Ancient Greek Mathematician, Author of the Elements, "Father of Geometry"
Euclid (c. 330–270 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active at Alexandria in the Ptolemaic period, whose chief work the Elements systematically ordered all the earlier knowledge of ancient Greek geometry, building the whole theoretical framework of plane and solid geometry through an exceedingly rigorous axiomatic deductive system (starting from a few self-evident axioms and postulates and deriving a series of theorems by strict logical deduction); this paradigm of "deductive reasoning from axioms" thereafter remained for over two thousand years the exemplary standard of mathematical proof and logical reasoning, and even profoundly shaped the theoretical construction of modern Western philosophy (Spinoza’s Ethics, for instance, deliberately imitated the axiomatic writing form of the Elements) and natural science. The Elements was thereafter translated into dozens of languages including Arabic and Latin, and for more than two thousand years remained one of the most important basic textbooks of mathematics education worldwide, its circulation and influence second only to the Bible.
By tradition Ptolemy I once asked Euclid whether there was some more convenient path into geometry than the systematic study of the Elements, and Euclid answered, "There is no royal road laid especially for kings in geometry." This line was thereafter often cited to show that the learning of knowledge itself admits no shortcut, and that even princes and nobles must follow the same rigorous, solid path of study.
Since its composition the Elements, through the ancient Greek, Arab Islamic, medieval European, and even the modern Scientific Revolution stages of history, has remained one of the most important basic textbooks of mathematics education, its rigorous structure of logical deduction even directly imitated by Newton in modern scientific classics such as the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy — the enduring influence of this work born more than two thousand three hundred years ago is exceedingly rare in the history of human knowledge.
On the details of Euclid’s own life, the surviving sources are exceedingly scant, and a few modern scholars have even proposed that "Euclid" may be a collective pseudonym of a group of mathematicians rather than a single historical figure; though this hypothesis has not won mainstream acceptance, it reflects the scarcity of sources on his life.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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