THE SPHERICAL EARTH
• Spherical Earth or Earth’s curvature refers to the approximation of figure of the Earth as a sphere. The earliest
documented mention of the concept dates from around the 5 th century BC, when it appears in the writings of
Greek philosophers.
• In the 3rd century BC, Hellenistic astronomy established the roughly spherical shape of Earth as a physical fact
and calculated the Earth’s circumference. This knowledge was gradually adopted throughout the Old World
during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
SPHERICAL EARTH
• During ancient times, Earth was perceived to be flat. Early Babylonian, Chinese, Egyptian, and Hebrew civilizations believed that
Earth had corners. It was then believed that if you set to sail straight in the ocean, you would get to the edge of Earth and fall.
However, many philosophers theorized that Earth was round and not flat. Navigators such as Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)
and Juan Sebastian Elcano (1476-1526) were given credit for circumnavigating the world and proving that Earth is not flat.
• But how did the idea of the spherical Earth evolve? Greek philosophers also investigated on the shape of Earth. Philosophers
like Plato (428 BCE-348 BCE) and Aristotle (384 BCE- 322 BCE) described Earth and the heavens as spherical. In fact, Eudoxus of
Cnidus (400 BCE-350 BCE) constructed a planetary model based on this. Then around 6 BCE, these Greek philosophers
speculated that Earth was actually spherical.
• The timeline shows the ideas of some Greek philosophers, including Pythagoras (570 BCE-490 BCE) and Eratosthenes (276 BCE-
194 BCE), about the sphericity of Earth.
PYTHAGORAS
• Started the idea of the spherical Earthstarted the idea of the spherical Earth
PLATO
• Educated his students on the sphericity of earth but made on justification
ARISTOTLE
• Noted that there were stars in Egypt that could not be seen on other parts of Earth This phenomenon
was only possible if Earth had a curved surface.
ERATOSTHENES
• Estimated the circumference of Earth.
DIFFERENT MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE
• Before the telescope was invented, ancient Big Idea & astronomers only used their unaided eyes to
observe the sky and the stars. Eventually, they created models of the universe. Some appeared similar,
while others were different. Here are some astronomers who constructed their own models of the
universe.
EUDOXUS OF CNIDUS
• Eudoxus of Cnidus (ca. 400 BCE-ca. 355. BCE) was considered the first astronomer to explain the
retrograde motion of the planets in the sky. He found out the differences in the motion of each planet
that should be considered to give an accurate description of the universe.
• According to Eudoxus’s model, the universe was composed of Earth, five other planets (that are visible
with the unaided eye, namely: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), sun, moon, and motionless
stars which were enclosed in spheres. Earth was motionless at the center of the universe (as shown in
Figure 1.1). Each of the five other planets was enclosed in four concentric circles. The sun and the moon
were each enclosed in three concentric spheres. Lastly, the group of motionless stars lay in the
outermost sphere.
ARISTOTLE
• Aristotle somehow patterned his model to the model of Eudoxus.
Aristotle’s model showed that the universe was spherical and finite. Just
like Eudoxus, he perceived Earth was at the center of the universe and
was stationary. He believed so because Earth is too big to move; thus, it
could not rotate. Other celestial bodies were built up symmetrically in
concentric spherical rings around Earth.
• Aristotle believed that Earth was composed of four elements earth, water,
air, and fire. Beyond Earth are the planets and the moon which revolved in
spherical rings. He further described that each ring was in physical contact
with one another. This means that the motion of a heavenly body in one
sphere will affect the motion of a nearby heavenly body.
• Take note that both models of Eudoxus and Aristotle were considered
geocentric. This means that both astronomers believed that Earth was at
the center of the universe.
