Star Distances

In article om_NOSPAM,
Phineas T Puddleduck wrote:

Yep, think of the analogy of how the Greeks realised the Earth was
curved using only a well....

Eratosthenes used a well as one of his reference points for
*measuring* the size of the earth, but I don't know of any reason to
believe that it was a well that gave the Greeks the idea that the
earth was curved. They had much simpler evidence for that, such as
the disappearance of ships over the horizon and the different stars
visible at different latitudes.

-- Richard

Richard Tobin wrote:
In article om_NOSPAM,
Phineas T Puddleduck wrote:

Yep, think of the analogy of how the Greeks realised the Earth was
curved using only a well....

Eratosthenes used a well as one of his reference points for
*measuring* the size of the earth, but I don't know of any reason to
believe that it was a well that gave the Greeks the idea that the
earth was curved. They had much simpler evidence for that, such as
the disappearance of ships over the horizon and the different stars
visible at different latitudes.

-- Richard

One thing I like about Newton is that he had absolutely no prejudice
when reaching into remote antiquity whenever he needed,I suppose it is
the one thing that marks him off from his contemporaries.

Newton's followers,in assigning all things to the Greeks positively
refuse to consider anything beyond the casual fables designed to make
the Greeks look primitive and contemporaries 'advanced'.

http://www.metrum.org/measures/measurements.htm

Pity none of you will ever get to admire why the Eygptians chose the
angle of 51 degrees 50 min for their perfectly orientated Great Pyramid.

In article , Richard Tobin
wrote:

In article om_NOSPAM,
Phineas T Puddleduck wrote:

Yep, think of the analogy of how the Greeks realised the Earth was
curved using only a well....

Eratosthenes used a well as one of his reference points for
*measuring* the size of the earth, but I don't know of any reason to
believe that it was a well that gave the Greeks the idea that the
earth was curved. They had much simpler evidence for that, such as
the disappearance of ships over the horizon and the different stars
visible at different latitudes.

-- Richard


What I should have said, as you have pointed out - was a measure of the
radius. But it also proves very well that the earth is curved.

--
The greatest enemy of science is pseudoscience.

Jaffa cakes. Sweet delicious orangey jaffa goodness, and an abject lesson why
parroting information from the web will not teach you cosmology.

Official emperor of sci.physics. Please pay no attention to my butt poking
forward, it is expanding.

Relf's Law?
"Bull**** repeated to the limit of infinity asymptotically approaches
the odour of roses."

In article .com,
oriel36 wrote:

Richard Tobin wrote:
In article om_NOSPAM,
Phineas T Puddleduck wrote:

Yep, think of the analogy of how the Greeks realised the Earth was
curved using only a well....

Eratosthenes used a well as one of his reference points for
*measuring* the size of the earth, but I don't know of any reason to
believe that it was a well that gave the Greeks the idea that the
earth was curved. They had much simpler evidence for that, such as
the disappearance of ships over the horizon and the different stars
visible at different latitudes.

-- Richard

One thing I like about Newton is that he had absolutely no prejudice
when reaching into remote antiquity whenever he needed,I suppose it is
the one thing that marks him off from his contemporaries.

Newton's followers,in assigning all things to the Greeks positively
refuse to consider anything beyond the casual fables designed to make
the Greeks look primitive and contemporaries 'advanced'.

http://www.metrum.org/measures/measurements.htm

Pity none of you will ever get to admire why the Eygptians chose the
angle of 51 degrees 50 min for their

One track mind

*PLONK*

--
The greatest enemy of science is pseudoscience.

Jaffa cakes. Sweet delicious orangey jaffa goodness, and an abject lesson why
parroting information from the web will not teach you cosmology.

Official emperor of sci.physics. Please pay no attention to my butt poking
forward, it is expanding.

Relf's Law?
"Bull**** repeated to the limit of infinity asymptotically approaches
the odour of roses."

"oriel36" wrote in message
oups.com...

Richard Tobin wrote:
In article om_NOSPAM,
Phineas T Puddleduck wrote:

Yep, think of the analogy of how the Greeks realised the Earth was
curved using only a well....

