Hipparchus of Nicaea (ca 190-127 BC) Greek domain Ptolemy may be the most famous astronomer before Copernicus,

but he borrowed heavily from Hipparchus, who might be considered the greatest astronomer ever. (Careful study of the errors in the catalogs of Ptolemy and Hipparchus reveal both that Ptolemy borrowed his data from Hipparchus, and that Hipparchus used principles of spherical trig to simplify his work. Late Vedic astronomers, including the 6thcentury genius Aryabhatta, borrow much from Ptolemy and Hipparchus.) Hipparchus is called the "Father of Trigonometry"; he developed spherical trigonometry, produced trig tables, and more. He produced at least fourteen texts of physics and mathematics nearly all of which have been lost, but which seem to have had great teachings, including much of Newton's Laws of Motion. In one obscure surviving work he demonstrates familiarity with the combinatorial enumeration method now called Schrder's Numbers. He invented the circle-conformal stereographic map projection which carries his name. As an astronomer, Hipparchus is credited with the discovery of equinox precession, length of the year, thorough star catalogs, and invention of the armillary sphere and perhaps the astrolabe. He had great historical influence in Europe, India and Persia, at least if credited also with Ptolemy's influence. (Hipparchus himself was influenced by Chaldean astronomers.) Hipparchus' work implies a better approximation to than that of Apollonius, perhaps it was 377/120 as Ptolemy used. The Antikythera mechanism is an astronomical clock considered amazing for its time. It was built a few decades after Hipparchus' death, but soon lost (remaining at the bottom of the sea for 2000 years). The mechanism implemented the complex orbits which Hipparchus had developed to explain irregular planetary motions; it's not unlikely the great genius helped design this intricate analog computer, which may have been built in Rhodes where Hipparchus spent his final decades.