6.11.2011

"A mathematician's diet" Elefsina's farewell song


Pythagoras, the 6th century B.C. Greek mathematician, scholar and so much more, was a vegetarian and thought that beans were kin to men, so they shouldn’t be eaten. More theories on bean abstinence here
Look out for our film on Pythagora's banquet in Food for thought!

Eratosthenes, the 3rd century B.C. Greek mathematician was able to culculate the earth’s circumference with great proximity. Of course he thought it was a sphere, but mankind forgot that for many centuries later. He starved himself to death, when he realized he was going blind.


More Math and diet trivia:

The Tyrian mathematician Porphyry  Malchus, Eratosthenes’ contemporary, was a vegetarian, since he was influenced by Pythagorian theories about animals having a soul.

Kurt Gödel, Eistein’s friend, and one of the most important people of the 20th century, who proved that one cannot attain absolute mathematical truth (incompleteness theorem), starved himself for fear of getting poisoned.

Please remember: Millions of mathematicians were normal eaters!!


 

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