Who is Plato from Plato's Phaedo and what is their importance?

Plato was Socrates's greatest student and one of Athens's most important citizens. It is widely held by historians and classicists that Socrates was a real person and that Plato was his student. However, Socrates and Plato had different views on many matters and in many cases it is not entirely clear what Socrates's position was.