The Pythagorean program: number as structure
Pythagoras' school at Croton linked musical harmony to simple ratios and proposed that mathematical relations underlie nature.
Humanity
115 events across three thousand years — chosen to be multi-regional and honest about uncertainty. Follow a thread to trace one capability through time, or filter by region and kind.
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Euclid's Elements
Euclid organized Greek geometry into axioms, definitions and proven theorems — one of the most reprinted books in history.
Al-Khwarizmi writes al-jabr
Al-Khwarizmi systematized solving equations in The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, and popularized Hindu-Arabic numerals.
Newton's Principia Mathematica
Newton showed that one mathematical law of gravitation governs falling apples and orbiting moons — with the calculus-like methods to prove it.
Chronology
The Pythagorean program: number as structure
Pythagoras' school at Croton linked musical harmony to simple ratios and proposed that mathematical relations underlie nature.
Euclid's Elements
Euclid organized Greek geometry into axioms, definitions and proven theorems — one of the most reprinted books in history.
Al-Khwarizmi writes al-jabr
Al-Khwarizmi systematized solving equations in The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, and popularized Hindu-Arabic numerals.
Newton's Principia Mathematica
Newton showed that one mathematical law of gravitation governs falling apples and orbiting moons — with the calculus-like methods to prove it.