Ptolemy 90-168

Achievements

Produced tables to track and predict the position of the sun, stars and planets

Theories

Hypothetical bodies such as extra planets and stars might exist in the solar system

Approach

Mathematical without observed evidence

Hypothetical

Ptolemy vs Aristotle

Aristotle - heliocentric

Ptolemy - planets move on an epicycle, did not move around earth but around another body close to earth, maintaining a perfect circles

Influence

Accepted by scholars of medieval Europe

System used well into 16th c

Idea that motion of all heavenly bodies must be perfectly uniform and circular was restricting progress - new theory needed