Measure of the Earth
The Enlightenment Expedition That Reshaped Our World
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- USD 11.99
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- USD 11.99
Descripción editorial
In the early eighteenth century, at the peak of the Enlightenment, an unlikely team of European scientists and naval officers set out on the world's first international, cooperative scientific expedition.Intent on making precise astronomical measurements at the Equator, they were poised to resolve one of mankind's oldest mysteries: the true shape of the Earth.
In Measure of the Earth, award-winning science writer Larrie D. Ferreiro tells the full story of the Geodesic Mission to the Equator for the very first time.It was an age when Europe was torn between two competing conceptions of the world: the followers of René Descartes argued that the Earth was elongated at the poles, even as IsaacNewton contended that it was flattened. A nation that could accurately determine the planet's shape could securely navigate its oceans, giving it great military and imperial advantages.Recognizing this, France and Spain organized a joint expedition to colonial Peru, Spain's wealthiest kingdom.Armed with the most advanced surveying and astronomical equipment, they would measure a degree of latitude at the Equator, which when compared with other measurements would reveal the shape of the world.But what seemed to be a straightforward scientific exercise was almost immediately marred by a series of unforeseen catastrophes, as the voyagers found their mission threatened by treacherous terrain, a deeply suspicious populace, and their own hubris.
A thrilling tale of adventure, political history, and scientific discovery, Measure of the Earth recounts the greatest scientific expedition of the Enlightenment through the eyes of the men who completed it -- pioneers who overcame tremendous adversity to traverse the towering Andes Mountains in order to discern the Earth's shape. In the process they also opened the eyes of Europe to the richness of South America and paved the way for scientific cooperation on a global scale.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Science writer Ferreiro (Ships and Science) recounts exhaustively a joint (at least in name if not in spirit) 1735 expedition of France and Spain designed to discover the size and shape of the Earth. Expected to take two years, the expedition to what is now Peru, where the expeditioners would calculate the measure of a degree of latitude at the equator, lasted almost a decade. It's impossible not to be impressed with the operation's technical achievement while reading the author's fascinating and clearly written account of the complex astronomical tools and methodology employed. Equally impressive are the myriad examples of interpersonal dysfunction, political intrigue, and wasted efforts that Ferreiro recounts with straightforward enthusiasm. For example, at one point the scientists are forced to discard two years of astronomical calculations that turned out to be inaccurate. But the mission was ultimately successful and made a scientific star of its de facto leader, Pierre Bouguer, and a celebrity of another, Charles Marie de La Condamine. Despite some dense but clearly explained scientific material, readers will be drawn in by the personalities and trials of the ambitious expedition. Maps.