Thales of Miletus (Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, ca. 624 BC–ca. 546 BC), was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher an one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, while some also consider him the "father of science." According to Bertrand Russell, "Philosophy begins with Thales."