Thales of Miletus predicted the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC. No one knows how he did it and some say that there was no such prediction but a few historians registered that as one of the many accomplishments of Thales, who lived to the ripe old age of 80, and died of sunstroke while attending the Olympiads of 545 B.C. By the way, the year of his death is an educated guess.  But good old Thales -- to whom I was acquainted through his famous Theorem -- had a talent for the practical … [Read more...]