Aristarchus
(c.
310-250 BC)
Astronomer
from Samos that was first to conclude that the earth revolves around the sun.
This almost cost him his life since it was considered to be offending the
gods.
He also created a method of measuring distances of the sun and the moon from
the earth. The method was basically correct, but his results wrong because
of lack of accurate instruments.
The only surviving work of Aristarchus is "On the Dimensions" and
"Distances of the Sun and Moon". The rest of his work we know about
through the writings of Archimedes.