We know very little about Ptolemy's life. He made some astronomical observations from Alexandria, Egypt during the years AD127-41. In fact, the first observation which we can date exactly was made by Ptolemy on 26 March 127 while the last was made on 2 February 141. It was claimed by Theodore Melitenotes in around 1360 that Ptolemy was born in Heriou but since this claim first appears long after Ptolemy had already died, it is very unlikely its actually true. In fact, there is no evidence that Ptolemy was anywhere other than Alexandria.
His name, Claudius Ptolemy, is of course a mixture of the Greek Egyptian "Ptolemy" and the Roman "Claudius". This wound indicate that he was part of a Greek bloodline living in Egypt and he was a citizen of Rome, which would end up as a Roman Emperor giving that 'reward' to one of Ptolemy's ancestors.
We are aware that Ptolemy used observations made by 'Theon the Mathematician’, and this was almost certainly Theon of Smyrna who was most likely his mentor. This would make sense figuring Theon was both an observer and a mathematician who had written astronomical topics such as conjunctions, eclipses, occultation's, and transits. Most of his earliest work are dedicated to Syrus who may have also mentored him at a point in this scientific discoveries, but nothing was ever
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It is a view of the world based on fixed earth around which the sphere of the fixed earth around which the sphere of the certain stars rotates around, this carrying with it the spheres of the sun, moon, and planets, using combinations of circular motion known as epicycles. Having set up this model, Ptolemy then goes on to describe the mathematics which he need in the rest of the work. In particular he introduces trigonometrical methods based on the chord function CRD(which is like the sine function by sin a = (CRD
In his book, Repcheck recounts how a Catholic Church cleric invented a highly complicated theory of the heavens’ architecture. Copernicus made a breakthrough by solving a significant astronomical problem. Everybody except the astronomers had earlier accepted Aristotle’s concept that heavenly objects revolved around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. The astronomers were opposed to this notion since their calculations could not work according to it. Repcheck introduces Ptolemy who described a cosmos in which the earth positioned itself somewhat off-center and other heavenly bodies revolved in one circular orbit inside a second ideal circle at changeable speeds. Even though Ptolemy’s model was rather complicated, astronomers found it to be reasonable in their calculations. Astronomers were still using this new concept even 1500 years later. In this regard, the author starts to bring Copernicus into the picture.
Ptolemy of Alexandria, the Influential Astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria was the most influential astronomer of the ancient world. The books and theories Ptolemy developed served as a major basis for future astronomers. It was during the Renaissance period that his work became thoroughly studied and revised. Ptolemy collected all ancient knowledge of astronomy and geography including it in his book Almagest around 140 A.D. It follows, he then wrote a four volume astrological study known as the Tretrabiblos.
In document C, Ptolemy had a theory where the Earth was the center of the Solar System. Other scientists also had this theory when they were examining the stars and Earth's rotation. But other scientists figured out that the Sun was the center of the Solar System instead of Earth. Document D shows the zodiacs and how the stars lining up. These documents show how advance the people in the Renaissance were. Ptolemy and Copernicus were very advanced as well when they had their theories on the Solar System. Also when they would use the stars and constellations for the zodiac symbolizations (Doc
He used mathematics and observations to develop his understanding of the universe. This was key, because it showed how science could explain things instead of the church. As stated in (Document C) Ptolemy was a Roman astronomer who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, shortly after the time of Jesus. He developed a theory of the universe that was adapted by most scholars during the Middle Ages. Catholicism was the main view point of the way the world worked. Also that many different people had their own theories of the universe and the way the world
Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Thorn, Poland. He was the youngest son of four children and the son of a prosperous merchant. Following his father's death, his Uncle Lukas Watzelrode, bishop of Ermland, adopted him. Copernicus began his studies in Thorn and then at the University of Cracow where he studied mathematics and became very interested in humanistic studies.1 Copernicus left Cracow for Italy where he went to the Universities of Bologna and later Padua. He studied many different subjects including mathematics, canon law, and astronomy. Copernicus received a degree in medicine at the University of Padua, and went on to receive his doctorate from the University of Ferrara in canon law.
Ptolemy also based on ancient astronomy significantly which the Earth sphericty recognized to him. The sphericty of the earth contain Saint Bede the Venerable in his account of the time, and wrote about 723 AD and this belief was reflected by the Christian writers.
