Autolycus of Pitane Encyclopedia Article

Autolycus of Pitane

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Autolycus of Pitane

c. 360-c. 290 B.C.

Greek astronomer and mathematician who wrote the two earliest surviving mathematical works. On the Moving Sphere is a study of spherical geometry with a clear astronomical application, and On Risings and Settings a work on astronomical observations. It is possible that the first of these was based on a now-lost geometry textbook by Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408-c. 355 B.C.), whose theory of homocentric spheres Autolycus supported.