Euclid, The Great Greek geometer

Not many people are fortunate to have a lasting fame as Euclid, Greek geometer great. Although during his life figures like Napoleon, Martin Luther, Alexander the Great, much more famous than Euclid's, but in the long-term fame can hit all those that called it.
In addition to his fame, almost no detailed information on the life of Euclid, which can be known. For example, we know who has been active as a teacher in Alexandria, Egypt, around 300 BC, but when he was born and when he died really dark. In fact, we do not know what continent and in what city he was born. Although he wrote several books and some of them still left, his place in history is found mainly in the great textbooknya of geometry called The Elements.

The importance of the book of the elements are not in a state of personal formulas he gave. Most theories contained in the book was never written before, and can also be verified. Euclid's contribution lies in how to establish the materials and the problems and the formulation of the books of the overall development planning. Trapped here, above all, the selection of the arguments and calculations of the estimates, for example, about a possible draw a straight line between two points. After that, with care and caution so that the proposition to establish easily understood by the people later. Whenever necessary, provides instructions on how to resolve things unresolved and the development of experiments to the problem of missing persons. It should be noted that the book of other elements to the development of any one of a strict geometry, also contains, in addition, the parties on the next big theory algebraic sum.

Book The Elements is a standard textbook of more than 2000 years and is undoubtedly the most successful textbook ever created humans. So much so that the composition of his Euclid by its shape alone is able to put aside all the textbooks that have limited previous and never ignored again. Originally written in Greek, then the book The Elements was translated into several languages. The first issue appeared in 1482, some 30 years before the invention of printing by Gutenberg. Since the invention of the printing machine and diterbitkanlah in thousands of different style editing.

As a tool of the logic of the human mind coach, the book The Elements is much more influential than all of Aristotle's treatises on logic. The book is a complete example on the structure of deductive and is a fruit of thought of all the amazing creations of the human brain.

It is fair to say that the book of Euclid is an important factor for the growth of modern science. Science is not just a collection of observations that are accurate and not mere generalizations strong and wise. The results of a torn modern science came from a combination of empirical research and experiments on the one hand, with careful analysis and conclusions that have a strong base on the other.

Still wondering what science is, as she appeared in Europe and not China, but it is safe assuming that it is not merely an issue due to an accident. In fact, the role driven by brilliant people like Newton, Galileo and Copernicus have a special meaning. However, there must be reason-musababnya why these people appeared in Europe. Maybe all the historical factors that make the more surprising that Europe's influence in terms of science is a Greek rationalism, along with the mathematical knowledge inherited from the Greeks to Europe. It should be noted that the Chinese - despite many centuries, more advanced technology than Europe - have never had a theoretical mathematical structure, which belongs to Europe. No one was Chinese mathematician who has a relationship to Euclid. Chinese people a great learning experience about the science of practical geometry, but the knowledge of geometry than ever were made in a system that contains the conclusions.

For Europeans, the assumption that there are basic principles of physics that everything seems reasonable because they have the example of Euclid, who was behind them. In general, Europeans do not assume Euclidean geometry is only an abstract system, but are convinced that the idea of Euclid - and the theory itself - is a reality.

Influence of Euclid by Sir Isaac Newton was very clear, since the book Newton's Principia kesohornya How kegeometrian, similar to the elements. Several scientists tried to identify with Euclid, showing how all of their conclusions logically derived originally from the original hypotheses. Nothing except what is done by mathematicians such as Russell, Whitehead, the philosopher Spinoza.

Now, mathematicians have understood that the geometry of Euclid. is not the only system that is so basic geometry and firm grip and can plan well, I also understand that during the last 150 years many people who define the geometry of Euclid in place of the. In fact, since the theory of relativity Einstein accepted people, scientists realized that Euclidean geometry is not always true in the implementation of real horizon problem. In the vicinity of some "black hole" and a neutron star - for example - where gravity is largely non-Euclidean geometry to give an accurate picture of the world, or do not show the proper description of space in general. However, these examples are rare, because in many cases employment estimates Euclid gives the possibility of approaching reality. The progress of human knowledge in these days neither reduces nor the intellectual efforts of Euclid and the importance of his position in history.by Michael H. Hart,One hundred most influential figures in the history.