This week, I'd like to mention a man (or group of philosophers/mathematicians), I believe, very notably influenced not only the career path I have chosen but so very many things we may take for granted.
Pythagoras of Samos
Pythagoras of Samos (son of Mnesarchus and Parthenia) is associated with math first and foremost but he is the guy that put a name on the music our western ears hear. We know that a third is a third and a fifth is a fifth and an octave is an octave (etc.) because of his experiments.
This is only one reason I feel indebted to this man. There are a number of other contributions he made to science that we still use today - notably: The Pythagorean Theorem.
The history of this man is questionable. Are all the things attributed to this man actually his work? Or, were "his" contributions the work of his followers (the Pythagoreans.) It matters to me, to an extent. But, whether I believe it was one man's work or that of a group of scholars, I still spend some of each of my weeks thinking of this entity and being grateful for the wisdom.
If you have the time and interest, give this man (or scholars) a moment of thanks or some research. It's well worth the adventure, I think.
some links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Pythagoras.html
http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/pythagor.htm
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoras/
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/presoc/pythagor.html
... so much reading and research to do! So much practice to do! So much to learn!
It's a truly great life! Thank you all for being a part of it!
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"Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
- Native American proverb
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