Pythagoras (approximately 569 BCE – 475 BCE, Greek: Πυθαγόρας) was an Ionian mathematician and philosopher, founder of the mysterious religious and scientific society called Pythagoreans, known best for the Pythagorean theorem which bears his name. Known as "the father of numbers", Pythagoras made influential contributions to philosophy and religious teaching in the late 6th century BC. Because legend and obfuscation cloud his work even more than with the other pre-Socratics, one can say little with confidence ...

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Pythagoras' followers were commonly called "Pythagoreans." For the most part we remember them as philosophical mathematicians who had an influence on the beginning of axiomatic geometry, which after two hundred years of development was written down by Euclid in The Elements. The Pythagoreans are known for their theory of the transmigration of souls, and also for their theory that numbers constitute the true nature of things. They performed purification rites and followed ascetic, dietary and moral rules which they believed would enable their soul to ...

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Pythagoras, Pythagoras - Biography, Pythagoras - Pythagoreans, Pythagoras - Literary works, Pythagoras - Scientific contributions

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Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos, off the coast of Asia Minor. He was born to Pythais (a native of Samos) and Mnesarchus (a merchant from Tyre). As a young man, he left his native city for Croton in Southern Italy, to escape the tyrannical government of Polycrates. Many writers credit him with visiting the sages of Egypt and Babylon before going west; such travels feature in the biographies of many Greek sages. Upon his migration from Samos to Croton, Pythagoras established a secret religious society very similar to (and possibly ...

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Pythagoras, Pythagoras - Biography, Pythagoras - Pythagoreans, Pythagoras - Literary works, Pythagoras - Scientific contributions

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Some consider Pythagoras the pupil of Anaximander and some ancient sources tell of his visiting, in his twenties, the philosopher Thales, just before the death of the latter. No account exists of the specifics of the meeting, other than the report that Thales recommended that Pythagoras travel to Egypt in order to further his philosophical and mathematical training. In astronomy, the Pythagoreans were well aware of the periodic numerical relations of the planets, moon, and sun. The celestial spheres of the planets were thought to prod ...

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Pythagoras, Pythagoras - Biography, Pythagoras - Pythagoreans, Pythagoras - Literary works, Pythagoras - Scientific contributions

Read more here: » Pythagoras: Encyclopedia II - Pythagoras - Scientific contributions