Mathematician:Aristarchus of Samos

Mathematician

Greek astronomer and mathematician who used parallax to determine the relative distances of the moon and the sun.

His result was inaccurate, based as it was on faulty input data, but the method was sound.

One of the first to suggest a heliocentric universe.

Nationality

Greek

History

• Born: 310 BCE, Greece
• Died: 230 BCE, Greece

Inventions

• Apparently invented a sundial in the shape of a hemispherical bowl.

Publications

• c. 260 BCE: Περὶ μεγεθῶν καὶ ἀποστημάτων ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης (On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon)

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Aristarchus of Samos": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.5$: Archimedes (ca. $\text {287}$ – $\text {212}$ B.C.)
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Aristarchus of Samos (c.310-c.250 bc)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Aristarchus of Samos (c.310-c.250 bc)
• 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $5$: Eternal Triangles: The origins of trigonometry
• 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Aristarchus of Samos (about 270 bc)
• 2021: Richard Earl and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (6th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Aristarchus of Samos (about 270 bc)