Sixth century A.D.

Greek Neoplatonist philosopher of the Athenian school who, along with John Philoponus, was a student of Ammonius Hermiae. Olympiodorus joined them in performing perhaps the first critical commentaries on Aristotelian science. He wrote an extensive commentary on the Meteorologica, wherein he disagreed with Aristotle's terrestrial Milky Way in relation to observations by parallax (a realization by Greek astronomical observation) with which he was acquainted. He also showed comprehension of varied optical topics, such as rules of refraction, and the importance of cloud drops in discussing Aristotle's rainbow theory.