Who first proposed a round Earth?
I’m an interested science teacher at St. Catherine’s British Embassy School in Athens Greece. Is there any reliable information relating to when and by whom it was first proposed that the earth is a sphere? Reply Funny that YOU should ask–living in Athens, Greece, you may well have the best experts on the subject within walking distance. From what I can quickly find on the web (I am at home, away from any library), the first solid arguments were made by Aristotle: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/universes/html/univ_flat.html The idea itself was raised earlier by Plato and Pythagoras: http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit2/measearth.html Presumably, you have read all I have on this in “From Stargazers to Starships.” 57. Does precession change the Length of the year? I’ve enjoyed your page on the precession of the equinoxes at http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sprecess.htm I understand that a year is the time between two successive vernal equinoxes. In a year t
