Born Alexandria, (Egypt), circa 70
Died circa 130
Menelaus is best known for his development of spherical trigonometry.
Little is known about the life of Menelaus. It appears that he spent his early years in Alexandria, and was probably born there; after that, he seems to have moved to Rome. Pappus and Proclus both referred to him as Menelaus of Alexandria. Ptolemy noted astronomical observations made by Menelaus in Rome on 14 January 98. In addition, Plutarch related a conversation about optics involving Menelaus as an adult in Rome around the same time.
Ibn al‐Nadim's Fihrist (a register of mathematicians, written circa 950) mentions six books by Menelaus, some of which were said to have been translated into Arabic at the time. They included The Book of Spherical Propositions, On the Knowledge of the Weights and Distribution of Different Bodies, three books on the Elements of Geometry, and The Book on the Triangle. The only book by Menelaus that can be found today is the first in...
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Selected References
Aintabi, M. F. (1971). “Arab Scientific Progress and Menelaus of Alexandria.” In Science et philosophie, pp. 7–12. XIIe Congrès international d'histoire des sciences, Paris, 1968, Actes, Vol. 3A. Paris: A. Blanchard.
Dicks, D. R. (1985). Early Greek Astronomy to Aristotle. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Heath, Sir Thomas L. (1960). A History of Greek Mathematics. 2 Vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hogendijk, Jan P. (1999–2000). “Traces of the Lost Geometrical Elements of Menelaus in Two Texts of al‐Sijzî.” Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch‐Islamischen Wissenschaften 13: 129–164.
Krause, M. (1936). “De Sphärik von Menelaos aus Alexandrien.” Abhandlungen der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 17.
Neugebauer, Otto (1975). A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy. 3 pts. New York: Springer‐Verlag.
Schmidt, Olaf (1955). “On the Theorems of Ptolemy and Menelaus” (in Danish). Nordisk matematisk tidskrift 3: 81–95, 127.
Tannery, Paul (1883). “Pour l'histoire des lignes et surfaces courbes dans l'antiquité.” Bulletin des sciences mathématiques 7: 289–292.
——— (1976). Recherches sur l'histoire de l'astronomie ancienne. Hildesheim, New York: Georg Ohms. (Reprint of the 1893 ed. published by Gauthier‐Villars, Paris. Includes bibliographical references.)
Thurston, Hugh (1994). Early Astronomy. New York: Springer‐Verlag.
Yussupova, Gulnava (1995). “Zwei mittelalterliche arabische Ausgaben der ‘Sphaerica' des Menelaos von Alexandria.” Historia Mathematica 22: 64–66.
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Mayers, K. (2007). Menelaus of Alexandria. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_938
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