Arwa's Timeline

  • 387 BCE

    Plato created the Academy of Athens

  • 384 BCE

    Plato wrote Euthydemus

    He defined mathematicians as hunters who seek explanations and hunt discoveries. They discover realities such as the principles of calculation and moving objects’ measurements. The work that is done by a mathematician is for good moral purposes.

    3. 380 BCE - Plato wrote Meno. It talks about the difference between knowledge and true belief, and the possibility of learning things without being in a classroom setting. It connects seeking knowledge to investigation and the method of hypotheses.
  • 380 BCE

    Plato wrote Meno.

    It talks about the difference between knowledge and true belief, and the possibility of learning things without being in a classroom setting. It connects seeking knowledge to investigation and the method of hypotheses.
  • 369 BCE

    Plato wrote Theaetetus.

    It carries a dialogue between mathematics teacher and a boy about the concept of knowledge.
  • 360 BCE

    Plato wrote The Republic.

  • 360 BCE

    Plato wrote Philebus

    It philosophically defines limits as a comparison between two things. He defines things as limitless when they are associated with the words “more” or “less”. He defines things as limited when they are associated with fixed numbers. Classifying things to limited and unlimited is something imposed by human nature.
  • 360 BCE

    Plato wrote Timaeus.

    He talked about the beauty of mathematics and its connection to Good. He thought the order and organization that is offered by mathematics is good for the mind. Because it is based on rationale, the mathematical work is easily absorbed by others. If the mathematical calculation is properly done, it guarantees that one has the truth which puts someone’s in a peaceful mind.
  • 300 BCE

    Euclid, a Greek philosopher, thought that light was emitted from the eye which allowed us to see objects.

    Euclid also described the law of reflection as “a light ray travels in a straight line and reflects from surfaces at the same angle at which it hits them (the surfaces)”.
  • 984

    Ibn Sahl, an Arab scientist, put together the law of refraction

    He found the ratio between indices of refraction of the two mediums, but he did not go deep to calculate the speed of light.
  • 1000

    Ibn Alhaitham, another Arab scientist, discovered how the eye works and contradicted Euclid.

    He said that we see objects because the light rays reflect from them and enter the eye. He was able to demonstrate the laws of refraction and reflection through lenses and mirrors.
  • Huygens, a Dutch physicist and mathmagician, assumed the speed of light is finite before it was proven by Rome. This reminded Huygens of water waves that move at a certain speed. As a result, he went to investigate the nature of light.

    Explanation of the Huygens' wave theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqa4L0DuWbM
  • Using the telescope, Ole Romer was almost able to calculate the speed of light after six months of observations.

    The speed of light that be obtained was approximately 200,000 m/s.
  • Newton published his idea of light as a stream of particles, called corpuscles.

  • Foucault was able to measure the speed of light

    He was able to measure the speed of light to be 299,796 Km/s in the air using an apparatus that contains a fixed mirror in front of a rotating mirror.