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Autolycus of Pitane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Autolycus of Pitane (ca. 360 BC—d. ca. 290 BC) was a Greek astronomer, mathematician, and geographer. He was born in Pitane, a town of Aeolis, in Asia Minor. Of his personal life nothing is known, but his works seem to have been completed in Athens within the years 335 BC and 300 BC. Autolycus' surviving works include a book on spheres (called On the Moving Sphere) and another on the rising and setting of celestial bodies. On the Moving Sphere is believed to be the oldest mathematical treatise from ancient Greece that is completely preserved.[1]
Euclid references some of Autolycus' work. Autolycus is known to have taught Arcesilaus.
Maurolycus translated Autolycus' works in the sixteenth century.
In geometry, he studied the characteristics and movement of a sphere. It is believed that they were the earliest written mathematics related books which have actually survived. Theodosius' Sphaerics was based on Autolycus' work on spheres.
In astronomy, Autolycus studied the relationship between the rising and the setting of the celestial bodies, and wrote that "any star which rises and sets always rises and sets at the same point in the horizon."
The lunar crater Autolycus was named in his honour.
- O'Connor, John J., and Edmund F. Robertson. "Autolycus of Pitane". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.