Pioneers in the World of Weather and Climatology

Pioneers in the World of Weather and Climatology — page 9
PIONEERS IN THE WORLD OF WEATHER AND CLIMATOLOGY After leaving the Academy Aristotle taught school on the coast of Asia Minor and spent two years studying marine biol ogy on the Greek island of Lesbos In 342 BC he returned to Macedonia at the invita tion of Philip II to teach the king s young son Alexander who would later become Alexander the Great No one knows how much influence the philosopher had on the headstrong youth but after he became king Alexander gave Aristotle enough money to set up a school in Athens The school in the Lyceum was a success Aristotle called his school the Peripatetic to walk about because morning discus sions with his more advanced students were conducted as the group walked in the Lyceum gardens While teaching there Aristotle was able to collect the first great library and establish a museum He led his pupils in research in every existing field of knowledge Meteorology was studied as part of his investigation of physics As Aristotle understood it phys ics was the equivalent to what would now be called natural philosophy or the study of nature The science of observation was new to the Greeks however Hampered by 14