Nikephoros Gregoras

Nikephoros Gregoras (c. 1295–c. 1360), born at Heraclea Pontica, was a Byzantine astronomer, theologian and historian. His uncle took him to Constantinople, where Andronikos II made him chartophylax. In 1326 he wrote a treatise proposing calendar reform; the emperor shelved it for fear of unrest, and Gregory XIII adopted almost the same reform more than two centuries later.

He fell with Andronikos II in 1328, but a public contest with Barlaam, whom he bested, drew many pupils, and he predicted the total solar eclipse of 16 July 1330 exactly.

From 1346 he opposed Gregory Palamas in the Hesychast dispute; the synod of 1351 declared his views heretical, he refused to recant and was confined at the Chora Monastery until 1354. Two of the 37 books of his Roman History argue against Palamas.