from the shore. He made this measurement by using the ratio between the sides of two right triangles. Thales is also known as the first Greek astronomer.

However, an astronomer definitely needed to know mathematics well, and this was very important. Pythagoras was the first example of a scientist, and he was also a religious leader. Under the influence of Ionian natural philosophers, he turned to science and philosophy and founded a scientific community with religious and mystical qualities. Pythagoreans believed that the soul leaves the body with the last breath and passes from a person's body to the body of another person or an animal. Since the afterlife existed, death was a salvation. According to him, the main purpose of society was to produce knowledge.

In mathematics, the Pythagorean Theorem is a relation for the 3 sides of a right triangle in Euclidean geometry. It is one of the oldest known mathematical theorems. Although the theorem was later named after the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras in the 6th century, Hindu, Greek, Chinese and Babylonian mathematicians knew the elements of the theorem before he lived. The first known proof of the Pythagorean theorem can be found in Euclid's Elements. The Pythagorean doctrine claims that everything in the universe is identified with a number (especially a whole number). For example: 5 is the cause of color, 6 is the cause of cold, 7 is the cause of health, and 8 is the cause of love. Regular geometric shapes are also important in Pythagoreanism. Pythagoras was the first Greek to understand that the morning star and the evening star were the same star. After him, this star was known as Aphrodite for a long time. Today, we know it to be the planet Venus. Pythagoras also faced quite a harsh reaction when he suggested that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

Let's come to another famous scientist, Socrates. Socrates, who is considered a turning point with the impact he created, Greek philosophers even evaluate the history of Greek science before and after him. The good qualities that Socrates taught with the Socratic method were honesty and moderation. Socrates is the first semanticist. Although his father wanted to train him in his own profession, that is, as a sculptor, Socrates was interested in philosophy. Such a desire was quite natural in an environment where philosophical discussions were held in squares, theaters and on the streets. Before making sense of the universe, he said, let's make sense of ourselves; "Who are we?" Let's answer this question. For this reason, he found only the knowledge of geometry at the level of measuring a field sufficient, and pointed out that it was useless to deal with more difficult mathematical problems. According to him, it would be more accurate to teach people practical moral rules. Thus, Socrates also opened the discussion of theoretical science and applied science. Socrates is the first semanticist; He touched upon the disadvantages of using concepts and terms whose meanings have not been determined. His advocacy that concepts and terms should be defined clearly and distinctly in all kinds of knowledge has contributed to the advancement of science, albeit indirectly.

Let's come to Archimedes, one of the most famous physicists in the world, who was also a mathematician and philosopher. Among the inventions Archimedes made in the field of mechanics are compound pulleys, endless screws, hydraulic screws and burning mirrors. He did not produce works related to these, but he left many works that made important contributions to the geometry field of mathematics and the statics and hydrostatics fields of physics.

Archimedes' most unforgettable achievement in mathematics is his development of some methods for finding the areas of curved surfaces. He came close to infinitesimal calculus while quadrilateralizing a parabola cut. Infinitesimal calculus is the ability to mathematically add a smaller piece than the smallest conceivable piece to an area. This calculation has a great historical value. It later formed the basis of the development of modern mathematics and provided a good foundation for the differential and integral calculus discovered by Newton and Leibniz.

Archimedes was not satisfied with these and became the scientist who put forward the principle of balance. Based on these studies, his words "Give me a point of support and I will move the Earth" have been on everyone's lips for centuries. Archimedes also discovered the law of balance of liquids, which is known by his name.

It is said that one day, King Hieron II suspected that the goldsmith had mixed silver into the gold crown he had made and left the solution of this problem to Archimedes. Despite thinking a lot, Archimedes could not solve the problem. When he went to a bathhouse to wash, he felt his weight decrease while in the bathhouse pool and jumped out of the bathhouse saying "I found it, I found it".

What was it that Archimedes had found? An object immersed in water would lose weight equal to the weight of the water it displaced, and the problem could be solved by comparing the water displaced by the gold given for the crown with the water displaced by the crown. Before Archimedes' research, it was known that wood floated but iron sank; however, the reason for this could not be explained. This law of Archimedes showed that there was no room for coincidences in nature, and that the same results would always be achieved under the same conditions. Twenty-three centuries ago, Archimedes found the laws of statics and hydrostatics, which are still valid today, with an understanding very close to the modern scientific method, and with these contributions, he earned the right to be one of the three greatest heroes of the history of science.

Now let's come to Hippocrates, one of the fathers of medicine, on whom oaths are still made. In ancient Greece, sculptors, painters and those who dealt with medical sciences had only one goal: to understand human physiology as well as possible. Semi-scientific institutions were developed in order to explain health and disease conditions that attracted great interest. Hippocrates is also one of the leading names influenced by this culture and pioneered in medicine. The Greeks used general pathology to diagnose a particular disease. As a doctor, the most important thing was to tell the progress of the disease and whether it was fatal or not. In other words, contrary to popular belief, the situation in medicine was not very good. Patients even consulted priests and often asked whether they would live and how long it would take to recover.

The Greeks used general pathology to diagnose a certain disease. As a doctor, the most important thing was to tell the development of the disease and whether it was fatal or not. In other words, contrary to what is thought, the situation in medicine was not very good. In fact, patients also consulted priests and usually asked whether they would live or not and how long it would take to recover.

In treatment, first of all, the symptoms that showed that the balance in the body was disturbed were examined. Fever was one of the most basic symptoms. They did not have a special tool to measure fever; however, they checked the skin, tongue, eyes, sweat and urine and tried to diagnose the disease by using the differences between them. Now, let's come to the part where Hippocrates, who actually set out from all this chaos, ceased to be an ordinary physician and why oaths were taken in his name. Contrary to these, Hippocrates kept records of all his patients. He also cared about the mental health of his patients and kept them under observation and record by using nature in his treatments.

The most popular of the books that make up the "Hippocrates Collection" is the book containing "Aphorisms". Even after 2300 years of its compilation, “The physician should be prepared not only to do his own duty but also to ensure the cooperation of the patient and those accompanying him.” This sentence reminds us of the “HIPPOCRATES Oath” adopted by physicians as a guide to behavior throughout the ages, emphasizing that the physician’s duty is to work in the best interest of the patient and the sacredness of the trust between them.

If we consider that the average human life span was 39-49 years, the Greeks made one of the greatest advances in human history with the libraries, museums and schools they established, teaching astronomy, physics, mathematics, philosophy, sociology and medicine, and developing society and dreaming of a more prosperous society.

Let’s not forget that science, although it is a long journey on the path to civilization, is still a path invested in by those who dominate today’s world.