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Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨fossilesque@mander.xyz⁩ to ⁨science_memes@mander.xyz⁩

https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/5a5eaaa1-a769-43e0-9d40-f19f0f51b8d8.jpeg

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Comments

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  • Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It was two sticks! Stop spreading misinformation here!

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    • Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Two sticks and a gigantic globe of plasma shining near-parallel beams of light.

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      • Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        That was just kind of hanging around there, so why not use it?

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      • ceenote@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Also a dude he paid to walk a few hundred miles.

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      • Gigan@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Shit, I wanted to reproduce his experiment but I don’t have one of those.

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      • nxdefiant@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Now I wonder what “Aaaaakshually” sounds like in ancient Greek.

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      • Artyom@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Smh my head, scientists still don’t have stable fusion, when Erastosthenes was using it as a constant in his experiments.

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  • Dasus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Say his name.

    en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes

    Just for those who wish to learn more.

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    • cucumber_sandwich@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The sieve guy?

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      • Dasus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Yes.

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    • eestileib@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      His nickname was “Beta” because he was the second best at everything.

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    • Muscar@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Big brain both literally and figuratively based on that etching.

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    • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      How do you pronounce it? I’m fumbling

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      • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        “Eratosthenes”

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  • lowleveldata@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The original “Tony Stark In a Cave”

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    • Legend@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Eratosthenes did it with a fucking stick .

      But we are not Eratosthenes sir .

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  • LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    He was significantly more accurate than that. The degree of his error is slightly complicated by the stadia not being a historically exact figure, but his calculation showed the Earth to be 252,000 stadia in circumference. Accounting for the variability in the exact length of the stadia dependent on what definition was used in the calculation, that gives us in kilometers 39,060km on the lower end and 40,320km on the upper. The actual circumference of the Earth is 40,075km. This gives him an error range of between -2.4% and +0.8%.

    He also didn’t just use a stick but used extensive geographic charts to calculate the distance between the 2 cities where he measured the shadow. It was a monumental achievement and is shockingly accurate.

    Here is a picture visually demonstrating how he performed his calculation.

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    • Flummoxed@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It’s still seriously impressive with that error range?

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      • LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I never said it wasn’t. I was originally writing this is a response to a commenter who said the error was ~15%. My comment initially started with “He was actually significantly more accurate than that.”

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      • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Good question

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  • umbrella@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    to be fair it was more than 1 stick

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    • Cicraft@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      how many sticks then?

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      • vardogor@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        two

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      • MrFappy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        A whole bundle of them tied together.

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  • magic_lobster_party@kbin.run ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    He was obviously employed by NASA. Don’t believe the round earth agenda!

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    • neo@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Sheeple never stop to amaze me!

      The ground that looks and feels flat is actually flat? Impossible!

      A guy 2200 years ago measures how round earth is - with a straight stick? Sure sounds right!

      /s

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    • bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      To play devil’s advocate, wouldn’t you get the same result on a flat earth, if the sun was closer enough for rays not to be parallel?

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      • magic_lobster_party@kbin.run ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I’m not completely sure, but I guess it’s difficult to fit a flat earth model if you have three or more measurements.

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  • Zerush@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    2 sticks

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  • Dufurson@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    sticks and stones can cucumberference the big rock

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  • disheveledWallaby@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Sagan did a bit on this.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8cbIWMv0rI

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  • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    isnt this the fucker who used units of stadia? The unit that we have no historical reference to? (at least one significant enough to be certain about it’s actual referenced distance) Which means that we don’t actually know how accurate it was?

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    • olutukko@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I mean we do know the formula, se we know pretty well how accurate it was.

      "The simplified method works by considering two cities along the same meridian and measuring both the distance between them and the difference in angles of the shadows cast by the sun on a vertical rod (a gnomon) in each city at noon on the summer solstice. The two cities used were Alexandria and Syene (modern Aswan), and the distance between the cities was measured by professional bematists.[16] A geometric calculation reveals that the circumference of the Earth is the distance between the two cities divided by the difference in shadow angles expressed as a fraction of one turn. "

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    • crispyflagstones@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Sorta. The stade was based on the pous which varied. But not that much, and in ways that are often consistently documented. Around the time Eratosthenes was alive, give or take a couple hundred years, it was documented that 1 Roman mile = 8 stades, which gives us something to go of off. While there are other possible definitions, we do have one that we know is probably closest to whatever Eratosthenes used. Using that definition, he had a 15% error. Depending on how you define the stadia, the error can go as high as 30%. I’m still impressed he got within the right power of ten with nothing but a stick.

      maa.org/…/eratosthenes-and-the-mystery-of-the-sta…

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      • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        +/-20% error isn’t terrible on a conversion. The fact that it’s only 10% offset is crazy though.

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  • CrispyFern@hexbear.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    When I was a kid my teachers told me that Christopher Columbus discovered the earth was round and that before him everyone thought it was flat. When I was about ~13 I read a short biography of Eratosthenes and it blew my little mind. centrist

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  • Collatz_problem@hexbear.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There were also wells and a lot of walking involved.

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  • Mango@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    THE PYRAMID ALIENS

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