One excerpt is from the previously mentioned Dialogue of the Two Chief World Systems (1632) in which Galileo debates the arguments of Aristotle and Potelmy against those of Copernicus through three characters, Salviati, Sagredo and Simplicio. On day three of the arguments, Salviati, Sagredo and Simplicio debate heliocentrism. Simplicio applies to Ptolemy’s zodiacal philosophy in claiming that the earth is the center of the universe: “…if the terrestrial globe should move in the course of a year along the circumference of a circle, namely, along the zodiac, it would be impossible for it to be simultaneously at the center of the zodiac” (Finnochiaro 2008, 234). In retaliation, Salviati appeals to observation. He says that all the planets are sometimes different distances from the earth. Salviati states that Aristotle was wrong in his thinking that all the planets are an equal distance from earth (Finnochiaro 2008, 236). To explain his point in more detail, Salviati has Simplicio draw a diagram according to the observation of the heavenly bodies. “… the heavenly bodies have been arranged just as in the Copernican system, and you have done this yourself” (Finnochiaro 2008, 240). In the Dialogue, Galileo has Salviati use observation to explain to Simplicio that recent discoveries are more in line with the Copernican view and that in turn, heliocentrism should be seen as more credible and valid in the scientific
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E, Ptolemy I established control over Egypt, leading to the dawn of the Ptolemaic dynasty’s dominion. The Ptolemies then went on to rule Egypt for almost three centuries, creating a Hellenistic Egypt that became the intellectual and cultural center of the Mediterranean. The family, which was of Macedonian aristocratic descent, took advantage of Ptolemy I’s connection to Alexander and their possession of his body, in one historian’s words, to buy themselves “ a legitimacy-conferring past, the ancient-world equivalent of the mail-order coat of arms” .
In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish Canon, published “On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs”. The popular view is that Copernicus discovered that the earth revolves around the sun. The notion is as old as the ancient Greeks however. This work was entrusted by Copernicus to Osiander, a staunch Protestant who though the book would most likely be condemned and, as a result, the book would be condemned. Osiander therefore wrote a preface to the book, in which heliocentrism was presented only as a theory which would account for the movements of the planets more simply than geocentrism did, one that was not meant to be a definitive description of the heavens--something Copernicus did not intend. The preface was unsigned, and everyone took it to be the author’s. That Copernicus believed the helioocentric theory to be a true description of reality went largely unnoticed. In addition to the preface, this was partly because he still made reassuring use of Ptolemy's cycles and epicycles; he also borrowed from Aristotle the notion that the planets must move in circles because that is the only perfect form of motion.
Ptolemy XII ruled until his death in 51 BC. His will said that Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII were heirs to the throne. The two married and jointly ruled Egypt. Ptolemy II had established these brother-sister marriages as custom, when he married his sister Arsinoe II. Cleopatra and her brother ruled jointly, though the marriage was solely in law. Cleopatra was about 18, and Ptolemy XIII was about 10. They were named King and Queen of Egypt in 51 BC. Cleopatra did most of the ruling and left her brother out it.
Within Ptolemy’s 13 part series, Mathematike, Syntaxis, and Mathematical Composition, he, “developed a theory of the universe which claims that the earth is stationary and all the planets and stars revolve around it,” (Document C). Ptolemy’s theory was accepted as the standard view of the universe, until Nicolaus Copernicus’ astronomical studies were published in 1543. Copernicus’ theory was the “simplest,” and “most accurate,” (Document C); it encompassed that the Sun is at rest near the center of the Universe, and that the Earth, spinning on its axis once daily, revolves annually around the Sun. The heliocentric, or Sun-centered, system is still used today, and without these discoveries we would not be as advanced as we are
Ptolemy, was a Roman astronomer who lived about 100 years after the time of jesus created a diagram of how he thought the universe worked, geocentric. On the contrary, Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543 relied mostly on mathematics, referring to the universe as being heliocentric. Copernicus's theory of the universe was upsetting to the church on account of his ideas being based more on mathematics rather than the church’ beliefs. Copernicus made the perspective of man's dominance in a powerful world show to be no longer
Aristarchus lived from about the year 310 B.C. to about 230 B.C. Aristarchus was the first Greek philosopher and mathematician to make sense of the solar system. Others before him thought that the Earth is a sphere and that it moves, but he was the first to understand the heliocentric theory, which states that the sun is in the middle. In 288 or 287 B.C. he followed Theophrastus as the head of the Peripatetic School established by Aristotle.
Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as vital indicators for planting and harvesting times, safe or stormy season for sailing, or time to bring the flocks from winter to summer pastures. With our millennia of such observation behind us, we sometimes forget that seeing and recording anything less obvious than the rough position of sun or nightly change of moon phase requires inventing both accurate observation tools (a stone circle, a gnomon used to indicate the sun's shadow, a means to measure the position of stars in the sky) and a system of recording that could be understood by others. The ancient Greeks struggled with these problems too, using both native technology and inquiry, and drawing upon the large body of observations and theories gradually gleaned from their older neighbors across the sea, Egypt and Babylonia. Gradually moving from a system of gods and divine powers ordering the world to a system of elements, mathematics, and physical laws, the Greeks slowly adapted old ideas to fit into a less supernatural, hyper-rational universe.
How was the modern model of the solar system formed? Many of its elements come from Nicholaus Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. Summarized briefly, the heliocentric model of the solar system portrays the sun as the center of the solar system with the planets revolving around it. This is contrary to the older and more primitive geocentric model which portrays the Earth as the center of the solar system instead. Nicholaus Copernicus’ theory regarding the movement of the planets and the position of the sun and Earth has had a profound effect on the scientific understanding of the solar system. His ideas were originally met with opposition due to religious beliefs of the time. By publishing his theory, Copernicus set the stage for a drastic and positive change in scientific and religious beliefs.