2015秋哈工大学物理实验绪论0923选编.pptVIP

Eratosthenes was a Greek astronomer in ancient times. Around 240 B.C. he made the first good measurement of the size of the Earth. How did he do that? Eratosthenes used the lengths of shadows to figure out how high in the sky the Sun was in a certain place on a certain day. He knew of another place where there was no shadow at all on the same day. That meant the Sun was straight overhead. He found out the distance between the two places, then used some geometry to figure out the rest. Lets take a closer look! Eratosthenes lived in the city of Alexandria. Alexandria is in northern Egypt. It i