While " flat-Earthers " claim to believe the Earth is flat from their various positions around the globe, we have known since antiquity that the Earth is round. In fact, in around 240 BCE, Eratosthenes of Cyrene made the first measurements of the Earth's circumference, using nothing more than a stick and a little knowledge. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Born in 276 BCE, Eratosthenes was a music theorist, mathematician, geographer, and poet. But he is best known for his calculation of the Earth's circumference, which was impressively accurate, to within 1 percent of its actual size. This sometimes earns him the title of "astronomer", though he showed very little interest in the subject besides this calculation. His c

See Full Page