About
The author of Boxing Pythagoras is a professional computer scientist and martial arts instructor, as well as an amateur mathematician, historian, and philosopher. He is happily married to a beautiful and intelligent chemical engineer, and together they live in New Jersey with their three cats.
This blog was started as a sort of sounding board for his ideas on a wide range of topics, from Algebra to Zoroastrianism. He has some recurring themes, including the Lessons from Odin series and frequent answers to the claims of William Lane Craig (and other apologists), but he has no qualms about completely shifting gears to discuss any topic which he might find interesting.
The following articles may help foster a better understanding of the author and goals of Boxing Pythagoras:
- Introduction to Boxing Pythagoras
- The Story of My Rationalism
- Why I am not a Christian
- Why I am a godless Heathen
Boxing Pythagoras 
“Pythagoras won bout after bout, and was crowned victorious at the 48th Olympiad.”
Is it authentic?
To be perfectly honest, it’s fairly dubious. There was, indeed, a Pythagoras of Samos who was crowned victorious in boxing at the 48th Olympiad. While that would be right about the correct time for the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos, the claim from Diogenes Laertius that these two men were the same Pythagoras came 800 years later. The attribution could very easily have been a misplaced one, and it’s very possible there were two different men from the same city with the same name at around the same time, each of whom was very well-known for different achievements.
I chose to present the legend as Diogenes Laertius represented it because it encapsulates my three passions– martial arts, mathematics, and philosophy– in a single story. I could, possibly, have achieved similar results with “Wrestling Plato,” since we have first-hand accounts from Plato, himself, that he was a wrestler; but I have a special appreciation for Pythagoras, so I decided to propagate the legend.
Thanks for the clarification.
Regards