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Surveying and civil engineering technology students (left to right: Wyatt Spencer, Brandon Davis, Jeremy Brunell, B.J. Klenke, Jake Blue, and Joe Irey) plumb up the rod before taking a measurement of the shadow in order to recreate Eratosthenes’ method for calculating the circumference of the Earth.

Proving Ancient Measurement Methods

Surveying students calculate the Earth’s circumference by following Eratosthene’s method, with help from modern sources. As part of the Geodetic and Control Surveys class at Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we have been studying the history of Eratosthenes and how he calculated the circumference of the Earth. As a class we decided to...