The beginning of Science 600 BCE - 1400 CE (From page 18-19) The scientific study of the world has its roots in Mesopotamia. Following the invention of agriculture and writing, people had the time to devote to study and the means to pass the results of those studies on to the next generation. Early science was inspired by the wonder of the night sky. From the fourth millennium BCE, Sumerian priests studied the stars, recording their results on clay tablets. They did not leave records of their methods, but a tablet dating from 1800 BCE shows knowledge of the properties of right-angled triangles. Ancient Greece The ancient Greeks did not see science as a sperate subject from philosophy, but the first figure whose work is recognizablyb scientific is probably Thales of Miletus, of whom Plato said that he spent so much time dreaming and looking at the stars that he once feel into a well. Possibly using data from earlier Babylonians, in 585 BCE, Thales predicted a solar eclipse, demon...