John Greaves

John Greaves (* 1602 in Alresford, Hampshire, † October 8, 1652 in London) was a British mathematician and archaeologist.

Greaves was the eldest son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore. He received his education 1617-1621 at Balliol College, Oxford. 1630 he was professor of geometry at Gresham College in London. After he had traveled to Europe, he went in 1637 to the Middle East, where he gained Arabic, Persian, and Greek manuscripts and the Pyramids in Egypt surveyed more accurate than any before him.

After his return to Europe, he traveled again many regions in Italy and conducted research on ancient weights and measures, by which he can be seen as early explorer of metrology. In 1643 he was awarded the 1619 founded and named after Henry Savile " Savilian Chair" of Astronomy at Oxford. Soon he was removed from his professorship but at Gresham College in London, because he had not complied with its obligations. In 1645 he proposed a calendar reform, which was however not carried out. In 1648 he lost both his membership at Oxford University and his professorial chair, probably because he belonged to the royalist faction under Oliver Cromwell. Officially wasteful use of the funds at his university he was accused of. Greaves moved back to London. His wealth allowed him to marry and spend the last years of his life in prosperity. He could deal more with publications and the publication of books and manuscripts.

Writings

In addition to many publications in the Philosophical Transactions Greaves published:

  • Pyramidographia, or a description of the pyramids of Egypt. ( 1646)
  • A Discourse on the Roman Foot and Denarius. ( 1649)
  • Elementa Linguae Persicae. ( 1649)
  • Lemmas ArchiMedis, apud Latinos Graecos et iam pridem desiderata, e vestusto codice manuscripto Arabico a Johanne Gravio Traducta. Revised by Samuel Foster ( 1659)
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