Inspirational Quotes by Hipparchus (Greek Astronomer, Mathematician)

Hipparchus (c.180–125 BCE,) or Hipparchos, was a Greek astronomer and mathematician. One of the most outstanding scientists of antiquity, he made fundamental contributions to astronomy as a mathematical science and the foundations of trigonometry.

Very little is known about Hipparchus’s life. Only one of his many writings is extant—the Ton Aratou kai Eudoxou Phainomenon exegeseos biblia tria (“Commentary on the Phaenomena of Aratus and Eudoxus.”) Information about the rest of his work hinges on second-hand information, particularly the Almagest, the great astronomical compendium written by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE.

Born in Nicaea, Bithynia, now Iznik, in Turkey, Hipparchus made his observations from Rhodes, where he spent a long time and may have lived in Alexandria. He compiled a catalog of 850 stars (completed in 129 BCE,) giving their celestial latitude and longitude positions. The first such catalog ever existed; this remained of primary importance up to the time of Edmond Halley.

Hipparchus compared his observed star positions with earlier records and thus discovered the precession of the equinoxes. He observed the Sun’s annual motion, developed a theory of its eccentric motion, and measured the unequal durations of the four seasons. He made similar observations of the Moon’s more complicated movement.

Following the eclipse observations used by Aristarchus of Samos, Hipparchus estimated the relative distances of the Sun and Moon and improved calculations for the prediction of eclipses. He developed the mathematical science of plane and spherical trigonometry required for his astronomical work. Hipparchus was the first to fix places on the earth by latitude and longitude.

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