Democritus of Abdera

Democritus of Abdera

(ca. 460 B.C.E.–ca. 404 B.C.E.)Greek Geometry

           Democritus is numbered among the very early Greek mathematicians who influenced the later
development of geometry. Although his mathematical works have not survived, it is clear that
Democritus possessed an extensive interest in conics and other aspects of solid geometry. The
great Greek geometers APOLLONIUS OF PERGA and ARCHIMEDES OF SYRACUSE came much later,
but even they studied some of the problems investigated by Democritus.
Information on Democritus’s life is distorted by several unverifiable accounts. One chronology
places his birth after 500 B.C.E. and his death about 404 B.C.E., and represents him as the
teacher of Protagoras of Abdera; another version frames his life much later, depicting him as a
contemporary of Socrates, being born around460 B.C.E. and dying in about 404 B.C.E. Most
scholars accept the latter dates.