Heath, Thomas Little (1861–1940)

English mathematical historian who specialized in ancient Greece. His History of Greek Mathematics (1921) is regarded as the standard work on the subject in the English language. KCB 1909.

Heath was born in Lincolnshire, studied at Cambridge and joined the civil service. He rose through the ranks in the Treasury Office; in 1913 he was appointed joint permanent secretary to the Treasury and auditor of the Civil List, and he was comptroller general and secretary to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt 1919–26.

Between 1885 and 1912, Heath edited the works of Greek mathematicians Diophantus, Apollonius of Perga, and Archimedes. His book Aristarchus of Samos, the Ancient Copernicus (1913) is a comprehensive account of Aristarchus and his work on astronomy. Euclid's Elements (1908) is a monumental work in three volumes. And in the great History of Greek Mathematics, Heath dealt with his subjects mainly according to topics and not in chronological order as others had done before him.