Aristarchus of Samos: The Ancient Copernicus is a history of Greek astronomy and astronomers leading up to Aristarchus of Samos, the first astronomer to present the sun (instead of the Earth) at the center of the known universe, with the Earth revolving around it. In addition to the backgrounds of major astronomers and philosophers and an overview of early astronomical theories, this edition includes the Greek text and a translation of Aristarchus's On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon. This work is ideal for historians and students of Greek astronomy. SIR THOMAS LITTLE HEATH (1861-1940) was a British classical scholar, mathematician, historian of ancient Greek mathematics, and a Greek translator. He studied at Clifton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received his Doctor of Sciences and became a Fellow. Heath was known for his work on Greek mathematics and authored and translated several books, including Works of Archimedes (1897), Euclid's Elements (1908), A History of Greek Mathematics (1921), and Mathematics in Aristotle (1949). It is primarily through Heath's translations that English speakers are familiar with Archimedes' works.
Thomas Little Heath: Bringing the Past to Life
Thomas Little Heath (1861–1940) was unusual for an authority on many esoteric, and many less esoteric, subjects in the history of mathematics in that he was never a university professor. The son of an English farmer from Lincolnshire, Heath demonstrated his academic gifts at a young age; studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1879 to 1882; came away with numerous awards; and obtained the top grade in the 1884 English Civil Service examination. From that foundation, he went to work in the English Treasury, rose through the ranks, and by 1913, was permanent secretary to the Treasury, effectively the head of its operations. He left that post in 1919 at the end of the first World War, worked several years at the National Debt office, and retired in 1926.
During all of that time, however, he became independently one of the world's leading authorities on the history of mathematics, especially on the history of ancient Greek mathematics. Heath's three-volume edition of Euclid is still the standard, it is generally accepted that it is primarily through Heath's great work on Archimedes that the accomplishments of Archimedes are known as well as they are.
Dover has reprinted these and other books by Heath, preserving over several decades a unique legacy in the history of mathematical scholarship.
In the Author's Own Words:
"The works of Archimedes are without exception, monuments of mathematical exposition; the gradual revelation of the plan of attack, the masterly ordering of the propositions, the stern elimination of everything not immediately relevant to the purpose, the finish of the whole, are so impressive in their perfection as to create a feeling akin to awe in the mind of the reader." — Thomas L. Heath
