Ancient Greek

Ancient Greece had a rich history and culture. A major part of this civilization were the scientific theories and explanations that famous philosophers and scientists created. However, during this time period, scientists and philosophers did go through the modern scientific method when creating a theory. The scientists of that time came up with conclusions founded on false ideas and assumptions based on religious variables, thus, creating an array of erroneous conclusions. (Scientific Revolution). Although many of the original theories during this time period were proven incorrect during the Scientific Revolution, there were still many Ancient Greek scientists who made correct theories that have impacted and advanced modern science. Many scientific …show more content…
The Ancient Greeks were one of the first people to contribute to this field of science. Previous archaic civilizations blamed the Gods and supernatural forces for illness, however, the Greeks looked towards the natural world for explanation. Hippocrates, known as the “Father of Medicine”, was a Greek physician who wrote a collection of texts covering a wide range of medical topics from surgery to drug use. His works on these topics have greatly contributed to the discovery of modern medical techniques (Gascoigne). Hippocrates also wrote the Hippocratic Oath: an oath that all physicians had to take. It guided the physicians through the process of handling a sick patient. In modern times, several medical schools require new doctors to take a revised version of the Hippocratic Oath in order to graduate. Additionally, Hippocratic physicians examined sick patients, prescribed medicine, and recommended change in daily routine to help the patient get better. The process is similar to that of doctors today and this contribution has made a significant impact on the modern system that hospitals use. Although many of his original ideas have been disproven, Hippocrates was one of the first to offer the idea of medicine and some of his thoughts and processes have greatly influence the medicine of today (Medicine …show more content…
Democritus (460-370 BCE) was a well known Greek philosopher and scientist during this time period. He was the first person to come up with the idea that matter was composed of indivisible, miniscule particles. He called these particles atomos, which is where the word atoms come from. Democritus believed that atoms could neither be destroyed nor created and believed that different atoms had unique movements, shape and size which gave objects its different properties. Although this was accurate to modern atomic theories, it was largely rejected by other philosophers, such as Aristotle, due to the lack of evidence provided and unanswered questions (Dingrando et al. 87-88). Aristotle and other philosophers believed in the four essential elements that all matter was made of: earth, air, fire, and water. Aristotle was able to influence many people to believe the theory theory and it was accepted and not questioned for nearly two thousand years (Gascoigne) By the 18th century, scientists began to question the existence of the atom again, but it was not until the 19th century when English scientist John Dalton made significant progress by researching the matter. Many of his ideas were based off of Democritus' original ideas and the experiments he conducted were set up according to Democritus' works as well. He revived and revised Democritus' ideas to form his own theory called Dalton's atomic theory. This