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Aristarchus, Sun at center of Universe > 
Aristarchus of Samosis the first person we know of who suggested that the earth might go around the sun and not the other way around. He figured this out by looking at the shadow of the earth on the moon during an eclipse of the moon (now that Thales had shown how to predict eclipses and Anaxagoras had shown how eclipses worked). He used Euclid's geometric theories, and his own, to do his calculations. Most people at the time thought this was ridiculous, and instead followed Aristotle's idea that the sun went around the earth. Copernicus, at the end of the Middle Ages, almost two thousand years later, was the first person to take Aristarchus seriously. Aristarchus also used the work of Eratosthenes to figure out the size of the moon, and to calculate that the sun had to be a lot bigger than either the earth or the moon (though he didn't get the sizes right because he didn't have a good telescope).
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More on this Website >
• http://www.historyforkids.org/ ... math/aristarchus.htm
• Wikipedia.org: Aristarchus • Edit
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Thales, Greek Philosopher & Scientist
Thales of Miletus seems to be the first known Greek philosopher, scientist and mathematician although his occupation was that of an engineer. He is believed to have been... |
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Anaxagoras, Cause of Eclipses
Greek philosopher of nature remembered for his cosmology and for his discovery of the true cause of eclipses. He was associated with the Athenian statesman Pericles. Abou... |
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Aristotle, Greek Philosopher
He studied (367-347 B.C.) under Plato and later (342-339 B.C.) tutored Alexander the Great at the Macedonian court. In 335 B.C. he opened a school in the Athenian Lyceum.... |
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Euclid of Alexandria, Mathematician
Euclid of Alexandria is the most prominent mathematician of antiquity best known for his treatise on mathematics The Elements. The long lasting nature of The Elements mus... |
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Eratosthenes, Measuring the Earth
Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek scholar who lived and worked in Cyrene and Alexandria. Eratosthenes was director of the famous library in Alexandria, and is known for... |
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Copernicus, Earth moves around the Sun
Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer who provided the first modern formulation of a heliocentric (sun-centered) theory of the solar system in his epochal book, De revolu... |
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