T. L. Heath

Sir Thomas Little Heath (October 5, 1861 – March 16, 1940) was a British civil servant, mathematician, classical scholar, historian of ancient Greek mathematics, translator, and mountaineer. He translated works of Euclid of Alexandria, Apollonius of Perga, Aristarchus of Samos, and Archimedes of Syracuse into English.

It is primarily through Heath's translations that modern English-speaking readers are aware of what Archimedes did. His translation of the celebrated Archimedes Palimpsest, however, had lacunae that scholars hope to fill in by modern scientific methods not available in Heath's time.

When Heath's "Works of Archimedes" was published in 1897, the Archimedes Palimpsest had not been extensively explored. Its significance was not recognized until 1906, when it was examined by the Danish professor Johan Ludvig Heiberg. The palimpsest contained an extended version of "Stomachion", and a treatise entitled "The Method of Mechanical Theorems" that had previously been thought lost. These works have therefore been the focus of research by modern scholars.

Translations and other works

Note: Only first editions are listed; many of these titles have been reprinted several times.

* "Diophantus of Alexandria: a Study in the History of Greek Algebra" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1885)
* Apollonius of Perga: "Treatise on Conic Sections" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1896)
* Archimedes: "Works" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1897)
* Euclid "The thirteen books of Euclid's Elements" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908)
* "Aristarchus of Samos, the Ancient Copernicus" Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913)
* "A History of Greek Mathematics" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921)
* "A Manual of Greek Mathematics" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931)
* "Greek Astronomy" (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1932)
* "Mathematics in Aristotle" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949)

External links

;Online texts of Heath's books
* "A History of Greek Mathematics": [http://www.archive.org/details/historyofgreekma029268mbp vol. 2]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/worksofarchimede029517mbp "The Works of Archimedes"]
** [http://www.math.ubc.ca/~cass/archimedes/parabola.html Archimedes' "Quadrature Of The Parabola"]
** [http://www.math.ubc.ca/~cass/archimedes/circle.html Archimedes' "On The Measurement Of The Circle"]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/diophantusofalex010687mbp "Diophantus Of Alexandria: A Study In The History Of Greek Algebra"]
* "The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements": [http://books.google.com/books?id=UhgPAAAAIAAJ vol. 1] , [http://books.google.com/books?id=lxkPAAAAIAAJ vol. 2] , [http://books.google.com/books?id=xhkPAAAAIAAJ vol. 3]
* [http://www.wilbourhall.org PDF files of many of Heath's works, including those on Diophantus, Apollonius, etc.] ;About T.L. Heath

*MacTutor Biography|id=Heath|title=Thomas Little Heath