Zenodorus (son of Lysanias)

Zenodorus (son of Lysanias) was a Greek geometer and astronomer who flourished in the 2nd century BCE. Unfortunately, relatively little is known about his life beyond his parentage and his mathematical contributions. He is primarily remembered for his work on isoperimetric figures, which explores the relationship between the area of a figure and its perimeter. His most significant surviving work is a treatise, partially preserved through the writings of Pappus of Alexandria, that investigates the relative areas of figures with equal perimeters. He demonstrated that among all isoperimetric polygons with the same number of sides, the regular polygon has the largest area. He also explored the relative areas of regular polygons and compared them to the area of a circle, concluding that for a given perimeter, the circle encloses the maximum area. His work laid important groundwork for later developments in geometry and calculus, particularly in the field of isoperimetric inequalities. Further research into contemporary sources may uncover additional details about his life and accomplishments, but currently, information on his personal life remains scarce.