Euctemon

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Euktemon (Εὐκτήμων, around 430 BC) was an ancient Greek astronomer , meteorologist and geographer from Athens .

Together with Meton, he was one of the first Greek astronomers from whom observation records have been preserved. This includes observing the summer solstice of the year 432 BC. BC, which Ptolemy reports. Geminos make implementation of the Nineteen-year period (Greek: enneakaidekaeteris ) astronomers to Euctemon to. It is about the Meton period , which was later named after his contemporary. Euktemon also observed the rising and setting of fixed stars in Athens, on the Cyclades , in Macedonia and Thrace, as Ptolemy reports.

The work of a meteorologist is his parapegma , which he set up with Meton in Athens , a "perpetual" calendar engraved in wood or stone that contained not only astronomical information but also weather information for every day of the year.

Euktemon also worked as a geographer , providing information on the Strait of Gibraltar .

The moon crater Euctemon is named after him.

literature

  • DR Dicks: Euctemon in Dictionary of Scientific Biography , Charles Scribner and Sons, New York 1970–1980
  • BL van der Waerden: The astronomy of the Greeks , Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1988, ISBN 3-534-03070-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Almagest III, I
  2. ^ Evans, J. and Berggren, JL: Geminus, Introduction to the Phenomena , Princeton University Press, 2006, VIII 50, p. 183
  3. ↑ DR Dicks: Euctemon in Dictionary of Scientific Biography , p 460, second paragraph.
  4. ↑ DR Dicks: Euctemon in Dictionary of Scientific Biography , S. 460, last paragraph.
personal data
SURNAME Euctemon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC BC or 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.