The Ancient Mathematician Who Measured the Sun

In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos found a method for calculating the relative sizes and distances of the sun, moon, and earth using some simple measurements and...triangles. Join my Patreon! https://patreon.com/BenSyversen Or, support me on Ko-Fi with a one-time donation! https://ko-fi.com/bensyversen Special thank you to Alex Kontorovich for working with me on this video! This video is loosely based on his Princeton University lecture about Aristarchus: https://youtu.be/VdeyI8KMqts?si=WSEr15AfL-CUS-z5 ____ Written by Ben Syversen and Alex Kontorovich Produced, edited, and animated by Ben Syversen Aristarchus and Archimedes Illustrations: Kendall Eddy Additional editing: Sara Adelberg Additional animation: Pranav Kumar Camera: Giacomo Belletti Thumbnail design: Mostafa Hasan Music: Epidemic Sound Additional thank you to Viktor Blåsjö for speaking with me about this topic. ____ Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 01:03 - 1) The Half Moon 04:41 - 2) The Solar Eclipse 07:24 - 3) The Dime Experiment 09:00 - 4) The Lunar Eclipse 13:24 - Heliocentrism 16:10 - Eratosthenes 18:19 - Copernicus 19:45 - The Universe ____ Works consulted for this video: •Aristarchus of Samos, The Ancient Copernicus - translated and annotated by Thomas Heath - https://archive.org/details/aristarchusofsam00heatuoft/page/n5/mode/2up •Aristarchus’s On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and the Moon: Greek and Arabic Texts - Berggren and Sidoli - http://individual.utoronto.ca/acephalous/Berggren_Sidoli_2007.pdf •Archimedes - The Sand Reckoner - https://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/hmendel/Ancient%20Mathematics/Archimedes/SandReckoner/Ch.1/Ch1.html •Viktor Blåsjö - podcast - Opinionated History of Mathematics - Heliocentrism in Antiquity - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6q80OeT8x1apeZr6JC9EKi?si=239fa7115d944f3b ____ To learn more about Aristarchus: •3Blue1Brown: Terence Tao on how we measure the cosmos | The Distance Ladder Part 1 - https://youtu.be/YdOXS_9_P4U?si=T4FpcsQVtoViKilj •https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2025/02/13/cosmic-distance-ladder-video-with-grant-sanderson-3blue1brown-commentary-and-corrections/ ____ Images: Images are public domain via Wikimedia and Metropolitan Museum of Art Additional images licensed via Envato Elements Image of the “well” in Syene created in Midjourney Stellar parallax diagram - ESA/ATG medialab - https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/Parallax