Sir Thomas Little Heath (; 5 October 1861 – 16 March 1940) was a British civil servant, mathematician, classical scholar, historian of ancient Greek mathematics, translator, and mountaineer. He was educated at Clifton College in Bristol. Heath translated works of Euclid of Alexandria, Apollonius of Perga, Aristarchus of Samos, and Archimedes of Syracuse into English.

Life

Heath was born in Barnetby-le-Wold, Lincolnshire, England, being the third son of a farmer, Samuel Heath, and his wife Mary Little. He had two brothers and three sisters. He was educated at Caistor Grammar School and Clifton College before entering Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was awarded an ScD in 1896 and became an Honorary Fellow in 1920. He got first class honours in both the classical tripos and mathematical tripos and was the twelfth wrangler in 1882. In 1884 he took the Civil Service examination and became an Assistant Secretary to the Treasury, finally becoming Joint Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and auditor of the Civil List in 1913. He held the position till 1919 when he was appointed as the comptroller of the National Debt Office, from which he retired at the end of 1926 because of age limitations. He was honoured for his work in the Civil Service by being appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1903, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1909, and Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1916. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1912. He was a president of the Mathematical Association in 1922-23, and a fellow of the British Academy.

  • Aristarchus of Samos, the Ancient Copernicus Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913)
  • Euclid in Greek, Book I, With Introduction and Notes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920)
  • A History of Greek Mathematics, in two volumes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921)
  • A Manual of Greek Mathematics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931)
  • Greek Astronomy (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1932)
  • Mathematics in Aristotle (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949)

Notes

Further reading

  • "About the translator: Thomas L. Heath" in Euclid's Elements: all thirteen books complete in one volume (2002) Green Lion Press.
  • J.A. Smith, Review of A History of Greek Mathematics, The Classical Review, 37, no. 34 (May – June 1923), 69–71

;Online texts of Heath's books

  • A History of Greek Mathematics: vol. 1, vol. 2
  • The Works of Archimedes
  • Archimedes' Quadrature Of The Parabola
  • Archimedes' On The Measurement Of The Circle
  • Diophantus Of Alexandria: A Study In The History Of Greek Algebra
  • The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements: vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3
  • The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements - Second Edition Revised with Additions: Vol. 1-3
  • PDF files of many of Heath's works, including those on Diophantus, Apollonius, etc.

;Excerpts from MacTutor

  • Heath: Everyman's Library Euclid Introduction
  • Heath: The thirteen books of Euclid's elements Preface
  • Heath: Mathematics in Aristotle Preface

;About T.L. Heath

  • Obituary by D'Arcy W. Thompson