Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER TWO
Shaping the Earth
Here, we look at the perceived shape of the earth and how this perception
changed over the centuries. We begin (once a myth has been dispelled) as
so many discussions of scientific development must begin, with the ancient
Greeks.
Falling Off the Edge of the World
Let's get something out of the way before we start. When I first learned
about Christopher Columbus, as a young schoolboy in England 45 years
ago, I was told about his mutinous and terrified crew. They fervently be-
lieved that the earth was flat, that Columbus was steering his three little
ships toward the edge of a disk, and that if he did not order them to turn
back soon, they would all fall o√ the world. I had visions of a gigantic
waterfall, with three little medieval wooden sailing ships tipping over it.
Only it didn't happen because the great Columbus knew better: he stayed
on his westward course, and just before the ignorant mutineers were about
to overpower him, land was sighted to the west. America was found, Co-
lumbus was vindicated, and everyone lived happily ever after.
Garbage. My childishly naïve view of this history was wrong in every
detail, of course. Of interest to us here is the first error: the idea that
medieval Europe believed in a flat earth is just plain wrong, as even the
most cursory historical research reveals. This myth is a figment of the
nineteenth century and persisted, it seems, at least until the middle of the
twentieth.
1
1. The myth of a flat earth is still with us today, despite space travel and the evidence
provided by modern technology and common sense. The Flat Earth Society is on the web,
