Theaetetus

Theaetetus of Athens

Born: about 415 BC in Athens, Greece
Died: about 369 BC in Athens, Greece

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Theaetetus studied with Theodorus of Cyrene and at the Academy with Plato.

Theaetetus was the first to study the octahedron and the icosahedron. Euclid's 10th and 13th books are almost certainly a description of Theaetetus's work. This means that it was Theaetetus's work on irrational lengths which is described in the 10th book, thought by many to be the finest work of the Elements.

Theaetetus is also thought to be the author of the theory of proportion which appears in Eudoxus's work.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. T L Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics I (Oxford, 1921), 203-204, 209-212.
  4. M S Brown, Theaetetus : Knowledge as Continued Learning, Journal of the History of Philosophy 7 (1969), 359-379.
  5. A Wasserstein, Theaetetus and the History of the Theory of Numbers, Classical Quarterly 8 (1958), 165-179. 
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JOC/EFR February 1996