Aristotle (Biography from Ancient Civilizations)

Aristotle has been hailed as the greatest scientist of all time. He examined everything from astronomy to zoology. He was among the first people to try to understand events by looking for natural causes. Before that, people believed that what happened was a direct consequence of the will of the gods. For nearly 2,000 years, his conclusions about the world were rarely challenged. While modern scientific inquiries have proved that he was not always right, his methods of close observation are still in common use today. Science wasn’t the only area that Aristotle examined. He founded one of the most important schools of the ancient world. He offered ideas on the best way to live. He developed a theory of drama that many modern screenwriters follow. He studied scores of different systems of government. Some of the conclusions from this study are reflected in the U.S. Constitution. This "all-around genius" had a huge impact on history.