In modern times there are many things that help us figure things out. Things that range from technology, rules, equations, previous discoveries and so on, but in the times of Aristotle there was not much of that. There were many inspired scholars that worked to discover and invent things to help understand the world and how it works. One of those remarkable scholars was Eratosthenes of Cyrene who lived to be about eighty-two years old. Eratosthenes was born in Greece in a colony known as Cyrene now days called Shahhat, Lybia. He later on moved to live and work in the city of Alexandria. Eratosthenes was a man who excelled in many fields of studies such as geography, mathematics, history, poetry and others. Many of the works that Eratosthenes
…show more content…
By the time of Eratosthenes most scholars agreed and recognized that the Earth was not flat that is was indeed a sphere. As that information was known they still did not know exactly how big this sphere actually was. This lead Eratosthenes to make observations and begin his process to figure out the circumference of Earth. Eratosthenes observed and compared the position of Earth’s rays as they shone upon two different locations. One of the locations was a well in Syene, Egypt, known as Aswan in today’s society. The second location was in the city of Alexandria. At the well he observed that during the summer solstice the rays from the sun shone straight down the well and the rays reached the bottom of the well without touching the sides at of the well at all. This observation helped Eratosthenes come to the conclusion that the Sun’s rays were actually located directly above the well in Egypt. After making this observation Eratosthenes headed to Alexandria and set a pole in the ground. This pole helped him see that on the summer’s solstice the Sun’s ray created a shadow. Another theory of what happened in Alexandria is that he observed that a shadow was created from the sun as the rays of the sun hit a tall tower. Both theories/observations of the happening at Alexandria rather using the stick or the tower helped …show more content…
(fist) Today we know that they circumference of Earth is 40,075 kilometers. His estimated calculation was very accurate.
It is a bit difficult to completely interpret Eratosthenes’s work and calculation because his work was lost and he used the units of measurement that were being used during his time period. Also there was not a standard unit of measurement to where everyone used the same measurement and was completely universal. Eratosthenes lived to be around 82 years old. He implicated his dead upon himself by starving himself in fear of becoming blind. (first)
Eratosthenes created the work geography to define the study of Earth. (second) One of those remarkable scholars was Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Eratosthenes was born in Greece and was a man that was successful in many studied from mathematics, geography, astronomy, and others. Many of Eratosthenes’s works where lost, but other helped preserve his works by reporting them within their own. Eratosthenes is credited for several inventions/findings but his most remarkable work was the calculation of Earth’s Circumference using
By the time of Eratosthenes most scholars agreed and recognized that the Earth was not flat that is was indeed a sphere. As that information was known they still did not know exactly how big this sphere actually was. This lead Eratosthenes to make observations and begin his process to figure out the circumference of Earth. Eratosthenes observed and compared the position of Earth’s rays as they shone upon two different locations. One of the locations was a well in Syene, Egypt, known as Aswan in today’s society. The second location was in the city of Alexandria. At the well he observed that during the summer solstice the rays from the sun shone straight down the well and the rays reached the bottom of the well without touching the sides at of the well at all. This observation helped Eratosthenes come to the conclusion that the Sun’s rays were actually located directly above the well in Egypt. After making this observation Eratosthenes headed to Alexandria and set a pole in the ground. This pole helped him see that on the summer’s solstice the Sun’s ray created a shadow. Another theory of what happened in Alexandria is that he observed that a shadow was created from the sun as the rays of the sun hit a tall tower. Both theories/observations of the happening at Alexandria rather using the stick or the tower helped …show more content…
(fist) Today we know that they circumference of Earth is 40,075 kilometers. His estimated calculation was very accurate.
It is a bit difficult to completely interpret Eratosthenes’s work and calculation because his work was lost and he used the units of measurement that were being used during his time period. Also there was not a standard unit of measurement to where everyone used the same measurement and was completely universal. Eratosthenes lived to be around 82 years old. He implicated his dead upon himself by starving himself in fear of becoming blind. (first)
Eratosthenes created the work geography to define the study of Earth. (second) One of those remarkable scholars was Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Eratosthenes was born in Greece and was a man that was successful in many studied from mathematics, geography, astronomy, and others. Many of Eratosthenes’s works where lost, but other helped preserve his works by reporting them within their own. Eratosthenes is credited for several inventions/findings but his most remarkable work was the calculation of Earth’s Circumference using