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Very little is known about Ptolemy's birth and death. He was estimated to have lived from 100CE to 170CE.
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One of his contributions to science was his theory on Epicycles. Although Aristotle originated the theory Ptolemy suggested that his theory didn’t take in account the brightness of the planets. He suggested smaller epicycles than those originally thought of by Aristotle. “The geocentric model, also known as the Ptolemaic system, is a theory that was developed by Claudius Ptolemy in Ancient Greece. It was developed to explain how the planets, the Sun, and even the stars orbit around the Earth.”
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Ptolemy was the last astronomer of ancient times. He provided us with the foundation of which we look at the stars. Although he was a scientist at the time he would not be considered a scientist today. Astronomy is considered a pseudoscience even though they use complex mathematical calculations and astronomical observations. Along with charts and tables it is still not considered science by todays standards.
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Ptolemy also dabbled into geography. He produced a seven-volume tome. “what we would today call an atlas.” (Sorondo 2017)
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Sorondo, Alex. “Short Summary of Ptolemy's Discoveries.” Sciencing, 24 Apr. 2017, sciencing.com/short-summary-ptolemys-discoveries-11125.html. "Ptolemaic system." The American Heritage Student Science Dictionary, edited by Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, Houghton Mifflin, 2nd edition, 2014. Credo Reference, http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/hmsciencedict/ptolemaic_system/0?institutionId=8703. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
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“The Geocentric Model.” Starry Thoughts, starrythoughts.weebly.com/the-geocentric-model.html.
