The Ancient Philosopher Who Influences Modern Astronomers

David Singapogu

8/12/21

Challenge B Astronomy

The Ancient Philosopher Who Influences Modern Astronomers

                Hipparchus of Rhodes was an extremely influential astronomer whose impact is relevant even to this day. His scientific contributions are used even to this day! He developed a star catalog in order to explain what Nicholas Copernicus later called “The precesion of the equinoxes”. He also was able to accurately predict the distances between different terrestrial objects, which, considering the era and the technology they had is astounding!

            It is even possible that he made the very first trigonometry table! He introduced the idea of a 360˚ angle. Hipparchus created a stellar magnitude scale the we still use today! Hipparchus helped changed Greece from viewing math as an idealistic art to the precise arithmetic that we know to today. Not surprisingly he left a huge impact on the fields of math and astronomy.

                        But it didn’t just stop there! Other astronomers built off the work of Hipparchus! His ideas played a huge part in Ptolemy’s “Almagest”, Apollonius used his work to create a lunar model, and Philoponus helped us learn more about projectile motion through Hipparchus’ work. Even the famed astronomers Galileo and Nicholas Copernicus work was greatly based off of Hipparchus’s work! Since his discoveries Hipparchus’s work has helped us to have a better understanding of the great world god made for us!

 

Trimble, Virginia, et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York, United States, Springer Publishing, 2007.

"Hipparchus." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1 Feb. 2021. library-eb-com.proxy.andersonlibrary.org/levels/referencecenter/article/Hipparchus/40534. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.

 

"Hipparchus." Britannica Library, Encyclopædia Britannica, 5 Mar. 2015. library-eb-com.proxy.andersonlibrary.org/levels/youngadults/article/Hipparchus/326371. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.

 

Means, Richard. “Hipparchus.” Hipparchus, Aug. 2017, pp. 1–2. EBSCOhost, scsl.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=discus&url=http://http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=21958661&site=eds-live.

Alexander Raymond Jones. “Hipparchus.” Britannica Biographies, Mar. 2012, p. 1. EBSCOhost, scsl.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=discus&url=http://http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=32412939&site=eds-live.