600 BC

Thales of Miletus

Attractive properties of Amber

Thales of Miletus (640-546 BC), a Greek philospher, is believed to be the first person to have observed the attractive properties of amber. (His teachings were passed down orally until Aristotle wrote them down.) He observed that when rubbed amber could pick up light objects. We now know that this was due to static electricity, but for many centuries this was considered an interesting "magic" property of amber.
Fun Word Fact: Our words electriciy and electron come from the Greek word for amber: electron -
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