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Struve's Flat(ter) Earth (2023)
In the first Map Story we met Eratosthenes, who tried to calculate the size of the Earth almost 2300 years ago (and got really pretty close). Today we’ll meet
While Eratosthenes’ calculation was more of a theoretical experiment, now the measurement of the Earth has a concrete application: The age of European exploration and colonization had created a need for accurate mapping and navigation. With Napoleon's army right across the river, Altona was also facing a potential occupation, so to avoid military service the family left Holstein and settled down in the city of Dorpat, in what was then the Russian Empire and today is Tartu, Estonia. Luckily, science was one of the czar’s top interests, so Struve got all the resources he needed to join forces with Colonel Tenner and start the daunting task of setting up triangulation points from the northern coast of Norway all the way to the Black Sea.
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