View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector HISTORIA MATHEMATICA 19 (1992), 99-105 IN MEMORIAM Evangelos S. Stamatis (1898-l 990) Evangelos S. Stamatis is widely known in the international community of histori- ans of mathematics as a modern Greek scholar of ancient Greek science. This is due to the fact that today his name is associated with the monumental editions of the Elements of Euclid and the Opera Omnia of Archimedes by the Leipzig firm of B. G. Teubner. Of course, these particular achievements were not isolated but rather part of an extensive and long-term preoccupation with the scientific heritage of ancient Greece. The bibliographical references to his studies, for example, in the Bibliographia Mathematics della Grecia classica e di antiche (1981) of Angiolo Procissi, in The Evolution of Euclidean Elements (1975) by W. R. Knorr, and in the collection Selections Illustrating the History of Greek Mathematics, 2 vols (1939-1941; reprinted 1980) in the Loeb Classical Library series give some idea of the scope and quality of his work. Today, as this admirer and scholar of ancient Greek science no longer is among us, his memory has prompted this biobibliograph- ical profile, intended to honor not only the scholar but also the man. Evangelos Stamatis was born on September 13, 1898, in Thiva. His father Stamatios was a priest, and Evangelos was the sixth of ten children. He received his general education in his native country, and after graduation from high school 99 03150860/92 $3.00 Copyright 0 1992 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 100 IN MEMORIAM: EVANGELOS S. STAMATIS HM 19 he studied at the National Academy of Gymnastics, which had just been estab- lished. He began his career as a gymnast in one of the most famous high schools of the country, the Varvakio high school of Athens. His gymnastic activity was not a mere school routine; he developed a remarkable affection for sport and became an established member of several athletic associations. A reflection of his love for athletics was his contribution as administrator of the famous athletic club “Panathinaikos.” Yet Stamatis’ great desire since his high school years had been to study at the University. So immediately after his graduation from the Academy of Gymnastics and his appointment to the Varvakio high school, he enrolled in the Physics Department of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Athens at the age of 19. He graduated from the University in 1923, joined the army, and participated in the campaign in Asia Minor during the war of 1921-1922. At the university he followed the lectures of the well-known Greek mathematician, C. Caratheodory, who taught for 2 years (1922-1923) in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Athens. After his graduation, he worked first as a teacher for the high schools of Kozani and Athens and later as a schoolmaster and inspector. There he taught courses in physics, chemistry, geography, and mathematics. After 1959 he also taught the history of Greek mathematics and physics as well as modern physics to teachers from the Teachers’ College (Normal School) of Secondary Education. During this time, he wrote ten school books on geography, physics, and chemistry for different classes of high school; some of these books earned awards from the Ministry of Education. In 193 1 he went to Germany on a scholarship and enrolled as a regular student in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Berlin. After lb years, he suspended his studies temporarily, to continue them again in 1936 for 4 more years. During this period, he attended the lectures of many distinguished scientists, including four Nobel-prize-winning physicists: Walter Nernst, Max von Laue, Erwin Schro- dinger, and Peter Debye. In the historiography of mathematics, E. Stamatis appears for the first time in 1946 with two publications, in independent volumes, under the titles Archimedes’ Quadrature of the parabola (with biographical notes and analysis of his mathemat- ical works) and Archimedes’ Mechanics 1. These contain the ancient texts and modern Greek translations of two principal works of Archimedes. After 1950, his activity in the history of mathematics became ever more intense and impressive, as manifested, on the one hand, by an outburst of scientific papers and, on the other, by the long-term program of preparing modern Greek editions of the major relics of the ancient Greek mathematical heritage. A fruitful result of this latter activity was the publication, under his editorship, of the Elements of Euclid in four volumes, during 1952-1957. This publication was issued by the national organization of school book publications, the same organization that published the Arithmetica of Diophantus in 1963. In 1956 Stamatis made his appearance on the international scene of the history HM 19 IN MEMORIAM: EVANGELOS S. STAMATIS 101 of mathematics. Siegfried Heller, in a