Everything about Conon Of Samos totally explained
Conon of Samos (ca.
280 BC - ca.
220 BC) was a
Greek astronomer and
mathematician. He is primarily remembered for naming the constellation
Coma Berenices.
Life and work
Conon was born on
Samos,
Ionia, and possibly died in
Alexandria,
Ptolemaic Egypt, where he was court astronomer to
Ptolemy III Euergetes. He named the constellation
Coma Berenices ("Berenice's Hair") after Ptolemy's wife
Berenice II. She sacrificed her hair in exchange for her husband's safe return from the Third
Syrian War, which began in 246 BCE. When the lock of hair disappeared, Conon explained that the goddess had shown her favor by placing it in the sky. Not all Greek astronomers accepted the designation. In
Ptolemy's
Almagest, Coma Berenices isn't listed as a distinct constellation. However, Ptolemy does attribute several seasonal indications (
parapegma) to Conon. Conon was a friend of the mathematician
Archimedes whom he probably met at Alexandria.
Pappus states that the
spiral of Archimedes was discovered by Conon.
Apollonius of Perga reported that Conon worked on
conic sections, and his work became the basis for Apollonius' fourth book of the
Conics. Apollonius further reports that Conon sent some of his work to
Thrasydaeus, but that it was incorrect. Since this work hasn't survived it's impossible to assess the accuracy of Apollonius' comment.
In astronomy, Conon wrote in seven books his
De astrologia, including observations on solar eclipses. Ptolemy further seventeen "signs of the seasons" to Conon, although this may not have been given in
De astrologia. Seneca writes that "Conon was a careful observer and that he "recorded solar eclipses observed by the Egyptians", although the accuracy of this statement is doubted. The Roman
Catullus writes that Conon "discerned all the lights of the vast universe, and disclosed the risings and settings of the stars, how the fiery brightness of the sun is darkened, and how the stars retreat at fixed times."
Citations and footnotes
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