Heliodorus of Larissa (fl. 3rd century?) was a
Greek mathematician, and the author of a short treatise on
optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...
which is still extant.
Biography
Nothing is known about the life of Heliodorus.
[John Aikin, William Enfield, et al., (1804), ''General biography: or, Lives, critical and historical, of the most ...'', Volume 5, page 102] He was a native of
Larissa
Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...
,
[''The prosopography of the later Roman Empire: A.D. 260-395: Volume 1'', (1987), page 531] and he must have lived after the time of
Claudius Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
, whom he quotes. His short treatise on optics is little more than a commentary on
Euclid
Euclid (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...
.
[David Eugene Smith, (1958), ''History of mathematics'', page 340] It was edited by one Damianus, who was either his son or his pupil.
The first printed edition, in Greek and Latin, was published in Paris in 1657 with illustrative notes by
Erasmus Bartholinus
Rasmus Bartholin (; Latinized: ''Erasmus Bartholinus''; 13 August 1625 – 4 November 1698) was a Danish physician and grammarian.
Biography
Bartholin was born in Roskilde. He was the son of Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585–1629) and Anna ...
.
Works
*
See also
*
Domninus of Larissa Domninus of Larissa ( el, Δομνῖνος; ) was an ancient Hellenistic Syrian mathematician.
Life
Domninus of Larissa, Syria was, simultaneously with Proclus, a pupil of Syrianus. Domninus is said to have corrupted the doctrines of Plato ...
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heliodorus Of Larissa
3rd-century Greek people
Ancient Greek mathematicians
Ancient Larissaeans
3rd-century mathematicians