paper concerned with the mathematical interpretation of the passage about Theodoros in the Platonic dialogue Theaetetus (Centaurus 5, 1956, l-58), referred to one of Stamatis’ pertinent studies. Consider- ing that this study by Stamatis had been published in Greek in the very same year, we can assume that the two men were in close consultation. That same year Stamatis became a regular scientific collaborator for the Zentralblattfiir Mathema- tik und ihre Grenzgebiete. Two years later, after a very favorable review by the distinguished historian of mathematics Joseph Hofmann in the Deutsche Literatur Zeitung (year 79, Vol. 6, June 1958) for his Greek edition of the Elements, Stamatis’ reputation was firmly established among the international community. Shortly afterward, E. Stamatis’ historiographic career reached a decisive turning point. In August 1960, Professor Dr. Irmscher of the Institut fiir griechisch-romi- sche Altertumskunde of the German Academy of Sciences of Berlin, taking under consideration the study “On the Xth book of Euclid’s Elements,” proposed that Stamatis republish Euclid’s Elements on behalf of B. G. Teubner. This proposal undoubtedly gave Stamatis a new impulse not only to evoke the ancient Greek spirit but also to infiltrate it with the new. After this fruitful sowing, the reaping was rich. The number of articles he wrote thereafter increased and his collaboration with the Teubner firm began to yield returns. In 1969 the first volume of the reedition of the Elements was published, and in 1970 the second. During this time he also prepared the Complete Works of Archimedes, the first volume of the modern Greek edition appearing in 1970. This event immediately found response from Teubner, and 2 years later the firm republished under Stamatis’ direction the original edition of Heiberg’s Archimedis Opera Omnia in three volumes. In 1975, after the completion of the modern Greek edition of Archimedes’ Complete Works, E. Stamatis assumed a new project: the first modern Greek edition of The Conies of Apollonius, a project he completed in 1976. In 1977, with the appearance of the second part of the fifth volume of the Elements by Teubner, he completed the work he had assumed following the proposal of Professor Dr. Irmscher. Still his activity did not stop. Stamatis continued vigorously for about 10 more years as both a writer of scientific papers and an editor and translator of works of the ancient Greek scientific literature. He was a member of the Acadtmie Intemationale d’ Histoire des Sciences (since 1966), of the Physics Association of Berlin (since 1948), and of many Greek scientific associations. Considering all these things, it is obvious that the contributions of E. Stamatis to the reanimation of ancient Greek science and international interest in it have been highly significant. Especially for the historiography of Greek mathematics, his vast output represents not only a national capital in literature but also a legacy for new generations to continue and enrich. While his work remains alive, his survival in our memory becomes a sort of extrapolation of his natural existence. 102 IN MEMORIAM: EVANGELOS S. STAMATIS HM 19 Although on March 1, 1990, his heart’s pulse stopped forever, the pulse of his work still goes on and will continue for a long time. JEAN P. CHRISTIANIDIS 10 rue ChrisanthPmon, Athens 15772, Greece AND NIKOS KASTANIS Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54006, Greece LIST OF WORKS* I. Editions and Translations [1946a] Archimedes’ Quadrature of Parabola, with biographical notes and analysis of his works. Athens. [1946b] Archimedes’ Mechanics I. Athens. [1950] Archimedes’ Measurement of a Circle. Athens. [1952-19571 Euclid’s Elements (books l-13), 4 ~01s. Athens: Organismos Ekdoseos Didaktikon Biblion. Second edition 1975. [1960] Anthology of ancient texts. Mathematics-Astronomy-Physics-Geography of Civilization. Ath- ens. Modem Greek translation l%l. [1963] Diophantus’ Arithmetica. The algebra of the Greeks. Athens: Organismos Ekdoseos Didaktikon Biblion. [1969-19771 Euclid’s Elementa, 5 ~01s. (in 6). Leipzig: Teubner. [1970-19741 Archimedes’ Complete Works, 3 ~01s. (in 4). Athens: Technikon Epimeleterion tes Hel- lados. [1972] Archimedis Opera Omnia, 3 vols., I. L. Heiberg, Ed.; corrigenda adiecit Evangelos S. Stamatis. Leipzig: Teubner. [1975-19761 Apollonius’ The Conies, 4 ~01s. Athens: Technikon Epimeleterion tes Hellados. [1976] Mathematics in Plato’s dialogues. Athens. [1979] Euclid’s On divisions. Athens. [1980] Aristarchus of Samos. On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and the Moon. Athens. II. Monographs and Articles [1949] The Delian problem and the trisection of an angle. Athens. [Greek] [ 195 l] A contribution to the interpretation of the geometric passage of the dialogue “Menon” (86e-87b). Platen 3, 218-227. [Greek; English translation of the main part in Platen 14, 315-3201 [1952a] The bloom of Thymaridas.