Subject: Re: [HM] About Euclid
From: Schreiber (schreibe@mail.uni-greifswald.de)
Date: Tue Jan 25 2000 - 04:20:03 EST
Dear list members! There is a new discussion about the life time of Euclid.
What we know is that the Museion in Alexandria was founded about 307 B.C.
under the regnum of Ptolemaios I. by the help of Demetrios of Phaleron who
stated in Athens before 307. Obviously Platon's Academy and Aristoteles'
Lykeion were the "models" for this new scientific center and it is quite
likely that Demetrios and Ptolemaios tried to engage prominent philosophers
from Athens (or at laest from Greece) for the new Museion. (It is quite
similar to what happened when new Academies were founded in Europe in the
17th. and 18th. century). There must have been a first mathematician at the
Museion, the teacher of all the following generations (like al-Khwarizmi
in Bagdad?). Probably he came from Athens with the new theories by Eudoxos
and Theaitetos. Why do we not know his name? I think it was Euclid and it
was not explicitly mentioned in ancient texts because it was so wellknown
and selfcontaining. There is another argument: In his optika Euclid scet-
ches the great scientific program what we can conclude by mathematics from
what we can observe (and also what we can't). Is it not the alpha and omega
of all Science up to now? The first one to realize a little (but wonderful)
piece of this program has been Aristarch. He directly uses some lemmata
from Euclid's optika. So I think Aristarch must have been a direct student
of Euclid, may be his closest adherent. So, by the foundation of the
Museion and the life time of Aristarch we would have good hints for the
florishing of Euclid. I refer to my book "Euklid" (Teubner publishers,
Leipzig 1987) Unfortunately it is written in German.
Peter Schreiber, Greifswald
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