This article is about the Greek philosopher. For the mythological characters called Hippasus, see Hippasus (mythology).
Hippasus, engraving by Girolamo Olgiati, 1580
Hippasus of Metapontum (/ˈhɪpəsəs/; Greek: Ἵππασος ὁ Μεταποντῖνος, Híppasos; c. 530 – c. 450 BC)[1] was a Greek philosopher and early follower of Pythagoras.[2][3] Little is known about his life or his beliefs, but he is sometimes credited with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers. The discovery of irrational numbers is said to have been shocking to the Pythagoreans, and Hippasus is supposed to have drowned at sea, apparently as a punishment from the gods for divulging this and crediting it to himself instead of Pythagoras which was the norm in Pythagorean society. However, the few ancient sources who describe this story either do not mention Hippasus by name (e.g. Pappus)[4][full citation needed] or alternatively tell that Hippasus drowned because he revealed how to construct a dodecahedron inside a sphere.[citation needed] The discovery of irrationality is not specifically ascribed to Hippasus by any ancient writer.
^Huffman, Carl A. (1993). Philolaus of Croton: Pythagorean and Presocratic. Cambridge University Press. p. 8.
^"Hippasus of Metapontum | Greek philosopher". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^Iamblichus (1918). The life of Pythagoras (1918 translation ed.). p. 327.
^William Thompson. The Commentary of Pappus on Book X of Euclid's Elements(PDF).
this story either do not mention Hippasus by name (e.g. Pappus)[full citation needed] or alternatively tell that Hippasus drowned because he revealed how...
ratios.' Another legend states that Hippasus was merely exiled for this revelation. Whatever the consequence to Hippasus himself, his discovery posed a very...
Eurystheus. Ceyx's son Hippasus accompanied Heracles on his campaign against King Eurytus of Oechalia, during which Hippasus was slain in battle. Ceyx...
was chosen by lot to offer a sacrifice to Dionysus, gave up her own son Hippasus, whom the sisters tore to pieces. The sisters afterwards roamed over the...
Pythagorean Hippasus of Metapontum, who produced a (most likely geometrical) proof of the irrationality of the square root of 2. The story goes that Hippasus discovered...
certainty about the time or circumstances of this discovery, but the name of Hippasus of Metapontum is often mentioned. For a while, the Pythagoreans treated...
comparison of integer multiples of a common subunit. According to one legend, Hippasus of Metapontum (ca. 470 B.C.) was drowned at sea for making known the existence...
certainty about the time or circumstances of this discovery, but the name of Hippasus of Metapontum is often mentioned. For a while, the Pythagoreans treated...
Dyspontos, Pelops the younger, Argeius, Dias, Aelius, Corinthus, Cynosurus and Hippasus. Four of their daughters married into the House of Perseus: Astydameia...
volunteer and at his own accord Actor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 4 Pellene, Peloponnesus son of Hippasus Admetus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 7 Pherae son of Pheres and Periclymene; his flocks...
of Samos Leucippus Democritus Anaxagoras Empedocles Alcmaeon of Croton Hippasus Diogenes of Apollonia Plato Eudoxus of Cnidus Speusippus Xenocrates Aristotle...
Diogenes Laërtius quotes from an undoubtedly spurious letter from Lysis to Hippasus as an authority for some statements concerning Damo. Pausanias, ix. 13...
Pythagoreans, but because the mathēmatikoi allegedly followed the teachings of Hippasus, the akousmatikoi philosophers did not recognise them. Despite this, both...
ISBN 0-03-029558-0. Kurt Von Fritz (1945). "The Discovery of Incommensurability by Hippasus of Metapontum". The Annals of Mathematics. Choike, James R. (1980). "The...
of integers. (This is commonly though probably erroneously ascribed to Hippasus of Metapontum, who is said to have been executed for revealing this fact...
Colchis. In two separate accounts, Hypso was called their mother while Hippasus was said to be their father. Amphion of Elis, an Achaean warrior who took...
ISBN 0-03-029558-0. Kurt Von Fritz (1945). "The Discovery of Incommensurability by Hippasus of Metapontum". Classics in the History of Greek Mathematics. Annals of...
Pythagorean school. Although some accounts attribute the discovery to Hippasus, the specific contributor remains uncertain due to the scarcity of primary...
Thebes. Hippomedon, father of Ereuthalion. Hippomedon, son of Maenalus (or Hippasus) and the nymph Ocyrhoe, a defender of Troy killed by Neoptolemus. Hippomedon...
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