287 BC: Archimedes of Syracuse
1 Jan 287

Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC) is regarded as the greatest of the Greek mathematicians and was also the inventor of many mechanical devices including the screw, the pulley, and the lever. The Archimedean screw – a device for raising water from a low level to a higher one – is an invention that is still in use today. Archimedes works include his treatise Measurement of a Circle, which was an analysis of circular area, and his masterpiece On the Sphere and the Cylinder in which he determined

• 287

  287 BC: Archimedes of Syracuse

  

  Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC) is regarded as the greatest of the Greek mathematicians and was also the inventor of many mechanical devices including the screw, the pulley, and the lever. The Archimedean screw – a device for raising water from a low level to a higher one – is an invention that is still in use today. Archimedes works include his treatise Measurement of a Circle, which was an analysis of circular area, and his masterpiece On the Sphere and the Cylinder in which he determined
• 325

  325 BC: Euclid

  

  Euclid of Alexandria (325–265 BC) was one of the greatest of all the Greek geometers and is considered by many to be the “father of modern geometry”. Euclid is best known for his 13-book treatise The Elements. The Elements is one of the most important works in history and had a profound impact on the development of Western civilization. Euclid began The Elements with just a few basics, 23 definitions, 5 postulates, and 5 common notions or general axioms. An axiom is a statement that is accepte
• 569

  569 BC: Pythagorus

  

  The great Greek geometer was Pythagoras (569–475 BC). He was the first pure mathematician to logically deduce geometric facts from basic principles. Pythagoras a brotherhood called the Pythagoreans, who pursued knowledge in mathematics, science, and philosophy. Some people regard the Pythagorean School as the birthplace of reason and logical thought. The most famous and useful contribution of the Pythagoreans was the Pythagorean Theorem. The theory states that the sum of t
• Jan 1st, 0600

  600 BC: Thales of Miletus

  

  The early Greeks (600 BC–400 AD) developed the principles of modern geometry beginning with Thales of Miletus (624–547 BC). Thales is credited with bringing the science of geometry from Egypt to Greece. Thales studied similar triangles and wrote the proof that corresponding sides of similar triangles are in proportion.
• Jan 1st, 1600

  1600's: Rene Descartes

  

  There were no major developments in geometry until the appearance of Rene Descartes (1596–1650). In his famous treatise Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason in the Search for Truth in the Sciences, Descartes combined algebra and geometry to create analytic geometry. Analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry, involves placing a geometric figure into a coordinate system to illustrate proofs and to obtain information using algebraic equations.
• Jan 1st, 1800

  1800's: Non-Euclidean Geometry

  

  The next great development in geometry came with the development of non-Euclidean geometry. Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) who along with Archimedes and Newton is considered to be one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time, invented non-Euclidian geometry prior to the independent work of Janos Bolyai (1802–1860) and Nikolai Lobachevsky (1792-1856). Non-Euclidian geometry generally refers to any geometry not based on the postulates of Euclid, including geometries for which the paralle
• Jan 1st, 1982

  1982: Fractal Geometry

  

  The most recent development in geometry is fractal geometry. Fractal geometry was developed and popularized by Benoit Mandelbrot in his 1982 book The Fractal Geometry of Nature. A fractal is a geometric shape, which is self-similar (invariance under a change of scale) and has fractional (fractal) dimensions. Similar to chaos theory, which is the study of non-linear systems; fractals are highly sensitive to initial conditions where a small change in the initial conditions of a system can lead to
• Jan 1st, 2900

  2900 BC: The First Pyramid

  

  First egyptian pyramid was constructed around 2900 BC. The knowledge of geometry was essential for building pyramids, which consists of a square base and triangular faces. The earliest record of a formula for calculating the area of a triangle dates back to 2000 BC. The Egyptians (5000–500 BC) and the Babylonians (4000–500 BC) developed practical geometry to solve everyday problems, but there is no evidence that they logically deduced geometric facts from basic principles.
• Geometry History

  Enjoy reading some geometry history while learning where many of our modern ideas came from. Find interesting facts and information related to works produced by the Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and other famous mathematicians.

  Read on and enjoy learning a brief history of geometry before taking a look at all our other interesting information devoted to the wonderful world of mathematics.
• • The word ‘geometry’ comes from the Greek words ‘geo’, meaning earth, and ‘metria’, meaning measure.
  • Along with arithmetic, geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics.
  • Ancient Egyptians used geometry principles as far back as 3000 BC, using equations to approximate the area of circles among other formulas.
  • Babylonians measured the circumference of a circle as approximately 3 times the diameter, which is fairly close to today’s measurement which uses the value of Pi (around 3.14).
  • A Greek mathematician named Euclid who lived around the year 300 BC is often referred to as the ‘Father of Geometry’ for his amazing geometry works that included the influential ‘Elements’, which remained the main textbook for teaching mathematics until around the early 20th century.
  • Greeks constructed aesthetically pleasing buildings and artworks based on the golden ratio of approximately 1.618.
  • Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras lived around the year 500 BC and is known for his Pythagorean theorem relating to the three sides of a right angle triangle: a² + b² = c²
  • Archimedes of Syracuse lived around the year 250 BC and played a large role in the history of geometry including a method for determining the volume of objects with irregular shapes.
  • The compass and straight edge were powerful tools in the advancement of geometry, allowing the construction of various lengths, angles and geometric shapes.
  • Modern day geometry has made developments in a number of areas, including those that make use of the raw computing power of today’s computers.