36. PYTHAGORAS of SAMOS

(circa 570 – 495 BC)

Pythagoras is among the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world. And his influence remains alive till this day. Like all pre-Christ scholars, little is known about him. As a primordial scientist, what made him tick during his era may seem trivial today. But that is often the case with pathfinders. He is believed to have been educated in Greece, Egypt, as well as in Babylon; and is reputed to have had extensive knowledge which was ahead of his time. His spheres of interest included: philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, religion, literature, ethics and logic. He would influence notable minds like: Philolaus, Plato, Eudoxus and Euclid. As was customary during his days, science had no defined boundary. Scientists (in those days) were the philosophers who incorporated arithmetic, geometry, astronomy or medicine into their curricula. This sage had followers, called Pythagoreans, with whom he was closely associated. No publication from these Pythagoreans survived; yet, many Europeans still presume that Pythagoras actually postulated “his” theorem. This is despite evidence which showed that ancient Egyptians knew the theoremic logic; and have used it in both metrology and survey long before Greeks. Nonetheless, he is credited with publicizing its proof in Europe. Pythagoras’ Theorem remains mainstream. For millennia, it served as one of the principal staples in plane geometry. Other concepts dedicated to him include: a constant, a prime, a field, a trigonometric identity, a geometric mean, a harmonic mean, and an arithmetic mean. There are also, a 6143 Pythagoras asteroid, and 130-kilometer-wide Pythagoras lunar crater.

All rights reserved. © Valentine Oduenyi