Fun Fact #509
Fun Fact #509
The Cyber-space
At the intersection of myth and reason lies the Greek Philosopher Thales. While none of his original writings still exist he was well regarded by the later Greek philosophers being the first of the seven Sophi (Wise men) as he laid down many of the founding principles later expanded upon by the cult of Pythagoras (Mathematics involving Triangles). Chief among his rumored exploits includes predicting a solar eclipse which came to pass at the specified time in the middle of a battle between the kingdoms of Lydia and Media leading to the war ending as the darkness scared the Medians into flight and abandoned their King.
2,585 years later The company Thompson-CSF would rebrand itself “Thales Group” after the Philosopher and was meant to herald their worldwide expansion. In short, they succeeded in becoming the 17th largest Defense contractor in 2022. Headquartered 2 miles west of Paris, in a business district simply known as “La Défense” (named after a statue), Thales is known primarily for their electrical systems, but they also make devices for Aerospace, Transportation, Security, and Defense. Since 2008 they have also been expanding their cybersecurity leading them to enter The Galileo Project (EU owned GPS alternative).
Galileo then led Thales Group into producing systems which rely upon their GPS and Cybersecurity such as Watchkeeper (a type of UAV), SWARM (remote weapons system), StarStreak (Surface to air missiles), The SPECTRA Combat Helmet (Defensive aids), Goalkeeper (Dutch CIWs Platform) and TopSky (Air Traffic Control system which makes use of Fly-by-wire systems). They also make in-flight entertainment systems while owning several major rail-lines worldwide.
Today they also have close relationships with BAE Systems, Raytheon, ADI, and Samsung.
