11th PRIMARY SCHOOL PTOLEMAIDA

Greek pupils have worked on some famous astronomers,

geographers, travelers and biologists and prepared some

posters.

THE WORLD AND BEYOND

GREAT MINDS FROM GREECE

Ptolemy the astronomer

Claudius Ptolemy was a famous

Greek physician and philosopher

who was born in Alexandria of

Egypt during 127-151 A.D. He

considered that the earth is

global and still and the biggest of

all the other celestial bodies. He

introduced the geocentric model

which was accepted until the

appearance of the heliocentric

model. His best known work is

Almagest.

Strabo the geographer

Strabo was a Greek

geographer, philosopher and

historian. He was born in

Amaseia, Pontus in 64 BC

and died in 24 AD. He

travelled all around the world

and in his work

“Geographica” he presented

a descriptive history of

people and places from

different regions of the world

known to his era.

Aris Patrinos

Aris Patrinos was born in

Alexandria of Egypt in 1947. He is

the president of Synthetic

Genomics (a company founded by

Craig Venter). With his team he

managed to chemically create a

synthetic chromosome and use it

to activate a cell, in other words,

breathe life into a cell. This

discovery can be used in the

production of biofuels, new “living”

vaccines, food and clean water.

Anaximander

Anaximander (610-546 BC)

was a pre-Socratic Greek

philosopher who lived in

Miletus, a city in Ionia. In

Astronomy, he described the

celestial bodies in relation to

the Earth. In Physics, he

claimed that the indefinite (or

apeiron) was the source of all

things. In Geometry, he

introduced the gnomon in

Greece. In Geography, he

created a map of the world.

Archimedes

Archimedes was born in

the city Syracuse on the

island of Sicily in 287 BC.

He is believed to be one of

the three greatest

mathematicians along with

Newton and Gauss. His

greatest contributions to

mathematics were in the

area of geometry. He was

also an engineer and

inventor.

Panayiotis Potagos

Panayiotis Potagos (1839-1903) was a Greek physician and explorer from

Arcadian Vytina. He began his travels in 1867, visiting Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan,

Gobi Desert and India. He was the first to reach Mbomy and Uele rivers from

the north. He published an account of his travels, which was translated in

French.

Aristarchus of Samos

Aristarchus of Samos (310 B.C.-230 B.C.) was a Greek astronomer and mathematician who claimed that the Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the Sun. He believed in the heliocentric or Sun-centered model of the

solar system.