Ancient Greece’s Greatest Mathematicians: The Lives of the Classical Greeks Who Revolutionized Mathematics

Pythagoras studied cosmology, geometry, and astronomy under Thales and his successor Anaximander, and by building on the legacies of their brilliant minds, Pythagoras refined and expanded upon their foundational concepts. However, he also went in a different direction, focusing on mysticism and numbers more than material principles. As a result, his most lasting legacy was in the field of mathematics, but mathematics was not merely a tool for measurement to him - it was the underlying language of the universe. One of his most famous statements, “Panta arithmos” (“All is Number”), is indicative of his belief that numbers were the essence, structure, and governing principle of the universe. 

Often called the “Father of Geometry,” Euclid’s influence is so pervasive that his book, The Elements, was the primary math manual for over 2,000 years. It was not a “textbook” in the modern sense, as it did not have problem sets, word problems, or diagrams for practice, but it was a foundational reference and logical guide that students had to read, memorize, and demonstrate. Beyond geometry, Euclid also made significant contributions to number theory. In The Elements, he provided the first proof that prime numbers are limitless, which remains the cornerstone of arithmetic. 

Over 1,500 years before Leonardo Da Vinci became the Renaissance Man, antiquity had its own in the form of Archimedes, one of the most famous ancient Greeks. An engineer, mathematician, physicist, scientist and astronomer all rolled into one, Archimedes has been credited for making groundbreaking discoveries, some of which are undoubtedly fact and others that are almost certainly myth. Regardless, he’s considered the first to determine a way to measure an object’s mass, and also the first to realize that refracting the Sun’s light could burn something, theorizing the existence of lasers over two millennia before they existed. Indeed, people still use the design of the Archimedes Screw in water pumps today.