Las infinitas vidas de Euclides

It would be difficult to find a more influential book in the history of culture than Euclid's Elements. Over two thousand three hundred years, its power has gone beyond mathematics and science to exert a notable influence in areas such as art, literature or philosophy. Countless readers have been trapped by his wisdom about space and its properties, in an endless world of abstract beauty and pure ideas. Few artifacts survive the collapse of the culture that spawned them; Few texts survive the disappearance of the language in which they are written. The Elements has survived both; in fact, we can say that it has not only survived, but has thrived while going through an incredibly diverse series of situations. The sculptors on the west façade of Chartres Cathedral represented Euclid; the Abbasid sages of Baghdad translated his book; an Athenian philosopher wrote about him, and an American artist turned diagrams of him into works of art. In addition to these examples chosen from among many throughout the history of mankind, the Elements played a relevant role in the scientific revolution, whose foundation was the decision to read the book of nature as if it were written in the language of the math. Generation after generation has discovered the Elements in new places and been inspired by them to create. In short, Euclid's work has traveled through worlds that the Greeks who wrote and read the text for the first time could not even imagine. This journey of twenty-three centuries has been fascinating. Join us and you will find out.