Aristarchus of Samos. (Sir Thomas Heath, ed. Dorothy Whitelock, intro.)
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 1997 (reprint of 1913 edition).
Cloth, dj.
Book Number 17620
Sir Thomas Heath (1861-1940) was a leading authority on ancient mathematics, renowned for individual works on Apollonius of Perga, Archimedes and Euclid, and for his histories of Greek mathematics and astronomy. In this book he presents the Greek text of Aristarchus'treatise "On the sizes and distances of the Sun and Moon", with English translation, notes and commentary. Aristarchus (c.310-230 BC) is credited, on the authority of Archimedes, with the heliocentric hypothesis: he was in fact the originator of the Copernican hypothesis. To substantiate this claim, Heath traces every step in the progress towards Aristarchus'hypothesis, presenting a complete history of Greek astronomy up to Aristarchus before going on to the critical edition of his treatise.