Anaximenes, Greek philosopher, 6th cent. B.C., last of the Milesian school founded by Thales. With Thales he held that a single element lay behind the diversity of nature, and with Anaximander...

Seven Wise Men of Greece, list of men drawn from among the outstanding politicians and political philosophers of ancient Greece. Although such listings differed widely, a usual one included Bi...

Diogenes Laërtius, fl. early 3d cent., Greek biographer. Extant is a work in 10 books on the lives and opinions of the philosophers from Thales to Epicurus, with whole books devoted to Plato a...

Anaximander, c.611–c.547 B.C., Greek philosopher, b. Miletus; pupil of Thales. He made the first attempt to offer a detailed explanation of all aspects of nature. Anaximander argued that since...

Ionian school, pre-Socratic group of Greek philosophers of the 6th and 5th cent. B.C.; most of them were born in Ionia. Its members were primarily concerned with the origins of the universe—th...

Dreyer, Johan Ludwig Emil, 1852–1926, Danish astronomer, b. Copenhagen, who worked in Great Britain. He was assistant astronomer at the earl of Rosse's observatory, Parsonstown (now Birr), Ire...

Fert, Albert, 1938– French physicist, b. Carcassonne, France. After receiving his Ph.D. at the Univ. of Paris-Sud in 1970 Fert accepted a teaching position there and headed a research group, b...

Miletus, ancient seaport of W Asia Minor, in Caria, on the mainland not far from Sámos. It was occupied by Greeks in the settlement of the E Aegean (c.1000 B.C.) and became one of the principa...

Place, Francis, 1771–1854, English radical reformer. A tailor for many years, he educated himself and made his shop a meeting center for radicals and reformers. He was especially active in the...

Snow, C. P. (Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow of Leicester), 1905–80, English author and physicist. Snow had an active, varied career, including several important positions in the British govern...