Which Philosopher discovered air?

Question

I have searched WikiPedia, About, BBC, EVERYTHING. Surely somebody knows!!!!

Answer 1

This article says (kinda) Aristotle. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/earth/air.html

I do know this is inaccurate as air is something humans would have sensed much before (like water). But anyway, i gave you a link, I guess gives you a "philosophical discovery" and not actual discovery.

Answer 2

It's a really good question. I feel sure it's in Bryson: "A Short History Of Nearly Everything". But, I do apologise: I can find it not! (Though there's some great stuff on air on pages 228/9, 230). It's presence was established by placing two hollow hemispheres together and removing it (the air)! The hemispheres, of course, could not be parted - even by two shire horses! (It was probably dear old Gallileo or Da Vinci!)

I don't think it was a 'philosopher' - as such - but a scientist-in-the-raw! (I really am sure it is somewhere in Bryson (ibid) so happy reading - you won't be disappointed! Best book I've ever had the privilege to read!

PS: will edit this, if I find it!

Answer 3

A philosopher discovers air every few seconds as he tends to forget what was it that he discovered just a moment ago in the heat of the activity in his mind space - this is one manifest of the breathtaking power of philosophical thought. If you want to discover air better then try to hold your breath for few seconds longer and then the discovery you will make, you will be more likely to remember for that day.

This is a general truth about human nature that we are prone to forget things that there is no shortage of; we tend to take things for granted that come easily to us; and that we need to be reminded constantly about things that are most obvious facts making up our life. Some of us, for example, forget that there is a living heart beating in their bosom. This is why then they get hurt and rediscover what has been the actual matter in life and the reasons for them to be alive so well. The essentiality of oxygen bearing air is so common in our knowledge that it almost slips out of our daily concerns. I for example, assure you that this is the first time in months or perhaps years that I have ever spared a thought or two for the presence of air around me, and into my lungs, in such bounteous measures.

Today, therefore, I can say that I am the philosopher who discovered air. And please, do not go about looking through piles and piles of information so painstakingly, discover things for yourself, and then make a valid claim for what you find.

Answer 4

Kuhn has (in "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions") a discussion of the discovery of oxygen (and footnotes to more detailed works).

The main problem is what do you mean by "discovered air"? That there is a "thing" other than "nothing"? (In which case the guy who said Aristotle is probably near enough) Or do you mean the constituents of air? In which case probably no one single person.

Answer 5

Anaximenes

He stated that Everything is Air. He predated Socrates by about a century, and Aristotle by over 150 years.

Answer 6

No philosopher 'discovered' air.

Thales thought that all life came from water.
Heraclitus thought that everything was made of fire.
Anaximenes said that it was air, or atmospheric vapour.

The pre-Socratic philosophers were all trying to find the one thing that everything was made of.

Answer 7

Alton Towers

Answer 8

It was discovered by a scientist not a philosopher. So correct ur question then I'll answer.

Answer 9

Michael Jordan.

Answer 10

It didn't take a philosopher to discover air, but it did take one (Aristotle) to make it one of the four elements.