" [Brumbaugh 17] Plato once said. Starting the university gave them a place to learn and converse with other great minds of their time as well as teaching them knowledge you were not able to acquire anywhere else. [Brumbaugh 18] .

             Plato was the first to do this. He was born in 427 BC and was a devoted disciple of Socrates. When Socrates was executed he dedicated himself to philosophy. He left Athens and traveled to Egypt, Sicily and Italy. In Italy he learned of the work of Pythagoras and came to appreciate the value of mathematics. This was when he formed his idea of mathematics being the most precise and definite thinking we are capable of [Field]. On his return Plato founded The Academy, possibly the first university ever established. He remained at The Academy for the rest of his life. His reasons for setting it up were connected with the young men who would become statesmen. He believed these men would be able to improve the political leadership of the cities in Greece if they were able to attend a university that taught them values that Plato believed in. .

             Plato also spent time in Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II, the new ruler. Dion, Dionysius's brother, had persuaded him to come so he could train Dionysius in science and philosophy so he would be able to prevent Carthage from invading Sicily. This plan however did not work; Dion was forced out of Syracuse.

             Plato's main contributions were to philosophy, mathematics and science, although his contributions to the theories of education were shown by how he ran The Academy. His belief that mathematics provides the finest training for the mind was extremely important in developing the subject. Over the door of The Academy it was written, "Let no one unversed in geometry enter here." [Fowler 2] Plato's works were perhaps the most consistently popular and influential philosophic writings ever published. They consisted of a series of dialogues in which his discussions with Socrates are presented.