Western Civilization I / Unit 5 WC1 0420 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus
Captions available
The idea
Euclid built geometry from axioms to theorems in a textbook used into the twentieth century. Archimedes applied it to engineering and war machines at Syracuse. Eratosthenes measured Earth's circumference within two hundred miles, the anchor's figure. Hipparchus devised latitude and longitude.
In practice
Aristarchus, on the witness, first proposed a sun-centered system.
Where people slip
Ideas outran technology; the anchor calls ancient technical change glacial.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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