Theophrastus

When Aristotle left Athens, he handed the Lyceum and his library to Theophrastus, who ran the school for thirty-five years. He wrote on almost everything, but his botanical works founded the science of plants, classifying hundreds of species with patient firsthand observation. His most charming book, the Characters, sketches thirty human types — the flatterer, the chatterbox, the man who is penny-wise — in a few deft lines each. He kept the Peripatetic method alive: look closely, sort carefully, and trust the world to teach you.