Greek mathematician and
philosopher (approx. 570 B.C. to approx. 480 B.C.). Born in
Samos,
Greece, traveled widely, and studied under philosophers
Pherekydes,
Thales, and
Anaximander. After moving to
Egypt, he was accepted into the
Egyptian priesthood and studied Egyptian
mathematics,
philosophy, and
astronomy. He was taken as a
prisoner to
Babylon, where he mastered the advanced
Babylonian mathematics.
After obtaining his
freedom, he established a
school in southern
Italy. He insisted on
strict rules for his
students, including
vegetarianism (he believed in
reincarnation and didn't want to take the
chance that he might accidentally
eat a former friend), vows of
silence for the first
five years of their membership, and vows of
loyalty and
secrecy. The Pythagoreans regarded
numbers with almost
religious devotion, assigning deep
symbolism to each
numeral. The
Pythagorean school was the first to accept
women as
students and
instructors.
Pythagoras coined the words "
mathematics" and "
philosophy". He was the first to declare the
Earth to be a
sphere, and he discovered the mathematics behind the
musical scale. Of course, the
Pythagorean Theorem, relating to the side
lengths of a
right triangle, still bears his
name.
Research from GURPS Who's Who 2, compiled by Phil Masters, "Pythagoras", by Sam Lindsay-Levine, pp. 12-13.