Menelaus (mathematician)

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Sphaericorum libri tres

Menelaus (also Menelaus of Alexandria ; * around 45/50 in Alexandria , † around 110/120 probably in Rome ) was an ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer .

Little is known about the life of Menelaus. It is believed that he moved to Rome from Alexandria after his youth. Both Pappus and Proclus call him Menelaus of Alexandria; this suggests that he may have been born there. Plutarch has narrated a conversation with Lucius . Around 98 Menelaus is said to have made astronomical observations in Rome, as Claudius Ptolemy reports. He also proved the Menelaus theorem named after him .

Sphaerica is the only work by Menelaus that has survived in Arabic and Hebrew translations. The book is about the spherical triangles that are important for astronomers . This contains the sentence of Menelaus. The traditional versions of the Sphaerica sometimes differ considerably.

Other books by Menelaus that were still known to the Arabs were the "Elements of Geometry" (of which Thabit Ibn Qurra made a translation that has not survived) in three books, the "Book of Triangles", from which fragments of an Arabic translation were found, and two others Works. Evidence in an Arabic source suggests that the "elements of geometry" also discussed the curve with which Archytas of Taranto doubled the cube.

The lunar crater Menelaus and the Rimae Menelaus are named after the ancient astronomer.

literature

Overview display

  • Pedro Pablo Fuentes González: Ménélaos d'Alexandrie. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 4, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-271-06386-8 , pp. 456-464

Investigations

  • Max Krause: The sphere of Menelaus of Alexandria. Treatises Society Wiss. Göttingen 1936
  • G. Jussupowa: Two medieval editions of the Sphaerica of Menelaos of Alexandria. In: Historia Mathematica , Vol. 22, 1995, p. 64
  • Roshdi Rashed and Athanase Papadopoulos, Menelaus' Spherics. Early Translation and al-Māhānī / al-Harawī's version. De Gruyter, Scientia Graeco-Arabica 21. ISBN 978-3-11-056987-2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Menelaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mathematician and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH at 70
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria
DATE OF DEATH at 140
Place of death uncertain: Rome