This classic work traces Aristarchus of Samos's anticipation by two millennia of Copernicus's revolutionary theory of the orbital motion of the earth. Heath's history of astronomy ranges from Homer and Hesiod to Aristarchus and includes quotes from numerous thinkers, compilers, and scholasticists fro... read more
Greek Astronomy by Sir Thomas L. Heath Superb scholarly study of contributions of Pythagoras, Aristarchus, Anaxagoras, Hipparchus, many other thinkers, to true scientific astronomy. Accessible to science-minded layman. Introduction.
A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler by J. L. E. Dreyer Masterpiece of historical insight and scientific accuracy and the definitive work on Greek astronomy and the Copernican Revolution. Includes surveys of European and Islamic cosmologies of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
A History of Astronomy by A. Pannekoek Well-balanced, carefully reasoned study covers such topics as Ptolemaic theory, work of Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Eddington's work on stars, much more. Illustrated. References.
A Short Account of the History of Mathematics by W. W. Rouse Ball This standard text treats hundreds of figures and schools instrumental in the development of mathematics, from the Phoenicians to such 19th-century giants as Grassman, Galois, and Riemann.
Cosmology by Hermann Bondi A co-developer of the steady-state theory explores his conception of the expanding universe. This historic book was among the first to present cosmology as a separate branch of physics. 1961 edition.
Product Description:
This classic work traces Aristarchus of Samos's anticipation by two millennia of Copernicus's revolutionary theory of the orbital motion of the earth. Heath's history of astronomy ranges from Homer and Hesiod to Aristarchus and includes quotes from numerous thinkers, compilers, and scholasticists from Thales and Anaximander through Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclides. 34 figures.
Unabridged republication of the edition published by The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1913. 34 figures.
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
This book was printed in the United States of America.
Dover books are made to last a lifetime. Our US book-manufacturing partners produce the highest quality books in the world and they create jobs for our fellow citizens. Manufacturing in the United States also ensures that our books are printed in an environmentally friendly fashion, on paper sourced from responsibly managed forests.
