The Measure of the Earth

by Ferreiro, Larrie D.

• ISBN13: 9780465017232
• ISBN10: 0465017231
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-31
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

In the early eighteenth century, European thinkers were torn between Descartes' notion that the earth was spherical and Newton's contention that it was flattened at the poles. Eager to reap the great military and imperial advantages of knowing the earth's exact shape, France and Spain sent an expedition of scientists and naval officers to colonial Peru to measure the degree of equatorial latitude, which could resolve the debate. But what seemed to be a straightforward survey down the Andes was quickly marred by catastrophe. In Measure of the Earth, award-winning science writer Larrie D. Ferreiro tells the full story of the Geodesic Mission for the first time, describing the remarkable scientific expedition through the eyes of the men who served on it.

Table of Contents

Principal Characters	p. ix
Introduction: The Baseline at Yaruquí	p. xiii
The Problem of the Earth's Shape	p. 1
Preparations for the Mission	p. 31
Finding Quito	p. 61
Degree of Difficulty	p. 91
City of Kings	p. 117
The Triangles of Peru	p. 129
Death and the Surgeon	p. 163
The War of Jenkins's Ear	p. 179
The Dance of the Stars	p. 197
The Impossible Return	p. 223
A World Revealed	p. 247
Epilogue: The Children of the Equator	p. 273
Afterword	p. 289
A Note on Language	p. 293
Units of Measure and Currency	p. 295
Acknowledgments	p. 297
Notes	p. 299
Index	p. 339
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