Eratosthenes used a well as one of his reference points for
*measuring* the size of the earth, but I don't know of any reason to
believe that it was a well that gave the Greeks the idea that the
earth was curved. They had much simpler evidence for that, such as
the disappearance of ships over the horizon and the different stars
visible at different latitudes.

-- Richard

One thing I like about Newton is that he had absolutely no prejudice
when reaching into remote antiquity whenever he needed,I suppose it is
the one thing that marks him off from his contemporaries.

Newton's followers,in assigning all things to the Greeks positively
refuse to consider anything beyond the casual fables designed to make
the Greeks look primitive and contemporaries 'advanced'.

http://www.metrum.org/measures/measurements.htm

Pity none of you will ever get to admire why the Eygptians chose the
angle of 51 degrees 50 min for their perfectly orientated Great Pyramid.


Hey, it must be tea time again. I can still hear the k00k00 clock going off.

It would help if you could spell Sitchin! Then others could look up
that fool's utter nonsense for themselves!

Saul Levy


On 21 Jun 2006 11:21:25 -0700, "oriel36"
wrote:

T Wake wrote:
"oriel36" wrote in message
oups.com...

Richard Tobin wrote:
In article om_NOSPAM,
Phineas T Puddleduck wrote:

Yep, think of the analogy of how the Greeks realised the Earth was
curved using only a well....

Eratosthenes used a well as one of his reference points for
*measuring* the size of the earth, but I don't know of any reason to
believe that it was a well that gave the Greeks the idea that the
earth was curved. They had much simpler evidence for that, such as
the disappearance of ships over the horizon and the different stars
visible at different latitudes.

-- Richard

One thing I like about Newton is that he had absolutely no prejudice
when reaching into remote antiquity whenever he needed,I suppose it is
the one thing that marks him off from his contemporaries.

Newton's followers,in assigning all things to the Greeks positively
refuse to consider anything beyond the casual fables designed to make
the Greeks look primitive and contemporaries 'advanced'.

http://www.metrum.org/measures/measurements.htm

Pity none of you will ever get to admire why the Eygptians chose the
angle of 51 degrees 50 min for their perfectly orientated Great Pyramid.


Hey, it must be tea time again. I can still hear the k00k00 clock going off.

Stecchini is correct,the contemporaries of Erathostenes who were
familiar with his reasoning and especially Ptolemy knew perfectly well
that the Earth was a sphere and never attributed anything special to
Erathostenes*.

It must be a terrible position to be so limited in your knowledge or
being forced to accept fables.You can't even manage Ptolemaic reasoning
never mind its dramatic obliteration by Copernicus but then again,when
had the ancient and recent insights,at least up to the era of Roemer,
any relevence for your dead eyes.





"A series of ancient authors credits Eratosthenes as having introduced
the calculation of the degree as equal to 700 stadia, but there is not
a single writer who indicates that he based himself on an empirical
survey of the ground. Contemporary scholars exalt Eratosthenes as a
great scientist and as a pioneer in mathematical geography, but none of
the ancient writers who were acquainted with his works indicate this.
If Eratosthenes had been such an innovator, Ptolemy who discusses at
length the problem of the dimensions of the Earth in the Prolegomena to
his Geography would have said at least some words to this effect. Theon
of Smyrna and Proklos, who lived in Alexandria do not make any
reference to the alleged discovery of Eratosthenes in their extensive
commentaries on ancient mathematical science. Strabo, who had before
his eyes the writings of Eratosthenes and discusses them at length,
does not ascribe to Eratosthenes any specific achievement in the field
of empirical geodesy or of theoretical geography. Strabo mentions
repeatedly the figure of 700 stadia to the degree, but justifies it
only in these words: "We suppose as Hipparchos, that the size of the
Earth is 252,000 stadia, a figure given also by Eratosthenes." He
would not have spoken in these terms if Eratosthenes had provided a
complete mathematical demonstration."

http://www.metrum.org/measures/measurements.htm