Mary Baker Eddy mentions the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid three times in her published works. And Abraham Lincoln, as a horseback lawyer in rural Illinois, carried a copy of Euclid’s book The Elements in his saddlebag. It makes one wonder: Who was Euclid, and why did his book reach through a thousand editions to Lincoln’s saddlebag, Mrs. Eddy’s writings, and our age?
Euclid, whose name means “good glory,” brought the power of axiom and deductive logic to math and science. Over the centuries, he has been honored as the father of geometry. He was born about 330 bc into that flourishing of Greek culture known as the Hellenistic era. He taught at its epicenter—the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt. He is best known for The Elements, a 13-volume systematic compilation of the geometry, mathematics, and science known at his time. In fact, it was used as the main textbook for teaching geometry until the late 19th century.
Euclid structured his mathematical development with the axiomatic method, considered by some to be the book’s most influential feature. This logical method first lays a foundation of self-evident propositions, or axioms. It then presents, proves, and demonstrates every theorem as a deduction from these propositions.
