Hippocrates of Chios

Hippocrates of Chios (Greek: Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Χῖος; c. 470 – c. 410 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician, geometer, and astronomer.

He was born on the isle of Chios, where he was originally a merchant. After some misadventures (he was robbed by either pirates or fraudulent customs officials) he went to Athens, possibly for litigation, where he became a leading mathematician.

On Chios, Hippocrates may have been a pupil of the mathematician and astronomer Oenopides of Chios. In his mathematical work there probably was some Pythagorean influence too, perhaps via contacts between Chios and the neighboring island of Samos, a center of Pythagorean thinking: Hippocrates has been described as a 'para-Pythagorean', a philosophical 'fellow traveler'. "Reduction" arguments such as reductio ad absurdum argument (or proof by contradiction) have been traced to him, as has the use of power to denote the square of a line.[1]

Mathematics

The major accomplishment of Hippocrates is that he was the first to write a systematically organized geometry textbook, called Elements (Στοιχεῖα, Stoicheia), that is, basic theorems, or building blocks of mathematical theory. From then on, mathematicians from all over the ancient world could, at least in principle, build on a common framework of basic concepts, methods, and theorems, which stimulated the scientific progress of mathematics.

Only a single, famous fragment of Hippocrates' Elements is existent, embedded in the work of Simplicius. In this fragment the area is calculated of some so-called Hippocratic lunes — see Lune of Hippocrates. This was part of a research program to achieve the "quadrature of the circle", that is, to calculate the area of the circle, or, equivalently, to construct a square with the same area as a circle. The strategy, apparently, was to divide a circle into a number of crescent-shaped parts. If it were possible to calculate the area of each of those parts, then the area of the circle as a whole would be known too. Only much later was it proven (by Ferdinand von Lindemann, in 1882) that this approach had no chance of success, because the factor pi (π) is transcendental. The number π is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle, and also the ratio of the area to the square of the radius.

In the century after Hippocrates, at least four other mathematicians wrote their own Elements, steadily improving terminology and logical structure. In this way, Hippocrates' pioneering work laid the foundation for Euclid's Elements (c. 325 BC), which was to remain the standard geometry textbook for many centuries. Hippocrates is believed to have originated the use of letters to refer to the geometric points and figures in a proposition, e.g., "triangle ABC" for a triangle with vertices at points A, B, and C.

Two other contributions by Hippocrates in the field of mathematics are noteworthy. He found a way to tackle the problem of 'duplication of the cube', that is, the problem of how to construct a cube root. Like the quadrature of the circle, this was another of the so-called three great mathematical problems of antiquity. Hippocrates also invented the technique of 'reduction', that is, to transform specific mathematical problems into a more general problem that is easier to solve. The solution to the more general problem then automatically gives a solution to the original problem.
Astronomy

In the field of astronomy, Hippocrates tried to explain the phenomena of comets and the Milky Way. His ideas have not been handed down very clearly, but he probably thought both were optical illusions, the result of refraction of solar light by moisture that was exhaled by, respectively, a putative planet near the Sun, and the stars. The fact that Hippocrates thought that light rays originated in our eyes instead of in the object that is seen, adds to the unfamiliar character of his ideas.
Notes

W. W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (1888) p. 36.

References

Ivor Bulmer-Thomas, 'Hippocrates of Chios', in: Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Charles Coulston Gillispie, ed. (18 Volumes, New York 1970–1990) pp. 410–418.
[Axel Anthon] Björnbo, 'Hippokrates', in: Paulys Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, G. Wissowa, ed. (51 Volumes; 1894–1980) Vol. 8 (1913) col. 1780–1801.

