In the study of elementary Geometry we all are familiar with the concept of “Pythagorean Theorem”. This tells us that for any right angled triangle, the square of the longest side of the triangle (hypotenuse) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.
But do you know who invented this famous formula that still is the basic concept of the geometrical studies on triangles? He was Pythagorus, the Greek philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. Pythagorus was born during 500 B.C. in Samas, Greece, near the present city Metaponto in Italy. He migrated to South Italy during 532 B.C. to escape the tyrannical rules those prevailed there.
But his inquisitive and probing mind always thrived him to share his ideas and thinkings among the people. These desires ultimately led him to establish an Academy at Carton — presently known as Crotona to achieve his goals. His teachings on ethics, politics and brotherhood had a great effect over the people there. His thoughts and ideas were flourished throughout most parts of Italy and Greece. But all these eventually died out towards the end of 4th century B.C., largely because of opposition from some quarters for some reason or other. But apart from his philosophical thinkings, his contribution is also credited with the mathematical concepts of the functional significance of numbers. He, in fact contributed to the development of mathematics and geometry in addition to his ideas on Western philosophy. It is an established fact that his ideas greatly influenced the thinking of Plato and Aristotle.
In the scientific world, his theories on geometry, mathematics, astronomy, sound behaviours etc. were gratefully acknowledged. The famous astronomer, Copernicus for instance, described Pythagorus as a fore-runner of the suggestions put forward by him that earth and other planets rotate in orbit around the Sun.
During 493, B.C. Pythagorus died at the age of 83.