Definition:Number Theory/Historical Note

Historical Note on Number Theory
The field of number theory is considered by some to be one of the oldest branches of mathematics in history.

At the time of, there existed a mass of unstructured information on the subject dating back to the Babylonians and ancient Egyptians.

and his followers believed that all the phenomena in the Universe could be explained by the study of the natural numbers.

Some of the first serious results are found in, thinly disguised as geometry.

developed the ideas into a distinct branch of mathematics.

The field was founded in its modern form by in his pioneering work in the $17$th century.

However, most of his discoveries are known about only because he wrote about them to his friends, or (famously) jotted them down in the margins of his copy of 's.

For many of these, his proofs were never recorded, and when he died they were lost forever.

Nobody else was able to follow him until and  in the following century.

The field was properly placed on a firm footing by the work of in his.

The field was advanced significantly by.