Answer: Classical Antiquity

Context: In Classical Antiquity, the inquiry into the workings of the universe took place both in investigations aimed at such practical goals as establishing a reliable calendar or determining how to cure a variety of illnesses and in those abstract investigations known as natural philosophy. The ancient people who are considered the first scientists may have thought of themselves as natural philosophers, as practitioners of a skilled profession (for example, physicians), or as followers of a religious tradition (for example, temple healers).

Question: Which era was marked by investigating the universe?


Answer: natural philosophy

Question: What type of science are making a calendar and finding cures for diseases a part of?


Answer: physicians

Question: What is an example of skilled professionals?


Answer: temple healers

Question: What is an example of religious devotee?


Answer: natural philosophers

Question: What would the first scientists have been considered?


Answer: pre-Socratics

Context: The earliest Greek philosophers, known as the pre-Socratics, provided competing answers to the question found in the myths of their neighbors: "How did the ordered cosmos in which we live come to be?" The pre-Socratic philosopher Thales (640-546 BC), dubbed the "father of science", was the first to postulate non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena, for example, that land floats on water and that earthquakes are caused by the agitation of the water upon which the land floats, rather than the god Poseidon. Thales' student Pythagoras of Samos founded the Pythagorean school, which investigated mathematics for its own sake, and was the first to postulate that the Earth is spherical in shape. Leucippus (5th century BC) introduced atomism, the theory that all matter is made of indivisible, imperishable units called atoms. This was greatly expanded by his pupil Democritus.

Question: What are early Greek philosophers known as?


Answer: How did the ordered cosmos in which we live come to be?

Question: What question were Greek philosophers trying to answer?


Answer: Thales

Question: Who was named "the father of science"?


Answer: Poseidon

Question: Which religious deity did Thales undermine with his scientific theories?


Answer: Samos

Question: Who was the first person to determine that the Earth is round?


Answer: natural philosophy

Context: Subsequently, Plato and Aristotle produced the first systematic discussions of natural philosophy, which did much to shape later investigations of nature. Their development of deductive reasoning was of particular importance and usefulness to later scientific inquiry. Plato founded the Platonic Academy in 387 BC, whose motto was "Let none unversed in geometry enter here", and turned out many notable philosophers. Plato's student Aristotle introduced empiricism and the notion that universal truths can be arrived at via observation and induction, thereby laying the foundations of the scientific method. Aristotle also produced many biological writings that were empirical in nature, focusing on biological causation and the diversity of life. He made countless observations of nature, especially the habits and attributes of plants and animals in the world around him, classified more than 540 animal species, and dissected at least 50. Aristotle's writings profoundly influenced subsequent Islamic and European scholarship, though they were eventually superseded in the Scientific Revolution.

Question: Plato and Aristotle are known for systematically discussing what?


Answer: deductive reasoning

Question: What discussion technique are Plato and Aristotle responsible for?


Answer: 387 BC

Question: What year was the Platonic Academy founded?


Answer: empiricism

Question: Aristotle introduced what theory?


Answer: 540

Question: How many species of animals were classified by Aristotle?


Answer: factual knowledge

Context: The important legacy of this period included substantial advances in factual knowledge, especially in anatomy, zoology, botany, mineralogy, geography, mathematics and astronomy; an awareness of the importance of certain scientific problems, especially those related to the problem of change and its causes; and a recognition of the methodological importance of applying mathematics to natural phenomena and of undertaking empirical research. In the Hellenistic age scholars frequently employed the principles developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of mathematics and deliberate empirical research, in their scientific investigations. Thus, clear unbroken lines of influence lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers, to medieval Muslim philosophers and scientists, to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, to the secular sciences of the modern day. Neither reason nor inquiry began with the Ancient Greeks, but the Socratic method did, along with the idea of Forms, great advances in geometry, logic, and the natural sciences. According to Benjamin Farrington, former Professor of Classics at Swansea University:

Question: Anatomy, zoology, geography, and studies like them are considered what?


Answer: the Hellenistic age

Question: What era utilized Greek theories?


Answer: the Socratic method

Question: What scientific theory was created by the Greeks?


Answer: the Ancient Greeks

Question: Who employed logic, geometry, and natural sciences?


Answer: deliberate empirical research

Question: Greek thought is predominately applying mathematics and what other method?


Answer: Aristarchus of Samos

Context: The astronomer Aristarchus of Samos was the first known person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system, while the geographer Eratosthenes accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth. Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) produced the first systematic star catalog. The level of achievement in Hellenistic astronomy and engineering is impressively shown by the Antikythera mechanism (150-100 BC), an analog computer for calculating the position of planets. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not reappear until the 14th century, when mechanical astronomical clocks appeared in Europe.

Question: Who created the sun-centered model of the solar system?


Answer: Eratosthenes

Question: Who was able to determine the circumference of the Earth?


Answer: Hipparchus

Question: Who made the first catalog of stars?


Answer: 150-100 BC

Question: When was the Antikythera mechanism used?


Answer: the Antikythera mechanism

Question: What was used to determine the position of planets within the solar system?


