Ptolemy birth and death
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The story of Ptolemy, the ancient astronomer who shaped our view of the cosmos for centuries
Claudius Ptolemaeus (circa AD 100–170), better known as Ptolemy, was a Greco-Roman astronomer, mathematician, geographer and cartographer.
He was a citizen of Alexandria, Egypt, in the 2nd century AD.
Although his writings influenced astronomy for over a millennium – not always correctly – very little is known about his life.
Ptolemy's Almagest and geocentrism
Ptolemy devoted most of his time and effort to astronomy.
His first major work was the 13-volume Almagest, meaning ‘the greatest’ and known to him as the Mathematike Syntaxis (The Mathematical Collection).
It was a synthesis of all the results obtained by Greek astronomy up to then, especially the earlier findings of Hipparchus, providing a model for astronomical functions and movements of heavenly bodies.
In the Almagest, he introduced the geocentric system, arguing that Earth was stationary at the centre of a large crystalline celestial sphere – the Universe – around which the stars and planets orbited in a broade
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Quick Info
Egypt
Alexandria, Egypt
Biography
One of the most influential Greek astronomers and geographers of his time, Ptolemy propounded the geocentric theory in a form that prevailed for 1400 years. However, of all the ancient Greek mathematicians, it is fair to say that his work has generated more discussion and argument than any other. We shall discuss the arguments below for, depending on which are correct, they portray Ptolemy in very different lights. The arguments of some historians show that Ptolemy was a mathematician of the very top rank, arguments of others show that he was no more than a superb expositor, but far worse, some even claim that he committed a crime against his fellow scientists by betraying the ethics and integrity of his profession.We know very little of Ptolemy's life. He made astronomical observations from Alexa
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Ptolemy
Roman astronomer and geographer (c. 100–170)
For other uses, see Ptolemy (disambiguation).
Claudius Ptolemy (; Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖος, Ptolemaios; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. 100 – 160s/170s AD)[1] was an Alexandrian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist[2] who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine, Islamic, and Western European science. The first was his astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest, originally entitled Mathematical Treatise (Greek: Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, Mathēmatikḗ Syntaxis). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion on maps and the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristoteliannatural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes known as the Apotelesmatika (Greek: Αποτελεσματικά, lit. 'On the Effects') but more commonly known as the Tetrábiblos, from the Koine Greek meaning "Four Book
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