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On to the scene strides Eudoxus (408–355 B.C.), and with him the history of planetary theory quickens. For, assuming Plato to have posed the basic question for all astronomy, Eudoxus propounded the first serious answer. Eudoxus is known to mathematicians as the author of the Fifth book of Euclid’s Elements; he also discovered the ‘method of exhaustion’, an ancient precursor of our integral calculus. Plato’s query, if Simplicius is correct, turned Eudoxus’ skills to accounting for the motions of the planets. His was the first substantial attempt to account for those increasingly conspicuous irregularities. Indeed, Eudoxus succeeded to a remarkable degree in representing the major celestial phenomena known in his day.

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Eudoxus and ‘Plato’s Problem’

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Norwood Russell Hanson

摘要

On to the scene strides Eudoxus (408–355 B.C.), and with him the history of planetary theory quickens. For, assuming Plato to have posed the basic question for all astronomy, Eudoxus propounded the first serious answer. Eudoxus is known to mathematicians as the author of the Fifth book of Euclid’s Elements; he also discovered the ‘method of exhaustion’, an ancient precursor of our integral calculus. Plato’s query, if Simplicius is correct, turned Eudoxus’ skills to accounting for the motions of the planets. His was the first substantial attempt to account for those increasingly conspicuous irregularities. Indeed, Eudoxus succeeded to a remarkable degree in representing the major celestial phenomena known in his day.