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Who Is The Father Of Geography? Know About Him

father of geography

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The word Geography is consist of two Greek words. “Geo” in Greek means “Earth” in English and “Grapho” in Greek means ” Description” in English, which means Description of the Earth. Hence an ancient Greek mathematician, Eratosthenes is known as Father Of Geography. So, here in this article, I am going to give you information about Father Of Geography Eratosthenes. So, let’s know more about Eratosthenes…

Eratosthenes: Father Of Geography:

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Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c. 276 BCE–192 or 194 BCE) was an old Greek mathematician, writer, and astronomer who is known as the dad of geography. Eratosthenes was the primary individual to utilize “geology” and other topographical terms that are still being used today, and his endeavors to ascertain the circuit of the Earth and the good ways from the Earth to the Sun made ready for our cutting edge comprehension of the universe. Among his other numerous achievements were the formation of the main guide of the world and the creation of a calculation known as the sifter of Eratosthenes, which is utilized to distinguish prime numbers. Eratosthenes is the father of geography.

Early Life

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Early Life:

Eratosthenes was conceived around 276 BCE in a Greek province in Cyrene, a region situated in present-day Libya. He was instructed at the foundations of Athens and in 245 BCE, in the wake of procuring consideration for his aptitudes, he was welcomed by Pharaoh Ptolemy III to run the Great Library at Alexandria in Egypt. This was a noteworthy chance, and Eratosthenes was eager to acknowledge the position.

Notwithstanding being a mathematician and geographer, Eratosthenes was likewise an exceptionally talented logician, artist, space expert, and music scholar. He made a few huge commitments to science, including the disclosure that a year is somewhat longer than 365 days, requiring an additional day—or jump day—be added to the schedule at regular intervals to keep it steady.
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Eratosthenes is the father of geography.

Geography

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Geography:

While filling in as the head custodian and researcher at the Library of Alexandria, Eratosthenes composed a thorough treatise about the world, which he called “Topography.” This was the primary utilization of the word, which in Greek signifies “expounding on the world.” Eratosthenes’ work presented the ideas of torrid, mild, and sub-zero atmosphere zones. His map of the world, however exceptionally off base, was the first of its sort, highlighting a network of parallels and meridians used to gauge separates between various areas. Despite the fact that Eratosthenes’ unique “Topography” did not endure, present-day researchers comprehend what it contained gratitude to reports by Greek and Roman history specialists.

The first book of “Geography” contained a summary of existing geographical work and Eratosthenes’ speculations about the nature of the planet Earth. He believed it was a fixed globe whose changes only took place on the surface. The second book of “Geography” described the mathematical calculations he had used to determine the circumference of the Earth. The third contained a map of the world in which the land was divided into different countries; it is one of the earliest examples of political geography.

Calculating the Circumference of the Earth:

Eratosthenes’ most famous contribution to science was his calculation of the circumference of the Earth, which he completed while working on the second volume of his “Geography.”

Subsequent to catching wind of a profound well at Syene (close to the Tropic of Cancer and cutting edge Aswan) where daylight just struck the base of the well on the mid-year solstice, Eratosthenes worked out a strategy by which he could ascertain the circuit of the Earth utilizing fundamental geometry. Realizing that the Earth was a circle, he required just two basic estimations to ascertain the perimeter. Eratosthenes definitely knew the surmised separation among Syene and Alexandria, as estimated by camel-controlled exchange parades. He at that point estimated the edge of the shadow in Alexandria on the solstice. By taking the point of the shadow (7.2 degrees) and partitioning it into the 360 degrees of a circle (360 isolated by 7.2 yields 50), Eratosthenes could then duplicate the separation among Alexandria and Syene by the outcome to decide the periphery of the Earth.
Surprisingly, Eratosthenes decided the boundary to be 25,000 miles, only 99 miles over the genuine perimeter at the equator (24,901 miles). In spite of the fact that Eratosthenes made a couple of numerical mistakes in his figurings, the, offset one another and yielded an incredibly precise answer that still makes researchers wonder.
A couple of decades later, the Greek geographer Posidonius demanded that Eratosthenes’ circuit was excessively enormous. He determined the periphery all alone and acquired a figure of 18,000 miles—around 7,000 miles excessively short. During the Middle Ages, most researchers acknowledged Eratosthenes’ perimeter, however, Christopher Columbus used Posidonius’ estimation to persuade his supporters that he could rapidly achieve Asia by cruising west from Europe. As we currently know, this was a basic mistake on Columbus’ part. Had he utilized Eratosthenes’ figure rather, Columbus would have realized he was not yet in Asia when he arrived in the New World.

Death:

In his maturity, Eratosthenes wound up visually impaired and he kicked the bucket of self-instigated starvation in either 192 or 196 BCE in Alexandria, Egypt. He lived to be around 80 to 84 years of age.

Who Is The Father Of Geography? Know About Him was last modified: August 20th, 2019 by Amit Bose
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