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His treatise Almagest, one of the most influential scientific texts in history, set out a mathematical model of the cosmos—with Earth at its centre—that was accepted for more than 1,200 years.

The book is usually known by its Arabic title, the Almagest, which means ‘the Greatest’, and gives you some idea of how it was regarded in the centuries that followed; its original Greek title simply describes it as ‘The Mathematical Compilation’.

Unfortunately, he died in 1461, before he could carry out the task, although he had begun a preliminary book summarizing the edition of the Almagest that was available.

His translations, including “The Elements” and “The Almagest,” brought “the great ideas of ancient Greece and medieval Islam to Western Europe.”

Bassett, in a characteristically composed and formal tone, reads aloud from the second century Greek astronomer's famous treatise, The Almagest: "It is proper to try and fit as far as possible the simpler hypothesis to the movements of the heavens; and if this does not succeed, then any hypothesis possible."