Hippocrates of chios biography examples

(b. Chios; fl. Athens, second half of the fifth century b.c.)

mathematics, astronomy.

The name by which Hippocrates the mathematician is distinguished from the contemporary physician of Cos¹ implies that he was born in the Greek island of Chios; but he spent his most productive years in Athens and helped to make it, until the foundation of Alexandria, the leading center of Greek mathematical research.

According to the Aristotelian commentator John Philoponus, he was a mercahnt who lost all his property through being captured by pirates.² Going to Athens to prosecute them, he ws obliged to stay a long time. He attended lectures and became so proficient in geometry that he tried to square the circle.

Hippocrates of chios biography examples for kids

Aristotle’s own account is less flatering³. It is well known, he observes, that persons stupid in one respect are by no means so in others. “Thus Hippocrates, though a competent geometer, seems in other respects to have been stupid and lacking in sense