Adolphe Rome

Adolphe Rome (born July 12, 1889 in Stavelot ; † April 9, 1971 in Korbeek-Lo ) was a Belgian classical philologist and historian of science who dealt specifically with ancient astronomical history.

life and work

Adolphe Rome attended the Atheneum in Mechelen , where his father Eugéne Rome was a teacher of ancient languages. He then entered the seminary in Mechelen and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1912 . He then studied Classical Philology at the University of Leuven , where he received his doctorate in 1919 , after being interrupted by the First World War . He then worked as a teacher in Schaerbeek and Nivelles and in 1922 received a scholarship at the Belgian Historical Institute in Rome . He spent 1924 to 1927 studying handwriting in Paris . From 1927 he taught Greek philology at the University of Leuven, where he was appointed professor in 1929 and taught until 1958. In 1935 he became an honorary canon of the cathedral chapter of Mechelen.

Adolphe Rome, who had been very interested in mathematics since his school days, found his field of research, the ancient history of science, during his studies. He received his doctorate with the work Les fonctions trigonométriques dans Héron d'Alexandrie . From the 1920s (published 1931 to 1943) he began to work on the creation of a critical edition of the commentaries on the Almagest of Ptolemy of Pappus and Theon of Alexandria , later continued by his student and successor Joseph Mogenet (1913-1980) and his Student Anne Tihon (* 1944). Another close collaborator of Rome was Albert Lejeune (1916–1988). In addition to his research on the ancient history of science, he published essays on many topics in classical philology, such as Pindar , Aeschylus , Euripides and Theocritus .

In 1932 he was one of the co-founders of the journal L'Antiquité classique , and in the 1950s he took over the publication of the scientific history journal Isis .

Adolphe Rome was a corresponding member of the Belgian Academy of Sciences since 1948 and a full member since 1950 . In 1950 he gave a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Cambridge (Massachusetts) (The Calculation of an Eclipse of the Sun According to Theon of Alexandria).

Fonts (selection)

See the list of publications in Bibliographie Académique 6, 1914–1934, pp. 132–134; 7, 1934-1954, pp. 233-234; 8, 1954-1955, p. 99; 10, 1957-1963, pp. 369-370.

• Le RP Henri Bosmans, SJ (1852-1928) . In: Isis 12, 1929, No. 1, pp. 88-112.
• Commentaires de Pappus et de Théon d'Alexandrie sur l'Almageste . 3 volumes. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome 1931–1943.

literature

• Franz de Ruyt : In memoriam Adolphe Rome (1889–1971) . In: L'Antiquité Classique Vol. 40, 1971, pp. 1-4 (with portrait, digital ).
• Franz de Ruyt: Notice sur le chanoine Adolphe Rome, membre de l'Academie . In: Annuaire de l´Académie royale de Belgique vol. 138, 1972, pp. 87-99 (with portrait, digital ).