Biography of eratosthenes nj

Eratosthenes BC - BC was an Ancient Greek scientist and philosopher who did work in astronomy, geometry, geography, mathematics, as well as poetry and history.

Eratosthenes hermes

He became famous for being the first to calculate, with considerable precision, the circumference of the earth. He lived in Athens until Ptolemy Evergetes, the king of Egypt, commissioned Eratosthenes to run the Library of Alexandria, which became the most important center of knowledge in the region. He was called Pentathlos, a title given to those who were victors in the five tests of the Olympic games, because he dedicated himself to cultivating all areas of knowledge.

He created a method known as the Siege of Eratosthenes by which he calculated the prime numbers. He also tried to determine the obliquity of the ecliptic. To calculate the circumference of the earth Eratosthenes used a method that has been used until our time, this consists of measuring a meridian. He set the circumference measurement at , stadia, which is approximately 39, kilometers.

For his studies on the earth, Eratosthenes is known as the "father of geography. In the text, he described the inhabited earth and the people who lived there. He did not use the mythological descriptions that were common at the time, but relied on military texts to carry out his work. He also made a chart with the chronology of the Egyptian kings of Thebes, wrote about the conquests of Alexander the Great, and made a description of Greece at that time.

For his contributions to philosophy, Eratosthenes was called the second Plato. Eratosthenes was a lover of the theater and wrote a series of twelve books which he titled Old Comedy. In the same way, he wrote poetry and his themes included the stories of the constellations. Eratosthenes was born in approximately BC.