Timeline for Which mathematical ideas have done most to change history?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 13, 2011 at 5:42 | comment | added | Jose Arnaldo Bebita | +2 for Charles and +1 for castal | |
| May 7, 2010 at 12:16 | comment | added | Charles Stewart | @castal: I've looked this up. Medieval west-European scholars of between C6th-12th did not have access to the whole of the Elements until Adelard of Bath translated it from Arabic to Latin, but they did have access to books 1-4 and 11-13; they were important texts. Islamic and Byzantine scholars had access to the whole text without interruption. | |
| Apr 24, 2010 at 19:23 | comment | added | castal | I have to agree with Harry. Euclid's "Elements" was not even known to western european scholars until 1120 A.D. But it came to be regarded as a paragon of the systematic development of a body of ideas, and was studied by every educated european until the twentieth century. Even the "self-evident truths" of the Jefferson's Declaration of Independence traces back to Euclid. The Wikipedia page (broken link, not sure how to fix:) (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid's_Elements) goes into more detail on the extent of Euclid's influence. | |
| Feb 2, 2010 at 10:54 | comment | added | Charles Stewart | No, certainly not, but I think the medieval reception was the highlight. Euclid's works played a very important role in the rivalry between the neo-Platonist and Aristotelian schools in both Islamic and Christian intellectual life from C6th-12th. It's really centre-stage stuff: cf. Boethius, Avicenna, Aquinas | |
| Feb 2, 2010 at 0:49 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | Don't forget ancient thought or renaissance thought. | |
| Feb 1, 2010 at 15:17 | history | answered | Charles Stewart | CC BY-SA 2.5 |