Ancient Origins of
GEOGRAPHY
ERATOSTHENES
The “Father of Geography”
(276 -194 BCE)
was an early
Greek geographer,
mathematician,
and astronomer.
He first coined the term
“geography” and he used
geometry to estimate the
circumference of the Earth
to be about 25,000 miles.
(It is actually 24, 901 miles!)
In addition, he calculated
the tilt of the earth to be
23.5 degrees.
STRABO (63 B.C.E.- 24 C.E.)
A Great Geographer
Strabo was another Greek geographer most
known for his 17-volume work called Geography,
which presented a descriptive account of flora
and fauna from different parts of the world
known to his era. It is an important source of
information on the ancient world.
PTOLEMY (85-165 A.D.)
was another Greek
geographer,
mathematician, and
astronomer.
He incorrectly estimated the
circumference of the earth to
be about 18,000 miles.
This was the calculation
applied to maps used by
Christopher Columbus and the
reason why Columbus called
natives in the Americas
Indians.
Ptolemy’s View of the
Universe
Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik; 19 February 1473
– 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance astronomer and the first
person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology
which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe.
Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)
Italian physicist, mathematician,
astronomer, and
philosopher who played a major
role in the Scientific Revolution.
His achievements include
improvements to
the telescope and consequent
astronomical observations and
support for Copernicanism.
Galileo has been called the
"father of modern observational
astronomy“, the "father of
modern physics”, the "father of
science”, and "the Father of
Modern Science”.