Mathematician:Eudemus of Rhodes

Mathematician

Ancient Greek philosopher, considered the first historian of science.

A pupil of Aristotle, who edited and interpreted his teacher's work so as to make it more easily accessible.

Not to be confused with Eudemus of Cyprus, who was the subject of a work by Aristotle.

Nationality

Greek

History

• Born: about 370 BCE in Greece
• Died: about 300 BCE

Publications

While we know about these works, only fragments survive.

• On the Angle, which was referred to by Proclus

• Άριθμητικὴ ἱστορία (History of Arithmetics) in $2$ or more volumes, referenced by Porphyry

• Γεωμετρικὴ ἱστορία (History of Geometry) in $2$ or more volumes, referenced widely by later writers. Our knowledge of the work by Hippocrates on the Lune of Hippocrates is known only via here.

• Άστρολογικὴ ἱστορία (History of Astronomy) in $2$ or more volumes, again referenced widely by later writers. The eclipse of the sun predicted by Thales of Miletus appears here. Also contains the work by Eudoxus of Cnidus on concentric spheres.

• Physics, a work in possibly 4 volumes, based on the work by Aristotle.

• On Discourse and possibly two other works on logic.

There are two other works which may also have been by Eudemus, but whose authorship is uncertain:

• History of Theology
• History of Lindos

Also known as

In Greek: Εὔδημος.

Sources

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

• 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.1$: Thales (ca. $\text {625}$ – $\text {547}$ B.C.)