Possibly the first to propose a spherical Earth based on actual physical evidence was Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), who listed several arguments for a spherical Earth: ships disappear hull first when they sail over the horizon, Earth casts a round shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse, and different constellations are visible at different latitudes.Īround this time Greek philosophers had begun to believe the world could be explained by natural processes rather than invoking the gods, and early astronomers began making physical measurements, in part to better predict the seasons. Like many Greeks, he believed the sphere was the most perfect shape. that Pythagoras first proposed a spherical Earth, mainly on aesthetic grounds rather than on any physical evidence. But they had no idea how big the planet is until about 240 B.C., when Eratosthenes devised a clever method of estimating its circumference. Eratosthenes Measures the Earthīy around 500 B.C., most ancient Greeks believed that Earth was round, not flat.
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