Greek mathematician and astronomer from Samos, an island off ancient Greece.
The first recorded person to place the sun, moon and planets in correct orientation with each other (known as heliocentric theory). Although the proposal of Aristarchus was rejected as wrong and impious, the world eventually caught up with his thinking – about 1800 years later – when Copernicus proposed the same theory c.1543 in the year leading–into his death. The heliocentric theory was finally “accepted” about 100 years subsequent to the death of Copernicus.