- Hipparchus was called the father of trigonometry
Hipparchus was a Greek mathematician that lived in the second century BCE. He was said to use Hellenistic mathematics to create his theory of trigonometry.
Hipparchus lived circa 190 to 120 BC. He was also a Greek astrologer, astronomer, mathematician and geographer. He used his knowledge to come up with the theory of trigonometry. He was born in Nicaea, which is now Iznik, Turkey. He was said to have died on the island of Rhodes.
Hipparchus was well known as an astronomer between 162 and 127BC. He has always been referred to as the greatest ancient astronomy observer. He was also said to be the greatest astronomer of antiquity. He was the first one to have proper models for the movements of the sun and moon.
It was this work as an astronomer that helped him in trigonometry. He constructed trigonometric tables that were able to solve many problems such as those of spherical trig. He was said to be the best at predicting solar eclipses due to his models of the sun, moon, and his trig calculations. He is also known for his discovery "Earth's precession."
He created the first star catalogue that was most comprehensive, especially for the western world. He invented the astrolabe according to many accounts of history. It took three centuries before Hipparchus' work was superseded; this was done by Claudius Ptolemaeus. By that time trig was already formed and one of the more popular areas of mathematics to study. It was adopted to many places around the world and eventually led to modern trig during the Age of Enlightenment. During this time Isaac Newton and James Stirling were the two credited with furthering trig.
