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Richard
Posts: 8
Joined: 10/23/2008
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The Man Who Flattened the Earth |
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Those of you with an interest in the history of geodesy might want to look at "The Man Who Flattened the Earth" by Mary Terrall. She gives a very readable and informed account of the career of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis the French scientist who led the meridian arc expedition to Lapland that confirmed Newton's hypothsis of the Earth as an oblate spheroid. The author puts the project into its social context, letting us understand how it was that geodesy became a hot scientific topic in 18th century Europe. She also gets the science right. Very entertaining if you're a geodesy freak like yours truly!
Richard
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Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 4:45:09 PM |