![]() In any event, the contents of Euclid's work demonstrate familiarity with the Platonic geometry tradition. Historian Thomas Heath supported this theory, noting that most capable geometers lived in Athens, including many of those whose work Euclid built on Sialaros considers this a mere conjecture. It is unlikely he was contemporary with Plato, so it is often presumed that he was educated by Plato's disciples at the Platonic Academy in Athens. Proclus held that Euclid followed the Platonic tradition, but there is no definitive confirmation for this. ![]() It is presumed that he was of Greek descent, but his birthplace is unknown. Euclid's birthdate is unknown some scholars estimate around 330 or 325 BC, but others refrain from speculating. 212 BC) specifically, Proclus placed Euclid during the rule of Ptolemy I ( r. 305/304–282 BC). Īccording to Proclus, Euclid lived shortly after several of Plato's ( d. 347 BC) followers and before the mathematician Archimedes ( c. The traditional narrative mainly follows the 5th century AD account by Proclus in his Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements, as well as a few anecdotes from Pappus of Alexandria in the early 4th century. He is accepted as the author of four mostly extant treatises-the Elements, Optics, Data, Phaenomena-but besides this, there is nothing known for certain of him. Like many ancient Greek mathematicians, the details of Euclid's life are mostly unknown. In English, by metonymy, 'Euclid' can mean his most well-known work, Euclid's Elements, or a copy thereof, and is sometimes synonymous with 'geometry'. ![]() It is derived from ' eu-' ( εὖ 'well') and 'klês' ( -κλῆς 'fame'), meaning "renowned, glorious". The English name 'Euclid' is the anglicized version of the Ancient Greek name Eukleídes ( Εὐκλείδης). Life Traditional narrative Detail of Raphael's impression of Euclid, teaching students in The School of Athens (1509–1511) He is thought to have written many now lost works. Euclid's authorship of two other texts- On Divisions of Figures, Catoptrics-has been questioned. In addition to the Elements, Euclid wrote a central early text in the optics field, Optics, and lesser-known works including Data and Phaenomena. He also wrote works on perspective, conic sections, spherical geometry, number theory, and mathematical rigour. In the Elements, Euclid deduced the theorems from a small set of axioms. There is some speculation that Euclid studied at the Platonic Academy and later taught at the Musaeum he is regarded as bridging the earlier Platonic tradition in Athens with the later tradition of Alexandria. It is now generally accepted that he spent his career in Alexandria and lived around 300 BC, after Plato's students and before Archimedes. Medieval Islamic mathematicians invented a fanciful biography, and medieval Byzantine and early Renaissance scholars mistook him for the earlier philosopher Euclid of Megara. Very little is known of Euclid's life, and most information comes from the philosophers Proclus and Pappus of Alexandria many centuries later. With Archimedes and Apollonius of Perga, Euclid is generally considered among the greatest mathematicians of antiquity, and one of the most influential in the history of mathematics. His system, now referred to as Euclidean geometry, involved new innovations in combination with a synthesis of theories from earlier Greek mathematicians, including Eudoxus of Cnidus, Hippocrates of Chios, and Theaetetus. ![]() Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the Elements treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely dominated the field until the early 19th century. 300 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. ![]()
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