# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/hippasus
# Generated: 2026-09-01T12:43:56.420Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/hippasus"
name: "Hippasus"
slug: "hippasus"
description: "A Pythagorean who may have proved that some numbers can't be written as fractions — and according to legend, the gods drowned him for it."
tagline: "5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Hippasus_Metapontinus_-_Illustrium_philosophorum_et_sapientum_effigies_ab_eorum_numistatibus_extractae.png"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Italy"
  isoCode: "IT"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "-600"
deathDate: "-500"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           53.81
  momentum:             0.4580947423217074
  historical:           22.68363866666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Academics"
    slug: "academics"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "Mathematics"
    slug: "mathematics"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Ancient History"
    slug: "ancient-history"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q298860"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasus"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Hippasus"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metapontal%C4%B1_Hippas"
    title: "Metapontalı Hippas"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8"
    title: "ইপ্পিয়াস"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipasus"
    title: "Hipasus"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipas_de_Metapont"
    title: "Hipas de Metapont"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%BE%DB%8C%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B3"
    title: "ھیپاسوس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasos_z_Metapontu"
    title: "Hippasos z Metapontu"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasos"
    title: "Hippasos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasos_von_Metapont"
    title: "Hippasos von Metapont"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%8A%CF%80%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%BF%CF%82"
    title: "Ίππασος"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippaso_(filozofo)"
    title: "Hippaso (filozofo)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%ADpaso_de_Metaponto"
    title: "Hípaso de Metaponto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipaso"
    title: "Hipaso"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ext.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipasu"
    title: "Ipasu"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%DB%8C%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B3"
    title: "هیپاسوس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasos"
    title: "Hippasos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippase_de_M%C3%A9taponte"
    title: "Hippase de Métaponte"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%90%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A1"
    title: "היפאסוס"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasos"
    title: "Hippasos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasos"
    title: "Hippasos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ippaso_(filosofo)"
    title: "Ippaso (filosofo)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%92%E3%83%83%E3%83%91%E3%82%BD%E3%82%B9"
    title: "ヒッパソス"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%9E%88%ED%8C%8C%EC%86%8C%EC%8A%A4"
    title: "히파소스"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ippaso_(filosofo)"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A"
    title: "هيبياسي"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%89"
    title: "هيبياسى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Hippasus of Metapontum was a Greek philosopher and early follower of Pythagoras, active around 530–450 BC. He's sometimes credited with discovering irrational numbers, a finding that would have shattered the Pythagorean belief that all numbers could be expressed as ratios. Ancient sources say he drowned at sea, supposedly as divine punishment — though they disagree on the offense. Some claim he revealed the secret of irrationals and took credit instead of attributing it to Pythagoras, as was customary in the sect. Others say his crime was showing how to fit a dodecahedron inside a sphere. No ancient writer definitively ties him to the discovery of irrationality, and almost nothing else about his life or thought survives.