Related Papers
Eratosthenes: The Measurement of the Earth's Circumference
2010 •
Julian Rubin
Eratosthenes The Measurement of the Earth's Circumference Hands On Activity: Repeat Eratosthenes' Experiment
Orbis Terrarum, 16 (2018, ), pp. 221--254
ERATOSTHENESʼ MEASUREMENTS OF THE EARTH: ASTRONOMICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SOLUTIONS
2018 •
Irina Tupikova
Nowadays, Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276-194 BC) is mainly known for measuring the circumference of the Earth, quoted in the ancient sources as either 250000 or 252000 stades. Whereas the former figure is related to the astronomical observation reported by Cleomedes, the latter could have been derived from the geographical information available to Eratosthenes. We demonstrate that the greater of the two figures is interrelated with the number of other figures, including the equinoctial gnomon ratio in Alexandria and the width of the tropic zone, which have been attributed to Eratosthenes. In addition, it is shown how the arc of the tropic zone could be expressed as a fraction of a full circle in pre-trigonometrical times. Furthermore , we discuss a recent attempt by CARMAN and EVANS to explain the figure of 252000 stades as a result of taking into account the finite distance to the Sun. We argue that this contains some historical inconsistencies and astronomical problems.
Mathematics and Mechanics of Complex Systems
Ptolemy’s longitudes and Eratosthenes’ measurement of the earth’s circumference
2013 •
Lucio Russo
How the Ancient Egyptians had Calculated the Earth's Circumference between 3750-1500 BC: a revision of the method used by Eratosthenes (2020 Update)
Christian Irigaray
An in depth look at the method offered by Eratosthenes shows that the original calculation for the Earth's meridian circumference was made by the Ancient Egyptians thousands of years before Eratosthenes' time.
MPIWG Preprint N.464
Ptolemy's Circumference of the Earth
Ptolemy´s circumference of the earth (Irina Tupikova)
Klaus Geus
TUPIKOVA, Irina: Ptolemy´s circumference of the earth. Berlin: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 2014 (TOPOI – Towards of Historical Epistemology of Space = Preprint; 464).
Eratosthenes' measurement of the Earth's radius in a middle school lab session
2012 •
Ana Rita Mota
We describe a middle school lab session designed to explore and understand the Eratosthenes' method for determining the Earth radius. The lab session is divided into six lab stations completely independent though related, each one with different apparatuses / materials. The stations are diversified and range from simple tasks, like simulations or simple measurements, to tasks that involve a higher cognitive ability. The lab session includes several physical contents, such as the Earth movements (rotation, translation and precession) and its consequences: variation of temperature and shadows length during the day, Sun rays inclination, time zones and seasons.
Archimedes of Syracuse
Rizaldy Bilog
The Physics Teacher
A New Perspective on Eratosthenes' Measurement of the Earth
2011 •
Alok kumar
commentary on How to Measure the Earth' Circumference.pdf
2018 •
Harry Sivertsen
In 'How to Measure the Earth's circumference' Michael Baizerman mentions the modern equatorial measure in conjunction with the meridian degree length. Confusing. The Greek methodologies invariably were conducted in a north/south direction. They were attempting to measures a distance along a meridian. This distance was then expanded to a count of diverse stade values applied to the meridian circumference. At no time was an equatorial circumference given in the ancient world. What emerges from an assessment of these values when evaluated with knowledge of the measures of the ancient world is that these diverse stadia values all ultimately gave the same dimension for the circumference of Earth in a meridian direction. It was John Michell who extending and adapting the works of previous scholars including Berryman, Stechini and Petrie to name but three, revealed the ancient measuring system. While I disagree with some of his conclusions, his measures were correct. Michell claimed that various differences in values were due to the difference in degree lengths around the meridian quadrant whereas I argue that the same values can be found via counts of time such as days of the month in its various formats. In fact the measures applied greatly predate the interpretation of the Earth's shape from a pure globe to a flattened version. It was not until well into the Christian era that reasonably accurate knowledge of this flattening became available. The unit measures, whether cubits, reeds or stadia, among other denominations are related to the meridian circumference of Earth as accepted before the French determinations for the metric system. Some of these divide accurately into that meridian while others work via specific factors. The Earth's diameter was also derived from this via a pi value of 3.1418181818. This diameter of course was 7920 miles. The circumference measure can be seen as 24883.2 British miles. It was Michell who calculated this value and it and its component parts are verified via ancient cubit rods, measures of buildings etc. Here is an extract from my work Measurements of the Gods showing the values applied by Michell, the French calculation for the metric values and NASA [early 1990s] :
