Euclid's Elements of Geometry

The Elements, written and used by Euclid in Alexandria, laid the basis for advances in Arabic and European mathematics. Among its most important translators were:

• al-Haijaj ibn Yusuf ibn Matar produced an Arabic version for the caliph Harun ar-Rashid (reigned 786 - 809) and another one for the caliph al-Ma'Mun (reigned 813 - 833);
• Hunayn ibn Ishaq, who reigned 808 - 873 produced a translation into Arabic that was revised by Thabit ibn Qurrah, who died in 901;
• Nasir ad-Din at-Tusi produced another Arabic version in the 13th century;
• Abelard of Bath obtained an Arabic version in about 1120 while travelling through Spain, disguised as a Muslim scholar, and translated it into Latin;
• Hermann of Carinthia translated Books I - XII of the same copy into Latin;
• Gerard of Cremona, who lived c. 1114 - 1187, translated the Isbaq-Thabit version into Latin;
• Johannes Campanus printed the first Latin version in the 13th century;
• Bartolomeo Zamberti produced the first translation into Latin from the original Greek text and published it in Vienna in 1505;
• Federico Commandino produced the most influential Latin translation in 1572;
• David Gregory produced the Oxford edition of 1703, the first complete edition of the Elements in Greek and Latin.

The invention of the printing press and movable type around 1450 revolutionized the study of mathematics since it could mass-produce accurate calculations and diagrams, as shown in this example:

Folio A2r from Euclid's Elements of Geometry printed by Erhard Ratdolt in Venice in 1482, only 27 years after Johannes Gutenberg had produced the first printed book. (Special Collections, Glasgow University Library, Sp Coll BD7-c.5)

Illustration: public domain

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