Hippocrates of Chios

Hippocrates of Chios (flourished c. 440 bc) was a Greek geometer who compiled the first known work on the elements of geometry nearly a century before Euclid. Although the work is no longer extant, Euclid may have used it as a model for his Elements. According to tradition, Hippocrates was a merchant whose goods had been captured by pirates. He went to Athens to prosecute them but met with little success in recovering his property....