Greek greats Pythagoras Empedocles Democritus

Greek greats

Many ancient Greek natural philosophers were gifted scientists who studied the world around them using reasoning and observation. A lot of their theories have stood the test of time and are still taught at schools today. The first THINKERS who laid the foundations for future scientis ts

The Pythagorean theorem for right-angled triangles is a2 + b2 = c2 . c a

Pythagoras

Born on the Greek island of Samos in about 570 bce, Pythagoras became a keen MATHEMATICIAN. He is best known for his theorem of right-angled triangles, which states that the square of the length of the hypotenuse (longest side of a triangle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.

Empedocles

In the 5th century bce, poet and philosopher

Empedocles proposed a theory that every object is a mixture of FOUR ELEMENTS of matter – earth, air, fire, and water. He thought that love and strife, or disagreement, filled the space between these elements, controlling and balancing them.

Fire Water

Greek philosopher Democritus suggested the existence of tiny particles of matter. Around the 5th century bce, he claimed all things must be made of very small pieces and called these

ATOMS, making him a true pioneer of the theory that everything in the Universe is made of atoms.

He was also the first to understand that the Milky Way is a distant galaxy.

Atom Did you know? Democritus was known as the Laughing Philosopher because he was so cheerful.

Euclid

Geometry genius Euclid was the brains behind many theories about shapes, space, and time.

He taught mathematics at Alexandria, the

Egyptian city and centre of learning, before writing a collection of 13 geometry books called The Elements in around 300 bce. Euclid’s work was translated into many languages and formed the FOUNDATIONS of modern-day textbooks. Euclid developed formulas for measuring circles and lines.

Hypatia

Hypatia was born in about 355 ce in Alexandria, Egypt, where she studied astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. Her innovative ideas about shapes drew huge audiences to her lectures. She was also involved in developing the PLANE ASTROLABE – an instrument designed to measure the position of the Sun and stars.

Hypatia studied the curves created by different sections cut through cones.