Apollonius of Perga

Apollonius of Pergaeus (, c. 262 BC – c 190 BC) was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician, well-known for his works related to conics . His innovative methods and terminology, especially in the field of conics, influenced many later scholars including Ptolemaeus, Francesco Maurolico, Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, and René Descartes. Apollonius gave the terms of ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola as we use today. The hypothesis of eccentric orbits used to explain the apparent orbits of the planets and the rate of change of the Moon, or Apollonius's Theorem, was his discovery, later described by Ptolemaeus in volume XII.1 of Almagest. Apollonius also studied the Moon. A crater on the Moon was named after him.


 Reference 


 Apollonius. Apollonii Pergaei quae Graece exstant cum commentariis antiquis. Edited by I. L. Heiberg. 2 volumes. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1891/1893).
 Apollonius. Apollonius of Perga Conics Books I–III. Translated by R. Catesby Taliaferro. (Santa Fe: Green Lion Press, 1998).
 Apollonius. Apollonius of Perga Conics Book IV. Translated with introduction and notes by Michael N. Fried. (Santa Fe: Green Lion Press, 2002).






 Text in Classical Greek: PDF scans of Heiberg's edition of the Conic Sections of Apollonius of Perga, now in the public domain
 In English translation: Treatise on the Conic Sections, trans. T.L. Heath

 Other websites 




 Scans of old editions of some of Apollonius' works in several languages at wilbourhall.org
Category:190s BC deaths
Category:Ancient Greek astronomers