Archimedes's Measurement of the Sun's Apparent Diameter

@article{Shapiro1975ArchimedessMO,
  title={Archimedes's Measurement of the Sun's Apparent Diameter},
  author={A. Shapiro},
  journal={Journal for the History of Astronomy},
  year={1975},
  volume={6},
  pages={75 - 83}
}
  • A. Shapiro
  • Published 1975
  • Philosophy
  • Journal for the History of Astronomy
Although Archimedes's principal concern in The sand-reckoner is arithmetical, the work is equally important for its astronomical contribution. Archimedes's goal in The sand-reckoner is to demonstrate that he can write a number so large that it will exceed even the number of grains of sand needed to fill the entire universe, so he must first find the size of the universe. It is at this point that Archimedes relates, in a well-known passage, Aristarchus's heliocentric theory. Since an… Expand
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References

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Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne (Paris, 1817; reprinted New York, 1965), i, 103-5; Friedrich Hultsch
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    Eine physikalische Prazisionsmessung des Archimedes
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    For a description and analysis of this experiment see Lejeune