Snellius's triangulation (Eratosthenes Batavus)
Triangulación de Snellius (Eratosthenes Batavus)
- Date
- 1615-1617 · confidence high
- Place
- Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands
- Credited to
- Willebrord Snellius
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
The first measurement of a meridian arc by triangulation, between Alkmaar and Bergen op Zoom, to calculate the size of the Earth with a network of triangles measured by angles. It set the method of modern geodesy.
His result was 3.4% below the true value; Musschenbroek corrected it in 1729 with the same method.
What it led to
- triangulation applied to measuring the Earth
- later measurements by Picard and Cassini with greater precision