Re: The world is flat

[Kathryn Frech <lib@STNY.RR.COM>]

On 4 Jan 2002 at 6:22, Rebecca Hickey <bukgrl@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> Can someone tell me (and my 4th graders) who proved that the world was
> not flat?  Was it Columbus?  It seems it was earlier than him.

Much much earlier. The ancient Greeks knew that the world is
round; some of them even though argued for a heliocentric
system rather than a geocentric one, long before Ptolemy.
Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the planet by
measuring shadows at noon at different points about 200 B.C.

Check out these links for more about the Greeks and the
history of astronomy:
http://inkido.indiana.edu/a100/astronomymodule/earthmoon6.html
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Ellen/EarlyGkA
stronomy.html

Check these links for information on the Flat Earth myth
(the false idea that people before Columbus thought the
Earth was flat)
http://www.sfu.ca/philosophy/swartz/flat_earth.htm
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c034.html
http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/~medieval/melcher/19991101.med/msg0036
4.html

HTH!

Kathryn

--
Kathryn Frech, Librarian
Seton Catholic Central H.S.
Binghamton, NY  USA
http://www.tier.net/scclibrary
email: lib@stny.rr.com

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