Table of Contents
How did Ptolemy make his observations?
Based on observations he made with his naked eye, Ptolemy saw the Universe as a set of nested, transparent spheres, with Earth in the center. Epicycles were small circular orbits around imaginary centers on which the planets were said to move while making a revolution around the Earth.
Who rejected Ptolemy’s theory?
Copernicus
Copernicus rejected the Ptolemaic theory basically because he found it too contrived, reasoning that there had to be a simpler hypothesis which could explain everything to his satisfaction. This sentiment had already been expressed in a remark attributed to Alfonso X (1221-1284), the King of Castille and Leon.
What discovered Ptolemy?
Ptolemy made contributions to astronomy, mathematics, geography, musical theory, and optics. He compiled a star catalog and the earliest surviving table of a trigonometric function and established mathematically that an object and its mirror image must make equal angles to a mirror.
When was the first observation made by Ptolemy?
In fact the first observation which we can date exactly was made by Ptolemy on 26 March 127 while the last was made on 2 February 141.
What are some of Ptolemy’s major accomplishments?
What were Ptolemy’s achievements? Virtually nothing is known about Ptolemy’s life except what can be inferred from his writings. His first major astronomical work, the Almagest, was completed about 150 ce and contains reports of astronomical observations that Ptolemy had made over the preceding quarter of a century.
What did Ptolemy do outside the fixed stars?
Outside the sphere of the fixed stars, Ptolemy proposed other spheres, ending with the primum mobile (“prime mover”), which provided the motive power for the remaining spheres that constituted his conception of the universe. As a geometrician of the first order, Ptolemy performed important work in mathematics.
Is there any evidence that Ptolemy was anywhere other than Alexandria?
In fact there is no evidence that Ptolemy was ever anywhere other than Alexandria. His name, Claudius Ptolemy, is of course a mixture of the Greek Egyptian ‘Ptolemy’ and the Roman ‘Claudius’.