Greek philosopher who was a student of Aristotle and who succeeded Aristotle as the leader of the Peripatetics (371-287 BC)

Theophrastus (Greek , 370 — about 285 BC), a native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. All the biographical information we have of him was provided by Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Philosophers, written four hundred years after Theophrastus' time; nevertheless, it is a trustworthy tradition: "there is no intrinsic improbability in most of what Diogenes records".Sir Arthur Hort, Introduction to Enquiry into Plants. His given name was Tyrtamus, but he later became known by the nickname "Theophrastus", given to him, it is said, by Aristotle to indicate the grace of his conversation.

Theophrastus is a small lunar impact crater at the southern part of the Sinus Amoris, a bay at the northeast part of the Mare Tranquillitatis. It lies to the southeast of the lava-flooded Maraldi crater, and was designated 'Maraldi M' until the IAU gave this formation its current name. Just to the southeast of Theophrastus is the flooded Franz crater.