June
08
/ 2021
It is considered obvious today that Earth is roughly a sphere and that it can be measured like any spherical object. Scientists technically call it an oblate spheroid, but it is still sphere-like in its shape. In the ancient world, this was not as obvious. The idea that Earth is spherical only became common knowledge about 2,500 years ago. That is when philosophers began to think about the shape of Earth and its dimensions. When philosophers began to think of Earth as spherical, however, a new question emerged. What is its circumference? Deductive Reasoning and the Emergence of Science Ancient cultures do not appear to have taken as much of an interest as modern scientists in measuring and quantifying the
