Geminus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geminus of Rhodes was a Greek astronomer and mathematician. The dates of his birth and death are still under debate, but are generally accepted as approximately 110 - 40 BCE.

He was a stoic philosopher and scholar, thought to have studied at the school in Rhodes and then later under Posidonius. During his career he wrote introductory works in mathematics and astronomy, and is typically credited with the construction of the Antikythera mechanism. His astronomical observations noted that the length of a day varied in different parts of the world. His book Isagoge was based on the work of Hipparchus.

His mathematical work divided the field into pure and applied mathematics. Pure mathematics included number theory and the various properties of numbers. In applied mathematics he included surveying, musical harmony, optics, astronomy, mechanics, and accounting.

The Geminus crater on the Earth's Moon is named for him.

[edit] Bibliography

• Isagoge (or Introduction to Astronomy)
• Theory of Mathematics (now lost but cited in many other works)

[edit] External links

• Technology Museum of Thessaloniki entry
• O'Connor, John J., and Edmund F. Robertson. "Geminus". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.