Theophrastus - The silent hero of ancient science

Aristotle (Aristoteles (ancient Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs, Latin and German: Aristóteles) together with Plato and Socrates are considered the three pillars of ancient Greek civilization, leaving a human legacy to humanity. Massive rescue in many areas including: physics, metaphysics, literary competitions, drama, music, morality, rhetoric, linguistics, economics . However little is known. , in their brilliant achievements, the significant contribution of the companion, Theophrastus .

Theophrastus was the successor and close colleague of Aristotle for 26 years, but it seems that the imprints of Theophrastus left in ancient science and philosophy are much fainter than Aristotle. In fact, modern science has not properly evaluated his contributions. Theophrastus has made contributions in many areas of ancient science that can be compared with his teachers, even in some areas he has more outstanding marks than Aristole.

Scholars today try to systematically research, assemble and reinterpret some of Theophrastus's works and based on historical data preserved so far, from which they came up some reason for the faintness of Theophrastus before the great shadow of Aristotle. In fact, the works that two people do together may have been affected by the teacher-student relationship. Theophrastus never called Aristole by his own name even if there were disagreements between them. At the same time, the records of Theophrastus were repeatedly used in Aristotle's personal studies. The works of the names of two people, his studies only play a complementary role for Aristotle, which not only shows respect but also shows that he is humble, respectful and gives Aristotle a higher position. in the whole research work. However, it was the impression that his role was only the one who helped develop Aristotle's philosophies and did not escape the imprints of his teacher. In addition, too little of the remaining documents and lack of reliability also make it impossible to accurately assess the scientific achievements of Theophrastus. If Aristotle wrote about 400 to 1000 books and still retains quite a large amount enough to make a bookcase, then we only have a few books of Theophrastus and a few remnants in Physics learning and metaphysics.

Theophrastus - the father of ancient biology.

Recent studies by scholars have demonstrated that the contributions of Theophrastus are strongly expressed in many fields. In particular, it is worth noting that the activities that brought the first foundation in his biology industry made modern science recognize him as "the father of plant ecology". He was one of the first people in human history to have detailed sketches of species and species. In particular, while Aristotle believes that animals and plants are created "merely to serve human needs" , they are only used to make food, construction materials or utensils for human life. Theophrastus has more advanced thoughts than its teacher from the perspective of modern science. He emphasized that plants have a purpose of survival and that they exist not only to serve and feed people.

The field of biology was born in Greece in 345 BC with the first experimental studies of Theophastus and Aristotle. At that time, though Plato died, his idealistic philosophy still ruled Greece for a long time, his idealism affirming the absolute role of the conceptual world. He said that things and nature around us are not honest, constantly born and lost, unsustainable and stable, the world of ideas is ahead and determines the world to feel. So at that time no one cared about the natural world, nature was classified as a secondary position compared to the conceptual world of people and gods. Disagree with Plato'sism, both Aristole and Theophrastus believe that natural research is as important as metaphysical, political, or mathematical research."Nothing is too small or insignificant. Something is amazing in every life." Aristole said: "In every creature there are natural and beautiful features." Theophrastus and Aristotle conducted an unusual work at the time that changed the way we perceive the natural world. They directly conducted a survey of creatures living on the Greek island of Lesbos to establish fundamental knowledge of the order of the natural world.

Lesbos forest is diverse and abundant with over 1400 species and is located adjacent to the Little Asia region. The sea that is deep inland, also known as the lagoon, breaks through the island with many types of marine life. Theophrastus observed them all and recorded them carefully and carefully. From the research process, he posed systematic questions like: what is the similarity? Where is the difference? What lies inside? How are they created?

Theophrastus uses its own observations and gathers more information from other regions. He also based on the recorded reports of Alexander the Great, the great king returning from the war in India to study tropical plants such as cotton, pepper, cinnamon, incense, banyan tree. . He described more than 500 species of plants in the most detailed and thoughtful way to classify them. But how to classify? Divide by plants and wild plants? Or aquatic and terrestrial plants like Aristotle have divided the kingdom of animals?"The plants are very rich and diverse, but it's hard to describe them systematically , " he said . " From this perspective, " he concluded: "classification is key in research." Finally, he divided the plant world into four groups based on their development, including straight trees, shrubs, low shrubs and herbaceous plants. He was the first to think about the classification of plants. And the classification based on the growth of plants proposed by him is also the way applied by modern biologists.

Theophrastus's work had a great meaning at that time.

Theophrastus also recognizes the relationship between plants and their habitats. He wrote: "Living environment is very important, because plants are bound to the environment." They cannot "freely leave their habitat like animals". He explained that a tree will grow best when it grows in "favorable environment". Theophrastus also studies soil, moisture, temperature, wind and light. Theophrastus is interested in interactions between plants and recognizes that olive trees, sugarcane, and pine trees thrive when grown together but almonds grow slowly. He noticed that trees were tall and straight when they stood side by side. He recorded the phenomenon of jays buried chestnuts, helping seeds germinate and mistletoe "depend on nutrition from other plants".

Theophrastus's works have a great meaning at the time, he pioneered in the field of biological science based on experimental science, his knowledge supported and brought remarkable effects. for agriculture and crops with scientific bases instead of the habit of relying on Olympus gods of ancient Greeks.

Theophrastus tried to get rid of the superstition to understand the natural world. He protested against people asking for guidance from gods and stars when crops failed: "People should not receive orders from the stars but should learn from the trees, scion and seeds. like " he also rejected the legends that are considered " absolute truths ".

When Theophrastus died at the age of 85, with his contributions, he made the people of Athens deeply regretful, and together they held a funeral to see him off. Throughout his life, Theophrastus believed that nature and gardens were human teachers. When he died, he left his garden to friends in the hope that "they would use it as a sacred land to study and expand their knowledge and spiritual learning".