The Man Who Flattened the Earth
The Man Who Flattened the Earth

Author: Mary Terrall

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2006-05-05

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 0226793621

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Self-styled adventurer, literary wit, philosopher, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. Offering an elegant and accessible portrait of this remarkable man, Mary Terrall uses the story of Maupertuis's life, self-fashioning, and scientific works to explore what it meant to do science and to be a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe. Beginning his scientific career as a mathematician in Paris, Maupertuis entered the public eye with a much-discussed expedition to Lapland, which confirmed Newton's calculation that the earth was flattened at the poles. He also made significant, and often intentionally controversial, contributions to physics, life science, navigation, astronomy, and metaphysics. Called to Berlin by Frederick the Great, Maupertuis moved to Prussia to preside over the Academy of Sciences there. Equally at home in salons, cafés, scientific academies, and royal courts, Maupertuis used his social connections and his printed works to enhance a carefully constructed reputation as both a man of letters and a man of science. His social and institutional affiliations, in turn, affected how Maupertuis formulated his ideas, how he presented them to his contemporaries, and the reactions they provoked. Terrall not only illuminates the life and work of a colorful and important Enlightenment figure, but also uses his story to delve into many wider issues, including the development of scientific institutions, the impact of print culture on science, and the interactions of science and government. Smart and highly readable, Maupertuis will appeal to anyone interested in eighteenth-century science and culture. “Terrall’s work is scholarship in the best sense. Her explanations of arcane 18th-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language.”—Virginia Dawson, American Historical Review Winner of the 2003 Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society

Flat Earth
Flat Earth

Author: Christine Garwood

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2008-08-05

Total Pages: 623

ISBN-13: 1429986948

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Contrary to popular belief fostered in countless school classrooms the world over, Christopher Columbus did not discover that the earth was round. The idea of a spherical world had been widely accepted in educated circles from as early as the fourth century B.C. Yet, bizarrely, it was not until the supposedly more rational nineteenth century that the notion of a flat earth really took hold. Even more bizarrely, it persists to this day, despite Apollo missions and widely publicized pictures of the decidedly spherical Earth from space. Based on a range of original sources, Garwood's history of flat-Earth beliefs---from the Babylonians to the present day---raises issues central to the history and philosophy of science, its relationship to religion and the making of human knowledge about the natural world. Flat Earth is the first definitive study of one of history's most notorious and persistent ideas, and it evokes all the intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual turmoil of the modern age. Ranging from ancient Greece, through Victorian England, to modern-day America, this is a story that encompasses religion, science, and pseudoscience, as well as a spectacular array of people and places. Where else could eccentric aristocrats, fundamentalist preachers, and conspiracy theorists appear alongside Copernicus, Newton, and NASA, except in an account of such a legendary misconception? Thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating, Flat Earth is social and intellectual history at its best.

When the Earth Was Flat
When the Earth Was Flat

Author: Graeme Donald

Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books

Published: 2012-09-06

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1843179253

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Perfect for anyone with an interest in our scientific history, When the Earth Was Flat exposes the scientific theories that were once widely believed to be true but have since been disproved.

One Hundred Proofs That the Earth Is Not a Globe
One Hundred Proofs That the Earth Is Not a Globe

Author: William Carpenter

Publisher: Ravenio Books

Published: 2015-06-28

Total Pages: 49

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Much may be gathered, indirectly, from the arguments in these pages, as to the real nature of the Earth on which we live and of the heavenly bodies which were created for us. The reader is requested to be patient in this matter and not expect a whole flood of light to burst in upon him at once, through the dense clouds of opposition and prejudice which hang all around. Old ideas have to be gotten rid of, by some people, before they can entertain the new; and this will especially be the case in the matter of the Sun, about which we are taught, by Mr. Proctor, as follows: “The globe of the Sun is so much larger than that of the Earth that no less than 1,250,000 globes as large as the Earth would be wanted to make up together a globe as large as the Sun.” Whereas, we know that, as it is demonstrated that the Sun moves round over the Earth, its size is proportionately less. We can then easily understand that Day and Night, and the Seasons are brought about by his daily circuits round in a course concentric with the North, diminishing in their extent to the end of June, and increasing until the end of December, the equatorial region being the area covered by the Sun’s mean motion. If, then, these pages serve but to arouse the spirit of enquiry, the author will be satisfied.

