Western History 31: What scientists were influential in Ancient Greece?

Greek rationalism did not restrict itself to pure philosophy and mathematics but to the real of natural philosophy or as what we know today – Science.  Table 8 indicates some key achievements

Table 8 Greek Scientists

Name of Scientist	Contribution
Archimedes of Syracuse	Determined the Law of the Lever and the famed Archimedes Principle in Fluid Mechanics that carries his name. Also contributed to hydraulics and optics.
Aristarchus of Samos	Presented what was probably one of the earliest Heliocentric models of the universe.
Aristotle	Often believed to be the first scientist. Aristotle made use of formal logic to understand the natural sciences. He also placed much emphasis on perception and wrote opinions across a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Although much of his work failed to withstand the rigours of more focused experimentation his contribution to the various fields form an integral part in the story of the emergence of science as a powerful mechanism to understand the universe.
Ctesibius	Father of Pneumatics. Renowned for his work with compressed air. Built a water clock.
Democritus	Together with his mentor Leucippus came up with the theory of the indivisible atom.
Hero of Alexandria	Most likely built the first steam-powered device.
Hippocrates	Father of Modern Medicine. Early advocate  of the systematic diagnostic method.
Meton of Athens	Pioneer in astronomy. Developed one of the earliest astronomical calendar calculators.
Ptolemy	Although superseded by the work of Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei – Ptolemy’s development of the Geocentric model (as outlined in his work the Almagest) was the definitive astronomical model for over a thousand years in the West.
Theophrastus	Developed one of the earliest classification systems in Biology. He is considered the Father of Botany.