Aryabhata

Indian mathematician-astronomer

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Momentum6.7
India rank#196
Academics rank#172
Wikipedia23.1K

Lived 476–550, aged 74India

India AcademicsAcademic

Wikipedia
91 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in India
#196
Academics
Era
476–550
Aged 74

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

A fifth-century mathematician who calculated pi to four decimal places, explained eclipses without mythology, and described Earth's rotation a thousand years before Copernicus — all while most of the world still thought the planet sat still.

Biography

About

Born in 476 CE, Aryabhata published the Āryabhaṭīya at twenty-three, a text that would anchor Indian astronomy for centuries. In it he laid out the place-value system, solved quadratic equations, and computed sine tables with startling precision. He also wrote the Arya-siddhanta, now lost. His assertion that Earth rotates on its axis — and that celestial motion is relative to the observer — marked him as an early physicist, not just a stargazer with an abacus. He died in 550, leaving a body of work that traveled as far as the Islamic world and beyond.

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Aryabhata

Aryabhata

saidundated

The globe of the Earth stands supportless in space...

— Aryabhata, (Aryabhatiya, Gola 6-7), quoted in C. K. Raju. Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the

Aryabhata

saidundated

When sixty times sixty years and three quarter yugas (of the current yuga) had elapsed, twenty three years had then passed since my birth.

— quoted in : Bhaskar Kamble, The Imperishable Seed: How Hindu Mathematics Changed the World and why this History was Erased, Garuda

Aryabhata

saidundated

100 plus 4, multiplied by 8, and added to 62,000: this is the nearly approximate measure of the circumference of a circle whose diameter is 20,000.

— According to the verse, Aryabhata’s value of π equals ((100+4)×8 + 62000)/20000, which is 3.1416. Ganitapada 10

Aryabhata

saidundated

caturadhikam śatamaṣṭaguṇam dvāṣaṣṭistathā sahasrāṇāmayutadvayaviṣkambhasyāsanno vṛttapariṇāhaḥ.

Aryabhata

saidundated

Translates to: Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000. By this rule the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 20,000 can be approached.

— In: Arijit Roy The Enigma of Creation and Destruction, Author House, 28 October 2011, p. 27

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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