#362 Shocking Revelations
Alec had a bit of a discussion about the Earth’s shape back on page 137, but he wasn’t about to take Tadashi’s word for it. I guess Lane’s a bit more trustworthy.
Culture Shock
the webcomic
Alec had a bit of a discussion about the Earth’s shape back on page 137, but he wasn’t about to take Tadashi’s word for it. I guess Lane’s a bit more trustworthy.
Before Copernicus’ revelation that the earth was round and this solar system wasn’t geocentric, people actually thought that the Earth was an elongated spheroid.
Donut-shaped Earth, anyone?
The greek knew it too.
Brooke is a heretic!
Seriously, people in the 14th century already KNEW the earth was round. Sure, they thought the sun orbited the earth, but they didn’t think the earth was flat.
Eratosthenes of Cyrene calculated the circumference of the earth and the tilt of the earth’s axis in the second century BC.
In the 14th century they were using calculations of the earth’s circumference that Ptolemy made in the second century AD. They were moderately inaccurate, but the errors weren’t really noticed until the 16th century.
Contrary to popular belief, people in the time of Columbus didn’t think the earth was flat either. His dispute with the church was about the diameter of the earth, not the shape of it. And Columbus was wrong. That’s why native Americans ended up being called Indians. Columbus got himself very, very lost and thought he’d found a new trade route to India.
I find it funny that he is just now learning this. What did he think globes were prior to this?
That’s very interesting information. Thank you, Brian!
I’m still dealing with the fact that the world doesn’t sit on a giant turtle. 😛
One can only imagine what were to happen if Alec ever got his hands on some Discworld material… .
All hail the Great A’tuin and the sacrifice of the Fifth Elephant which gave us Fat Mines and Burnt Crunchy Bits.
What? You mean the earth isn’t a hexagonal multiplex? Damn, I need to update my map