Epoch: Late Ancient World (from 1 AD to 499 AD)
Description
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Chronology
about 100
- Cleomedes writes his book "On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies".
- Heron writes "Pneumatica", a book with descriptions of over 100 machines such as a fire engine, a wind organ, a coin-operated machine, and a steam-powered turbine called an aeolipile.
about 120 - 140
about 124
- Nicomachus writes "Introduction to Arithmetic", becoming later a standard arithmetic text for more than 1000 years.
127
- Ptolemy: first astronomical observation (26 March 127, last was made on 2 February 141).
- He compares his own observations of equinoxes with those of Hipparchus and Meton.
- He propounded the geocentric theory of the solar system that prevailed for 1400 years.
- Theon making astronomical observations of Mercury and Venus between 127 and 132
132
- Heng invents the first seismograph for measuring earthquakes.
about 138
- Hipparchus
- Compiles trigonometric tables and gave methods for solving spherical triangles
- His image "sitting and looking at a globe" appears on coins minted under five different Roman emperors between 138 AD and 253 AD.
- Heng's seismograph detects an earthquake, no other evidence of the earthquake being felt in the capital Lo-yang.
about 100
- Nicomachus finds perfect numbers, namely 6, 28, 496 and 8128.
- Wrongly "deducts" from this that $n$th perfect number has $n$ digits, and that all perfect numbers end in 6 and 8 alternately.
about 200
- Apollonius writes "Conics", containing 387 separate propositions.
- Obtains an approximation of $\pi$ between $\frac{223}{71}<\pi<\frac{22}{7}$.
about 250
- Diophantus writes "Arithmetica" which had an enormous influence on the development of number theory
about 300
- Callippus forms what has been called the Callippic period, essentially a cycle of four Metonic periods.
- It was more accurate than the original Metonic cycle and made use of the fact that 365.25 days is a more precise value for the tropical year than 365 days.
320 to 340
- Pappus to write his commenatary on Ptolemy's Almagest
- Major work "Synagoge" or the "Mathematical Collection" which is a collection of mathematical writings in eight books.
- One of his theorems is still cited as the basis of modern projective geometry.
364
- Theon observes a solar eclipse on 16 June 364 at Alexandria and a lunar eclipse, again in Alexandria, on 25 November 364.
400
- Hypatia becomes head of the Platonist school at Alexandria.
- Wrote commentaries on Diophantus's Arithmetica, on Apollonius's Conics and on Ptolemy's astronomical works.
- Killed by a fanatical Christian sect.
about 468 to 486
- Qiujian writes his mathematical text "Zhang Qiujian Suanjing" (Mathematical Manual of Quijian)
474
- Zi A new scale between chih and tuan established.
- Writes his mathematical text "Sunzi suanjing" (Mathematical Manual of Sunzi)
510
- Boethius's "Arithmetic" texts the best available for many centuries during a time when mathematical achievement in Europe was at a remarkably low point.
529
- Plato's Academy closed down by the Christian Emperor Justinian who claimed it was a pagan establishment.
Table of Contents
- Person: Cleomedes
- Person: Heron Of Alexandria
- Person: Nicomachus Of Gerasa
- Person: Menelaus Of Alexandria
- Person: Theon Of Smyrna
- Person: Heng, Zhang
- Person: Ptolemy, Claudius
- Person: Yavanesvara
- Person: Hong (2), Liu
- Person: Yue, Xu
- Person: Diophantus Of Alexandria
- Person: Hui, Liu
- Person: Malchus, Porphyry
- Person: Sporus Of Nicaea
- Person: Pappus Of Alexandria
- Person: Pandrosion
- Person: Serenus
- Person: Theon Of Alexandria
- Person: Hypatia Of Alexandria
- Person: Zi, Sun
- Person: Yang, Xiahou
- Person: Diadochus, Proclus
- Person: Domninus Of Larissa
- Person: Chongzhi, Zu
- Person: Qiujian, Zhang
- Person: Marinus Of Neapolis
- Person: Geng, Zu
- Person: Anthemius Of Tralles
- Person: Aryabhata The Elder
- Person: Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus
- Person: Eutocius Of Ascalon
- Person: Simplicius
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
