Thales. Bust of the Greek philosopher Thales (624- 546 BC), who is sometimes described as the founder of Greek science, maths and philosophy. Thales was probably a Greek merchant who visited Egypt and there learned something of geometry. Little is known of his life, but he is generally recognised as the first to consider geometry as an abstract study, deriving several geometric theorems and measuring the height of a pyramid from its shadow. He was the first Greek to maintain that the Moon shone by reflected sunlight and he accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 585 BC. He also believed the Earth was a flat disc floating on an infinite ocean. Bust photographed in Vatican.