Flat Earth Clues
Flat Earth Clues

Author: Mark Sargent

Publisher: Booglez Limited

Published: 2023-12-04

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 1916611028

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Flat Earth Clues book gives you 14 compelling reasons why you should rethink the globe model that you have been taught. Before you were born, before your parents, your grandparents, before you even had a family line… there was the illusion, the trick, the lie... That you lived on a small spinning rock, flying through space. What if, after centuries of preaching the globe as a religious icon, "the powers that be" found out that it was actually not a sphere, but instead something much different? Would they risk unravelling 500 years of science doctrine by informing the public? Could a government still retain it's authority if there were actually proof of a higher power? It's about proving the Flat Earth, but more importantly, it's about disproving the globe, and that shouldn't be possible, but there are several big questions which science has a difficult time with. Why was there only one blue marble image used for 43 years? Where are the videos of the earth rotating from space? Astronauts can't turn around in space with the camera running? Not even by accident? Are the Van Allen radiation belts dangerous? Why does the Orion Trial by Fire video exist? Why was the space shuttle program cancelled? Why does the Mars mission keep getting postponed? Why are they closing down the ISS? Why is Psalm 19:1 on Werner Von Braun's headstone? Why is the moon generating a light that is sometimes 12 degrees colder than the moon shade? How is that possible if it's reflecting the suns rays? And if the moon is generating it's own light source, then what was that dark grey thing we landed on? We can beam back crystal clear photos of Pluto, but the Global Positioning System doesn't track planes in the Southern oceans? And why does this topic, compared to ANY other, conspiracy or not, make people excited, angry, or scared? Some of you are getting anxious just listening! Why? Because it's the greatest trick of all, and we all fell for it. You should be excited, because it's going to change the world. You should be angry, because you were fooled your entire life, and you should be a little scared, because this is uncharted territory. This is the Flat Earth theory, that the world is easy to understand, more intimate, and very deliberate. It didn't just happen, it was built, and more importantly built for you. Open your eyes and smile. You have never been alone. Published by Booglez Limited, UK - Flat Earth Clues is digestible nuggets of information broken down in a very reader-friendly way. Author Mark Sargent is located in the USA. He features in the Netflix documentary Behind The Curve (2018). Mark runs a regular radio show on Truth Frequency Radio where you can phone in and discuss the topic.

New People Of The Flat Earth
New People Of The Flat Earth

Author: Brian Short

Publisher: Watkins Media Limited

Published: 2018-01-16

Total Pages: 715

ISBN-13: 1912248018

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A man chases after a mysterious metal object that may not even exist — and his journey leads him on to ever-greater levels of madness, dissociation, and metaphysical conundrums. After ten years in a Zen monastery, Proteus knows it's time to leave. A troubled, solitary man, he knows what he seeks is not to be found sitting in meditation. His problem is that, during his time at the monastery, he's discovered something strange inside his mind: the ability to connect with a mysterious, silent, metallic spherical object he calls Mosquito. His connection to this possibly extraterrestrial object, which seems to dwell on an existential plane of its own, gives Proteus a flimsy sense of purpose. So when Mosquito abruptly disappears one day, Proteus can't bear the loss, and he sets off in pursuit of answers. Thus starts a surreal, philosophically maddening quest for meaning. Chasing the elusive Mosquito leads Proteus to in-between worlds where things do not quite hold together, and where the living and the dead must learn to live in and out of the boundaries of time. The further he gets from sanity, the closer he comes to something that may turn out to be wisdom. Playful but unapologetically challenging, New People of the Flat Earth is a breathtakingly original novel that defies categorisation or summary.

Inventing the Flat Earth
Inventing the Flat Earth

Author: Jeffrey B. Russell

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 1997-01-30

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Reveals the facts behind the deceiving myths that have been professed about Columbus and his time.

Off the Edge
Off the Edge

Author: Kelly Weill

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Published: 2022-02-22

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1643752197

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“A deep dive into the world of Flat Earth conspiracy theorists . . . that brilliantly reveals how people fall into illogical beliefs, reject reason, destroy relationships, and connect with a broad range of conspiracy theories in the social media age. Beautiful, probing, and often empathetic . . . An insightful, human look at what fuels conspiracy theories.” —Science Since 2015, there has been a spectacular boom in a centuries-old delusion: that the earth is flat. More and more people believe that we all live on a pancake-shaped planet, capped by a solid dome and ringed by an impossible wall of ice. How? Why? In Off the Edge, journalist Kelly Weill draws a direct line from today’s conspiratorial moment, brimming not just with Flat Earthers but also anti-vaxxers and QAnon followers, back to the early days of Flat Earth theory in the 1830s. We learn the natural impulses behind these beliefs: when faced with a complicated world out of our control, humans have always sought patterns to explain the inexplicable. This psychology doesn’t change. But with the dawn of the twenty-first century, something else has shifted. Powered by Facebook and YouTube algorithms, the Flat Earth movement is growing. At once a definitive history of the movement and an essential look at its unbelievable present, Off the Edge introduces us to a cast of larger-than-life characters. We meet historical figures like the nineteenth-century grifter who first popularized the theory, as well as the many modern-day Flat Earthers Weill herself gets to know, from moms on vacation to determined creationists to neo-Nazi rappers. We discover what, and who, converts people to Flat Earth belief, and what happens inside the rabbit hole. And we even meet a man determined to fly into space in a homemade rocket-powered balloon—whose tragic death is as senseless and absurd as the theory he sets out to prove. In this incisive and powerful story about belief, Kelly Weill explores how we arrived at this moment of polarized realities and explains what needs to happen so that we might all return to the same spinning globe.