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300 BCE
Euclid's Elements
Euclid publishes his seminal work, Elements, where he lays the foundation for geometry for the rest of history. It is here where he lays out his five postulates, used to define planar geometry. -
Gauss Doubts Euclid
Carl Friedrich Gauss receives a letter from Ferdinand Karl Schweikart in which Schweikart lays out his ideas of “Astral Geometry”. These ideas align with Gauss’s own thoughts about an “Anti-Euclidean Geometry”, but neither are willing to publish their work. -
Janos Bolyai Develops a New Geometry
Janos Bolyai writes to his father, Farkas Bolyai, who had also investigated the truth of Euclid’s fifth postulate, saying that he has made a groundbreaking discovery and developed a new system of geometry. -
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Non-Euclidean Geometry Finds Application
Einstein makes use of Riemann’s formulation of different geometries based on different assumptions in his theory of gravity. This theory greatly increases the accuracy of a variety of astronomical calculations, making non-euclidean much more widely accepted.
