Epicurus began lifeless on the small island of Samos in the great Aegean Sea. He was born in February 341 BCE as the second of four brothers to two poor clerics, shamed Athenian citizens who settled in Greek territories. Epicurus' early childhood may have left him distraught, but his philosophies made it seem as if he had lived his entire life in the great palace of Alexander the Great. Epicurus' main goal was to maximize pleasure, which he believed was only possible by removing all pain. This pain was not only present in the body but also in the mind and soul, defining to a greater extent the pleasure that also extended to friendships and ideals. Epicurus grew up during the Hellenistic period, a time when Alexander the Great conquered Greece, the Persian Empire, and Egypt and spread Greek culture far to the east. This period was also a time of great philosophical evolution, making Epicurus fortunate to be a philosopher at the time. Epicurus' second most important concept was that of the atomic gap. He did not believe in destiny because it was a determined and inevitable path for humans. This is why, under the influence of Democritus' atomic system, Epicurus created the atomic gap, or "clinamen", a concept in which atoms deviated from their determined position. paths to leave a certain chance for the future. This is a widely accepted approach to physics in today's scientific world – 21st century science. Epicurus lived in Greece in the 3rd century BCE and his theories were based on philosophies created even before his time, making them seemingly irrelevant to today's contemporary world. However, the views of modern physics and psychology support Epicurus's theories on ple...... middle of article ......m_staticxt>.3) Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's world. New York: Berkley, 1997. Print.4) Tiegreen, Chris. Why a suffering world makes sense. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006. Print.5) Epicure. “Principal Doctrines.” The Monadnock Press. Trans. Pierre Saint-André. October 8, 2011. The web. December 1, 2011. .6) Dean, Jeremy. “Hedonist Philosopher Epicurus Was Right About Happiness (Mostly) – PsyBlog.” Psychology Blog. December 31, 2007. Web. December 1, 2011. .7) “Epicure”. The Philosopher of Information - Dedicated to the new philosophy of information. Internet. December 1, 2011. .8) "Nausiphanes - Epicurus Wiki." Epicure Wiki. June 14, 2007. the web. December 1. 2011. .