Plato (English pronunciation: /ˈpleɪtoʊ/; Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "broad"[2]; 428/427 BC[a] –

348/347 BC), was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical

dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning
in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato
helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science.[3] Plato was originally a
student of Socrates, and was as much influenced by his thinking as by his apparently
unjust execution.

Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his Socratic dialogues; thirty-six dialogues

and thirteen letters have been ascribed to him. Plato's writings have been published in
several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing
of Plato's texts.

Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic,
rhetoric and mathematics.

Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC)[1] was a Greek

philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover
many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric,
politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates
(Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western
philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of
Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics
and metaphysics.

Archimedes of Syracuse (Greek: Ἀρχιμήδης; c. 287 BC – c. 212 BC) was a Greek

mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his
life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity.
Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an
explanation of the principle of the lever. He is credited with designing innovative
machines, including siege engines and the screw pump that bears his name. Modern
experiments have tested claims that Archimedes designed machines capable of lifting
attacking ships out of the water and setting ships on fire using an array of mirrors

Hipparchus, or more correctly Hipparchos (Greek: Ἵππαρχος, Hipparkhos; c. 190 BC –

c. 120 BC), was a Greek astrologer, astronomer, geographer, and mathematician of the
Hellenistic period. He is considered the founder of trigonometry.[1]

Hipparchus was born in Nicaea (now Iznik, Turkey), and probably died on the island of
Rhodes. He is known to have been a working astronomer at least from 147 to 127 BC.
Hipparchus is considered the greatest ancient astronomical observer and, by some, the
greatest overall astronomer of antiquity. He was the first whose quantitative and accurate
models for the motion of the Sun and Moon survive. For this he certainly made use of the
observations and perhaps the mathematical techniques accumulated over centuries by the
Chaldeans from Babylonia. He developed trigonometry and constructed trigonometric
tables, and he has solved several problems of spherical trigonometry. With his solar and
lunar theories and his trigonometry, he may have been the first to develop a reliable
method to predict solar eclipses. His other reputed achievements include the discovery of
Earth's precession, the compilation of the first comprehensive star catalog of the western
world, and possibly the invention of the astrolabe, also of the armillary sphere, which he
used during the creation of much of the star catalogue. It would be three centuries before
Claudius Ptolemaeus' synthesis of astronomy would supersede the work of Hipparchus; it
is heavily dependent on it in many areas.