Robert Catesby Taliaferro (1907–1989) was an American mathematician, science historian, classical philologist, philosopher, and translator of ancient Greek and Latin works into English. An Episcopalian from an old Virginia family, he taught in the mathematics department of the University of Notre Dame. He is cited as R. Catesby Taliaferro or R. C. Taliaferro. He translated from Greek and Latin into English: Ptolemy's '' Almagest'', a 2nd-century book on astronomy, the 13 books of Euclid's ''Elements'', Apollonius' works on

conic section In mathematics, a conic section, quadratic curve or conic is a curve obtained as the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a spe ...

s, and some works of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

(Timaios, Critias), and St. Augustine (On Music). He contributed a celebrated foreword to the Bollingen Series 1944 reprint of the Thomas Taylor translation of

's ''

Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to: * ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato *Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue *Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...

'' and ''

Critias Critias (; grc-gre, Κριτίας, ''Kritias''; c. 460 – 403 BC) was an ancient Athenian political figure and author. Born in Athens, Critias was the son of Callaeschrus and a first cousin of Plato's mother Perictione. He became a leading ...

''. He also wrote a book titled ''The concept of

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic part ...

in Descartes and

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...

'' and one titled ''Number systems, introduction to Euclid book V, and to the theory of limits''.R. Catesby Taliaferro, ''Number systems, introduction to Euclid book V, and to the theory of limits'', 1947 He received his doctorate from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1936. He was a teacher at St. John's College in Annapolis, and in 1948 became a master at Portsmouth Priory, now Portsmouth Abbey School, in Portsmouth (Rhode Island). In 1956 he became an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame, after he was their visiting associate professor.

Bibliography

* ''Rational Mechanics: The Classic Notre Dame Course'' (Dover Books on Physics) (2014) by R. Catesby Taliaferro and A. Hahn * ''Conics Books I-IV'' (2013) by Apollonius of Perga and R. Catesby Taliaferro * ''Euclid: Elements / Archimedes: Works / Apollonius: Conic Sections / Nicomachus: Arithmetic'' (Great Books, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1952) * ''Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler'' (Britannica Great Books 1952) edited by Taliaferro, Translated by Taliaferro and Charles Glenn Wallis

Notes and references

1907 births 1989 deaths Historians of astronomy American historians of mathematics American historians of philosophy American classical scholars Greek–English translators Latin–English translators 20th-century translators R. Catesby 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers {{US-sci-historian-stub