Pythagoras (570-495 BC) was a Greek philosopher born on the island of Samos.  His political and religious teachings influenced the philosophers Plato and Aristotle and through them western philosophy.

The teaching most identified with Pythagoras is metempsychosis, where every soul is immortal and upon death enters a new body. 

In antiquity Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific discoveries, including the Pythagorean theorem, Pythagorean tuning, the five regular solids, the Theory of Proportions, the sphericity of the earth and the identity of the morning and evening stars as the planet Venus.

Pythagoras continued to be regarded as a great philosopher throughout the middle ages and his philosophy had a major impact on scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton.