Ancient Greek Philosophers
Pythagoras Plato
Eudoxus Aristotle
LESSON 1:
Ancient Greek Physics
and
Astronomy
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
4th Quarter
LEARNING GOALS:
0 Recognize different naked-eye astronomical
observations on diurnal and annual motions of the sky
pattern, precession and equinoxes as sense data.
0 Summarize ancient Greek on the three types of
terrestrial motion and the perfection of celestial motion.
Two-domain view of the Universe
DOMAIN ELEMENTS MOTION
Celestial domain “ether” perfect motion:
“perfect” circular and
-made up of the perfect constant speed
substance
Terrestrial domain Fire Alteration
“imperfect” air natural motion
the tendency of things water violent motion
to attain perfection is Earth
the cause of their -tend to move towards the
motion center of the Universe or
away from the earth
naturally
What astronomical objects do we see in
the sky?
• Observing and understanding motions in the sky is
what led people to understand the layout of the Solar
System, and to understand how the Earth moves in
space.
The rotation of the Earth on its axis causes all
objects to appear to move around the sky once
each day.
Motions in the sky is divided into two Types:
1. Diurnal/ Daily motion of the sky
Diurnal/ Daily motion of the sky
Daily Motions of
celestial objects in the
sky appear to rise in the
East and set in the West
each day relative to the
Earth’s local horizon
This apparent daily
motion is a reflection of
the Earth's rotation
about its axis.
Annual motion of the sky
The objects in the sky moves Ecliptic: The Path of the Sun
relative to the background Zodiacal Constellations
stars as observed at the same Solstices & Equinoxes
time of the day and at the
same location on Earth.
Annual motion of the sky
Shortest day longest day
Solstice = result in a change
of the length of the night
Equinox= do not change
= “equal night”
Greek Astronomy
About 310 BC to 230 BC
teacher of the better-
known Archimedes
Proposed the Heliocentric theory
because observed sun was relatively
larger than Earth.
the first to attempt to measure the
relative distance between the Earth-
Moon and the Earth-Sun without the
aid of trigonometry
Greek Astronomy
0 276 BC to 194 BC
0 Librarian at the Great Library of
Alexandria in Egypt.
0 Developed a calendar with a leap year.
0 Measured the circumference of the
Earth in 325 BC
Greek Astronomy
About 85 AD - 165 AD
the most influential
astronomer in his day and
a great admirer of
Hipparchus
great proponent of the
geocentric model
Greek Astronomy
envisioned the universe as
containing the static earth at
the centre, with the stars
occupying the outermost
crystal sphere. The sun, inside
this sphere, rotated around the
earth at the same speed as the
stars,
Greek Astronomy
384 BC to 322 BC
Founded his own school called the
Lyceum in Athens
one of the first to attempt to create
a scientific model of the universe
This model has now become
known as the “Geocentric Model”
which places the “imperfect”
Earth at the center and all of the
“perfect” celestial objects go
around us in perfect circular
motion
Greek Astronomy
190 BC to 120 BC
considered the first great
astronomer and scientist
He used his trigonometric
methods to calculate eclipses
of the sun and moon.
Greek Astronomy
0 c. 570 - c. 495 BC
0 He thought that the universe could
be explained with mathematics.
0 He was also the first ancient
astronomer to suggest that there
was a harmony of the spheres, and
that the movement of the planets,
sun, moon and stars could be
described by whole numbers and
mathematical precision.
Greek Astronomy
About 624 BC to 547 BC
famous for discovering why
eclipses happened and that
could predict them
There are no books or
writings that have survived
from Thales.
Greek Astronomy
c. 610- c. 546
great early philosopher,
better known for his ideas
about evolution, was the first
Greek philosopher to create a
cosmological model
believed that the earth was
cylindrical in shape, and
imagined it to be surrounded
by air and then fire, 'like the
bark of a tree'
Greek Astronomy
492 BC - 432 BC
He devised the theory that all
substances are made of four
pure, indestructible
elements: air, fire, water, and
earth.
Greek Astronomy
c. 427 - c. 347 BC
He was the student of Socrates.
proposed that the stars formed
the outermost crystal sphere,
followed by the planets, the
sun, the moon, and the
spherical earth at the center.
TIMELNE
OF
ANCIENT GREEK
PHILOSOPHERS
LESSON 2:
ANCIENT GREEK MODELS
OF THE UNIVERSE
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
4th Quarter
0 Before the telescope was invented,
ancient astronomers only used their
unaided eyes to observe the sky and
the stars.
0 Eventually they created basic
models of the universe.
Development of the Greek
models of the
Universe
Plato’s Model of Universe
*The Universe is
consists of crystalline
spheres containing
Moon, Sun and the five
planets (Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn)
The stars are fixed in
the outermost
crystalline sphere that
rotates annually.
Eudoxus of Cnidus
He was considered as the first astronomer to explain
the retrograde motion of the planets in the sky.
- the temporary “reversal” of the
object’s motion relative to the
stars in its annual motion
He found out the differences in the
motion of each planet should be
considered to give an accurate
description of the Universe.
Eudoxus’s model of Universe
Earth at exact center
of the Universe
Nested 27 auxiliary
spheres
Aristotle’s Model of Universe
Aristotle somehow patterned his model to the model of
Eudoxus.
It showed that the universe was spherical and finite.
Just like Eudoxus, he perceived Earth was at the center of the
universe and was stationary because he believed that Earth is too
big to move; thus it could not rotate.
Aristotle’s Model of Universe
Other celestial bodies were
built up symmetrically in
concentric spherical rings
around the Earth
57 auxiliary spheres
All bodies have natural
motion
All motion is circular with
constant speed.. Nothing
ever changes.
Aristotle’s Model of Universe
He further described that each ring was in
physical contact with one another,
which means..
the motion of a heavenly body in one
sphere will affect the motion of a nearby
heavenly body..
0 Due to complications, the Aristotelian Prime
Mover is ignored and instead other
philosophers concentrated on the production
of retrograde motion of all planets using
“devices”.
0 Among the devices, one can specifically
focus on the combination of different and the
epicycles. These devices, though complicates
the original model, is most practically
accurate during that era.
astrolabe
an instrument that once
was the most used,
multipurpose astronomical
instrument.
two-dimensional model of
the celestial sphere.
The name has its origins
from the Greek words
astron and lambanien
meaning "the one who
catches the heavenly
Geocentric
Models
of
Universe
Ancient Greece
https://slideplayer.com/slide/9108260/
https://explorable.com/greek-astronomy
https://www.slideshare.net/JeromeJerome1/early-
model-of-the-universe
