5. THE FIRST GREEK RADIO AMATEURS
6. WORLD WAR II AND AFTER IN GREECE
7. PIONEERS IN GREECE
8. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES & ANECDOTES
9. MISCELLANY
10. GLOSSARY FOR NON-TECHNICAL READERS
Prologue
Thales of Miletus.
Thales, who was born in 640 B.C., was a man of exceptional wisdom and one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece. He was the father of Greek, and consequently of European philosophy and science. His speculations embraced a wide range of subjects relating to political as well as to celestial matters. One must remember that even up to the 18th century there was no clear distinction between philosophy and science, both being products of the human mind in its attempts to explain reality.
Thales had studied astronomy in Egypt so he was able to draw up accurate tables forecasting when the River Nile would be in flood. But he first became widely known by anticipating an eclipse of the sun for May 585 B.C., which happened to coincide with the final battle of the war between the Lydians and the Persians. He had used some tables drawn up by Babylonian astronomers, but he did not succeed in forecasting the exact day (May 28th) or the hour of the spectacular event.