External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Hippocrates of Chios

O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Hippocrates of Chios", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
The Quadrature of the Circle and Hippocrates' Lunes at Convergence
Mesolabe Compass and Square Roots - Numberphile video explaining Hippocrates' mesolabe compass

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Ancient Greek astronomy
Astronomers

Aglaonice Agrippa Anaximander Andronicus Apollonius Aratus Aristarchus Aristyllus Attalus Autolycus Bion Callippus Cleomedes Cleostratus Conon Eratosthenes Euctemon Eudoxus Geminus Heraclides Hicetas Hipparchus Hippocrates of Chios Hypsicles Menelaus Meton Oenopides Philip of Opus Philolaus Posidonius Ptolemy Pytheas Seleucus Sosigenes of Alexandria Sosigenes the Peripatetic Strabo Thales Theodosius Theon of Alexandria Theon of Smyrna Timocharis

Works

Almagest (Ptolemy) On Sizes and Distances (Hipparchus) On the Sizes and Distances (Aristarchus) On the Heavens (Aristotle)

Instruments

Antikythera mechanism Armillary sphere Astrolabe Dioptra Equatorial ring Gnomon Mural instrument Triquetrum

Concepts

Callippic cycle Celestial spheres Circle of latitude Counter-Earth Deferent and epicycle Equant Geocentrism Heliocentrism Hipparchic cycle Metonic cycle Octaeteris Solstice Spherical Earth Sublunary sphere Zodiac

Influences

Babylonian astronomy Egyptian astronomy

Influenced

Medieval European science Indian astronomy Medieval Islamic astronomy

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Ancient Greek and Hellenistic mathematics (Euclidean geometry)
Mathematicians
(timeline)
Anaxagoras Anthemius Archytas Aristaeus the Elder Aristarchus Apollonius Archimedes Autolycus Bion Bryson Callippus Carpus Chrysippus Cleomedes Conon Ctesibius Democritus Dicaearchus Diocles Diophantus Dinostratus Dionysodorus Domninus Eratosthenes Eudemus Euclid Eudoxus Eutocius Geminus Heliodorus Heron Hipparchus Hippasus Hippias Hippocrates Hypatia Hypsicles Isidore of Miletus Leon Marinus Menaechmus Menelaus Metrodorus Nicomachus Nicomedes Nicoteles Oenopides Pappus Perseus Philolaus Philon Philonides Porphyry Posidonius Proclus Ptolemy Pythagoras Serenus Simplicius Sosigenes Sporus Thales Theaetetus Theano Theodorus Theodosius Theon of Alexandria Theon of Smyrna Thymaridas Xenocrates Zeno of Elea Zeno of Sidon Zenodorus
Treatises
Almagest Archimedes Palimpsest Arithmetica Conics (Apollonius) Catoptrics Data (Euclid) Elements (Euclid) Measurement of a Circle On Conoids and Spheroids On the Sizes and Distances (Aristarchus) On Sizes and Distances (Hipparchus) On the Moving Sphere (Autolycus) Euclid's Optics On Spirals On the Sphere and Cylinder Ostomachion Planisphaerium Sphaerics The Quadrature of the Parabola The Sand Reckoner
Problems
Angle trisection Doubling the cube Squaring the circle Problem of Apollonius
Concepts/definitions
Circles of Apollonius
Apollonian circles Apollonian gasket Circumscribed circle Commensurability Diophantine equation Doctrine of proportionality Golden ratio Greek numerals Incircle and excircles of a triangle Method of exhaustion Parallel postulate Platonic solid Lune of Hippocrates Quadratrix of Hippias Regular polygon Straightedge and compass construction Triangle center
Results
In Elements
Angle bisector theorem Exterior angle theorem Euclidean algorithm Euclid's theorem Geometric mean theorem Greek geometric algebra Hinge theorem Inscribed angle theorem Intercept theorem Pons asinorum Pythagorean theorem Thales's theorem Theorem of the gnomon
Apollonius
Apollonius's theorem
Other
Aristarchus's inequality Crossbar theorem Heron's formula Irrational numbers Menelaus's theorem Pappus's area theorem Problem II.8 of Arithmetica Ptolemy's inequality Ptolemy's table of chords Ptolemy's theorem Spiral of Theodorus
Centers
Cyrene Library of Alexandria Platonic Academy
Other
Ancient Greek astronomy Greek numerals Latin translations of the 12th century Neusis construction

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