Archimedes by Lancelot Law Whyte — Read

One of the most fascinating features in the history of thought is that on several occasions an important new idea has come simultaneously to independent minds. Thus after Euclid's geometry had remained without a rival for two thousand years the conception of an alternative non-Euclidean system was reached separately by Gauss, Lobatschewsky, and Bolyai during the years 1820-30. Bolyai's father, while ignorant of the fact that Gauss had already made the same discoveries, wrote to his son urging him to publish his results and used the following prophetic words:

"There is some truth in this, that many things have an epoch, in which they are found at the same time in several places, just as the violets appear on every side in the spring."