This chapter provides a brief overview of scientific developments beginning around 600BC. It traces the evolution of scientific thought alongside the rise of civilizations and highlights the key factors that contributed to this progress. It gives a brief account of laws and hypotheses proposed by philosophers from Thales of Miletus (600BC) to Galileo Galilei (up to the middle of seventeenth century). Particularly the works of Anaximander, Pythagoras, Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Archimedes, Claudius Ptolemy, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei have been described in brief. The subject of physics came into existence with the work of Aristotle. Aristotle proposed geocentric theory of universe which was supported by Claudius Ptolemy who also gave detailed theory of planetary motion. Nikolas Copernicus proposed heliocentric theory of universe which was adopted by Johannes Kepler who gave laws of planetary motion. Galileo supported and highlighted the heliocentric theory of universe. The emergence of scientific journals in the seventeenth century, which helped formalize the publication of new discoveries, is noted. The chapter concludes by explaining how Solid State Physics—once considered a subfield of atomic physics—gained independent recognition in 1947.