Pythagoras

Pythagoras, one of the most famous mathematicians of all time, was an ancient Greek philosopher from Ionia and the founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and theological beliefs were well-known in Southern Greece and also affected the views of Aristotle, Plato, and the West as a whole. There's not much we know about his life, although it is believed that he was the child of Mnesarchus - who is a gem-engraver on Samos Island.

Modern researchers still argue about Pythagoras's schooling and educational background. Still, they do believe that he traveled to Croton in Italy around 530 B.C., where he established a college in which members were pledged to secret and lived a collaborative and austere existence. This lifestyle required a variety of dietary constraints, including vegetarianism, but current academics doubt he actually promoted vegetarianism in its entirety.

The doctrine most reliably attributed to Pythagoras is the metempsychosis - or "transmigration of souls" - which claims that every soul has immortality and enters a new body at death.He may have also created the Musica Universalis concept, which states that the planets work according to mathematical calculations - and hence - resonate to make an inaudible symphony. Scholars can still not reach an agreement upon whether Pythagoras himself established the numerical and musical teachings ascribed to him - or if his subsequent disciples, like Philolaus of Croton, developed those ideas.

Following Croton's victorious victory against Sybaris in around 510 B.C, Pythagoras's adherents clashed with democratic sympathizers; as a result, Pythagorean meeting halls were torched. It's still unconfirmed whether Pythagoras eventually encountered his death as a result of this persecution, or fled to Metapontum and passed away there.

Born: c. 570 BC

Age: 75

Notable ideas: Communalism, Musica Universalis, Metempsychosis