Answer: Euclid

Context: In Hellenistic Egypt, the mathematician Euclid laid down the foundations of mathematical rigor and introduced the concepts of definition, axiom, theorem and proof still in use today in his Elements, considered the most influential textbook ever written. Archimedes, considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, is credited with using the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of Pi. He is also known in physics for laying the foundations of hydrostatics, statics, and the explanation of the principle of the lever.

Question: Who wrote the book Elements?


Answer: the foundations of mathematical rigor

Question: What was contained within the book Elements?


Answer: Archimedes

Question: Who was able to determine the the area under a parabola?


Answer: exhaustion

Question: What method did Archimedes employ to determine the area under a parabola?


Answer: Pi

Question: Which mathematical figure did Archimedes approximate?


Answer: the first taxonomy

Context: Theophrastus wrote some of the earliest descriptions of plants and animals, establishing the first taxonomy and looking at minerals in terms of their properties such as hardness. Pliny the Elder produced what is one of the largest encyclopedias of the natural world in 77 AD, and must be regarded as the rightful successor to Theophrastus. For example, he accurately describes the octahedral shape of the diamond, and proceeds to mention that diamond dust is used by engravers to cut and polish other gems owing to its great hardness. His recognition of the importance of crystal shape is a precursor to modern crystallography, while mention of numerous other minerals presages mineralogy. He also recognises that other minerals have characteristic crystal shapes, but in one example, confuses the crystal habit with the work of lapidaries. He was also the first to recognise that amber was a fossilized resin from pine trees because he had seen samples with trapped insects within them.

Question: What classification guide did Theophrastus create?


Answer: 77 AD

Question: In what year did Pliny the Elder publish the largest encyclopedia?


Answer: the octahedral shape

Question: What did Pliny the Elder observe about diamonds?


Answer: to cut and polish other gems

Question: Who do engravers use diamond dust for?


Answer: was a fossilized resin

Question: What characteristic was Pliny the Elder the first to recognize about amber?


Answer: mathematical knowledge

Context: Mathematics: The earliest traces of mathematical knowledge in the Indian subcontinent appear with the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 4th millennium BC ~ c. 3rd millennium BC). The people of this civilization made bricks whose dimensions were in the proportion 4:2:1, considered favorable for the stability of a brick structure. They also tried to standardize measurement of length to a high degree of accuracy. They designed a ruler—the Mohenjo-daro ruler—whose unit of length (approximately 1.32 inches or 3.4 centimetres) was divided into ten equal parts. Bricks manufactured in ancient Mohenjo-daro often had dimensions that were integral multiples of this unit of length.

Question: The Indus Valley Civilization was the first to have traces of what?


Answer: 4:2:1

Question: What proportional size were the bricks that the civilization used?


Answer: stability

Question: What characteristic determined the proportions of the bricks?


Answer: the Mohenjo-daro ruler

Question: What was the name of the ruler that they created?


Answer: 1.32 inches

Question: How long were the units in inches of the Mohenjo-daro ruler?


Answer: 476-550

Context: Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata (476-550), in his Aryabhatiya (499) introduced a number of trigonometric functions (including sine, versine, cosine and inverse sine), trigonometric tables, and techniques and algorithms of algebra. In 628 AD, Brahmagupta suggested that gravity was a force of attraction. He also lucidly explained the use of zero as both a placeholder and a decimal digit, along with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system now used universally throughout the world. Arabic translations of the two astronomers' texts were soon available in the Islamic world, introducing what would become Arabic numerals to the Islamic World by the 9th century. During the 14th–16th centuries, the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics made significant advances in astronomy and especially mathematics, including fields such as trigonometry and analysis. In particular, Madhava of Sangamagrama is considered the "founder of mathematical analysis".

Question: When did Aryabhata live?


Answer: sine, versine, cosine and inverse sine

Question: What were the trigonometric functions that Aryabhata discovered?


Answer: gravity was a force of attraction

Question: What theory did Brahmagupta suggest in 628 AD?


Answer: a placeholder and a decimal digit

Question: What did Brahmagupta use the number zero for?


Answer: Arabic

Question: What language did the work of Brahmagupta and Aryabhata have to be translated from?


Answer: the Vedas

Context: Astronomy: The first textual mention of astronomical concepts comes from the Vedas, religious literature of India. According to Sarma (2008): "One finds in the Rigveda intelligent speculations about the genesis of the universe from nonexistence, the configuration of the universe, the spherical self-supporting earth, and the year of 360 days divided into 12 equal parts of 30 days each with a periodical intercalary month.". The first 12 chapters of the Siddhanta Shiromani, written by Bhāskara in the 12th century, cover topics such as: mean longitudes of the planets; true longitudes of the planets; the three problems of diurnal rotation; syzygies; lunar eclipses; solar eclipses; latitudes of the planets; risings and settings; the moon's crescent; conjunctions of the planets with each other; conjunctions of the planets with the fixed stars; and the patas of the sun and moon. The 13 chapters of the second part cover the nature of the sphere, as well as significant astronomical and trigonometric calculations based on it.

Question: Which text was the first to have concepts of astronomy in it?