Claudius ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy was born about 85 A.D. in Egypt and died about 165 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt. He did his major works in Alexandria, which was the center of Greek learning. His name Claudius Ptolemy, is a mixture of the Greek Egyptian ‘Ptolemy’ and the Roman ‘Claudius’. This would indicate that he was a descendant from a Greek family living in Egypt and that he was a citizen of Rome, which would be a result of a Roman emperor giving that reward to one of Ptolemy’s ancestors. Very little is known of his life. He made astronomical observations from Alexandria in Egypt during the years AD 127-41. There is no evidence that Ptolemy lived anywhere other than Alexandria. Claudius Ptolemy lived through the time in which the Roman Empire was at its highest peak. The Roman Empire controlled everything around the Mediterranean Sea including Egypt. He was born after the death of Jesus and his resurrection. We do know that Ptolemy used observations made by ‘Theon the mathematician’, and this was almost certainly Theon of Smyrna who was his teacher. This would make sense, since Theon of Smyrna was both an observer and a mathematician who had written on ast
The Almagest is the earliest of Ptolemy’s works and gives in detail the mathematical theory of the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets. Ptolemy made his most original contribution by presenting details for the motions of each of the planets. He represented a complete system of mathematical constructions that accounted successfully for the observed motion of each heavenly body. Ptolemy used three basic constructions: the eccentric, the epicycle, and the equant. An eccentric construction is one in which the Earth is placed outside the center of the geometrical construction. Here, the Earth is displaced slightly from the center of the path of the planet. Although this construction violated the rule that the Earth was the center of the universe and all planetary motions, the displacement was minimal and was considered a slight bending of the rule rather than a violation. Claudius Ptolemy’s writings in mathematics on plane and spherical trigonometry remain the basics of trigonometry today. His Geography remained the principal work on the subject until the time of Columbus. ronomical topics such as conjunctions, eclipses, occultations, and transits. Most of Ptolemy’s early works are dedica
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