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Anaximander of Miletus

Anaximander of Miletus was born in 610 BCE. He was Thales' pupil. One of the first humans to perform an experiment and to think about evolution. He also used sticks to accurately measure the length of a year. “For ages” Carl Sagan wrote once “men had used sticks to club and spear one another. Anaximander used one to measure time.”

Source: Durant, Will, 1885-1981, The Life of Greece: A history of Greek government, industry, manners, morals, religion, philosophy, science, literature and art from the earliest times to the Roman conquest. Simon and Schuster, 1939.

Anaximander, detail of The School of Athens by Raphael
Anaximander, detail of The School of Athens by Raphael
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Full disclosure, I may occasionally borrow a sentence from Will Durant's Story of Civilization. I absolutely love that collection!