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The Shape of the Earth

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Submitted By sojourner5
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The Shape of the Earth The shape of planet Earth has fascinated scientists, philosophers and cultures throughout history. For thousands of years man has observed and studied the Earth. Through observations, spiritual beliefs and empirical findings, many theories developed regarding the shape of the Earth.

How has our understanding of the shape of the Earth changed over time? • Most ancient cultures, such as the Sumerians, Babylonians, even Greece , until the 5th or 6th century B.C., believed that the Earth was flat. (Garwood, 2007, p. 16) • The Egyptians believed the universe was rectangular-shaped with four pillars that supported a flat ceiling. Egypt was in the center of a flat Earth which was surrounded by water. (Moore, 1968, p. 16) • Greek philosopher Pythagoras, populated the idea that the Earth must be a sphere back in the 6th century B.C. • Around 330 B.C. Aristotle accepted the spherical shape of the Earth, observing that the Earth casts a round shadow on the moon. • Sir Isaac Newton observed the shape of the Earth to be oblate spheroidal or oval shaped, not prolate spheroidal or spherical. (According to Choi, 2007) • Giovanni Cassini, who discovered four moons of Saturn and estimated the distance between the Earth and Sun to be 87 million miles, maintained that the Earth was flat at the equator. His theory stirred controversy, contradicting Newton’s and others who maintained that the Earth was flattened at the poles. (Burns, 2001, p. 55)
What are some discoveries and examples that brought us new knowledge to our understanding of the shape of the Earth? • In around 200 B.C. Eratosthenes determined the size of the Earth through mathematical calculations and empirical reasoning. “He knew that at summer solstice the sun was directly overhead in Syene (now Aswan, Egypt). On that day, vertical sticks or poles cast no shadows, and

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