Definition:Conic Section/Historical Note

Historical Note on Conic Section

The conic sections were first studied, by Menaechmus in around $\text {350 BCE}$.

He was the first to identify them as different types of slices through a right circular cone.

Other early investigations were made by Conon of Samos at around $\text {245 BCE}$.

Apollonius of Perga made an extensive study of them in around $\text {225 BCE}$, the results of which he published his book Conics.

He demonstrated rigorously that they can all be generated by different sections of the surface of a right circular cone.

Apollonius of Perga was also the first to recognise that a double napped cone is used to generate the hyperbola.

In the $17$th century, conic sections were initially investigated using the techniques of analytic geometry.

This was mainly initiated by Jan de Witt, who introduced the focus-directrix property in around $\text {1659}$ – $\text {61}$.

This was also done independently by John Wallis in $\text {1655}$.