A Brilliant Brain

Biography

Pythagoras revolutionized mathematics and philosophy by discovering the fundamental relationship between numbers and the cosmos. He founded a secretive brotherhood in southern Italy that blended mathematics, mysticism, and ethics, influencing Western thought for millennia. His theorem remains one of geometry's cornerstones, but his true genius lay in recognizing that numbers governed music, astronomy, and the soul itself.

Key Facts

• Founded the Pythagorean Brotherhood, one of history's first philosophical cults with strict initiations and communal living
• Believed the soul was immortal and transmigrated between bodies—he claimed to remember his past lives
• Discovered that musical harmony corresponds to mathematical ratios, literally hearing mathematics
• His followers kept his teachings secret; many of his ideas only survived through later philosophers like Plato
• Supposedly refused to eat beans, believing they contained the souls of the dead