Hippocrates of Chios

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Hippocrates of Chios was an ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer . He lived around the middle or the second half of the 5th century BC. Chr.

Life

There is no reliable information about the life of Hippocrates. Its origin from the island of Chios is beyond doubt . In anecdotes it is said that he was robbed of his fortune on a sea voyage, according to one version by fraud, and according to another by pirates. Aristotle claims that Hippocrates himself caused the loss through unwise behavior; he was a good geometer, but otherwise simple-minded. He is said to have lived in Athens. It is sometimes assumed that he was influenced by the Pythagoreans ; In astronomy, this hypothesis can be based on a reference made by Aristotle, who specifically refers to the theory of comets.

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Hippocrates is said to have been the first to write a mathematics textbook. It is lost; nothing else of his works has survived either. Therefore his achievements can only be inferred indirectly from later literature. Among other things, he dealt with the problem of doubling the cube ("Delic problem"), which he brought closer to a solution by shifting it to planimetry . The little moon of Hippocrates is named after him, certain areas enclosed by arcs, which he succeeded in squaring. Starting from the moon he tried to square the circle . It is unclear whether he succumbed to a fallacy or recognized the failure of the attempt; In the Sophistic Refutations, Aristotle mentions the name of Hippocrates in connection with a fallacy.

Aristotle reports on the astronomical views of Hippocrates that he considered "the comet" to be a rarely visible planet and that the comet's tail was an optical illusion caused by the comet's vapors.

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  • Maria Timpanaro Cardini : Pitagorici. Testimonianze e frammenti , Vol. 2, Firenze 1962, pp. 28–73 [Greek texts with Italian translation]

literature

  • Axel A. Björnbo: Hippokrates from Chios , in: Pauly-Wissowa RE 8/2, Stuttgart 1913, Sp. 1780-1801
  • Pedro Pablo Fuentes González: Hippocrate de Chios. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 3, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-271-05748-5 , pp. 762-770
  • Ivor Bulmer-Thomas: Hippocrates of Chios . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie (Ed.): Dictionary of Scientific Biography . tape 6 : Jean Hachette - Joseph Hyrtl . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1972, p. 410-418 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Aristotle, Eudemische Ethik 1247a17-20.
  2. ↑ So z. B. Leonid Zhmud : Science, Philosophy and Religion in Early Pythagoreanism , Berlin 1997, p. 175f.
  3. ↑ Aristotle, Sophistic Refutations 171b12-16.
  4. ↑ Aristoteles, Meteorologica 342b29ff.
personal data
SURNAME Hippocrates of Chios
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC Chr.