Aristarchus of Samos The Ancient Copernicus

by Heath, Sir Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780486438863
• ISBN10: 0486438864
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-09
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

This classic work traces Aristarchus of Samos's anticipation by two millennia of Copernicus's revolutionary theory of the orbital motion of the earth. Heath's history of astronomy ranges from Homer and Hesiod to Aristarchus and includes quotes from numerous thinkers, compilers, and scholasticists from Thales and Anaximander through Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclides. 34 figures.

Author Biography

Thomas Little Heath: Bringing the Past to Life
Thomas Little Heath (1861–1940) was unusual for an authority on many esoteric, and many less esoteric, subjects in the history of mathematics in that he was never a university professor. The son of an English farmer from Lincolnshire, Heath demonstrated his academic gifts at a young age; studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1879 to 1882; came away with numerous awards; and obtained the top grade in the 1884 English Civil Service examination. From that foundation, he went to work in the English Treasury, rose through the ranks, and by 1913, was permanent secretary to the Treasury, effectively the head of its operations. He left that post in 1919 at the end of the first World War, worked several years at the National Debt office, and retired in 1926.

During all of that time, however, he became independently one of the world's leading authorities on the history of mathematics, especially on the history of ancient Greek mathematics. Heath's three-volume edition of Euclid is still the standard, it is generally accepted that it is primarily through Heath's great work on Archimedes that the accomplishments of Archimedes are known as well as they are.

Dover has reprinted these and other books by Heath, preserving over several decades a unique legacy in the history of mathematical scholarship.

In the Author's Own Words:
"The works of Archimedes are without exception, monuments of mathematical exposition; the gradual revelation of the plan of attack, the masterly ordering of the propositions, the stern elimination of everything not immediately relevant to the purpose, the finish of the whole, are so impressive in their perfection as to create a feeling akin to awe in the mind of the reader." — Thomas L. Heath

Table of Contents

PART I GREEK ASTRONOMY TO ARISTARCHUS OF SAMOS
I. SOURCES OF THE HISTORY	1	(6)
II. HOMER AND HESIOD	7	(5)
III. THALES	12	(12)
IV. ANAXIMANDER	24	(16)
V. ANAXIMENES	40	(6)
VI. PYTHAGORAS	46	(6)
VII. XENOPHANES	52	(7)
VIII. HERACLITUS	59	(3)
IX. PARMENIDES	62	(16)
X. ANAXAGORAS	78	(8)
XI. EMPEDOCLES	86	(8)
XII. THE PYTHAGOREANS	94	(27)
XIII. THE ATOMISTS, LEUCIPPUS AND DEMOCRITUS	121	(9)
XIV. OENOPIDES	130	(4)
XV. PLATO	134	(56)
XVI. THE THEORY OF CONCENTRIC SPHERES-EUDOXUS, CALLIPPUS, AND ARISTOTLE	190	(35)
XVII. ARISTOTLE (continued)	225	(24)
XVIII. HERACLIDES OF PONTUS	249	(35)
XIX. GREEK MONTHS, YEARS, AND CYCLES	284	(15)
PART II ARISTARCHUS ON THE SIZES AND DISTANCES OF THE SUN AND MOON
I. ARISTARCHUS OF SAMOS	299	(18)
II. THE TREATISE ON SIZES AND DISTANCES-HISTORY OF THE TEXT AND EDITIONS	317	(11)
III. CONTENT OF THE TREATISE	328	(9)
IV. LATER IMPROVEMENTS ON ARISTARCHUS'S CALCULATIONS	337	(14)
GREEK TEXT, TRANSLATION, AND NOTES	351	(64)
INDEX	415