Latitude : the true story of the world's first scientific expedition / Nicholas Crane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crane, Nicholas, author.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latitude--Measurement--History--18th century.

Latitude.

Latitude--South America.

Scientific expeditions--South America--History--18th century.

Scientific expeditions.

Geodesy--Observations--History--18th century.

Geodesy.

Geodesy--South America.

Scientific expeditions--Peru.

Discoveries in science.

Discoveries in geography.

Latitude--Measurement.

Peru--Discovery and exploration.

Peru.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

257 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 22 cm

Edition:

First Pegasus books cloth edition.

Distribution:

[New York, New York] : Distributed by Simon & Schuster, 2021.

Place of Publication:

New York : Pegasus Books, 2021.

Summary:

"Crane, the former president of the Royal Geographic Society, documents the remarkable expedition undertaken by a group of twelve European adventurer-scientists in the mid-eighteenth century. The team spent years in South America, scaling volcanoes and traversing jungles before they achieved their goal of establishing the exact shape of the Earth by measuring the length of 1 degree latitude at the equator" Provided by publisher

In 1735 twelve men boarded ships bound for South America. Their mission: to discover the true shape of the earth. Crane documents this expedition to measure one degree latitude at the equator. He shows how their endeavors were not limited to this one achievement: they also discovered rubber and quinine. On a continent of unmapped rainforests and ice-shrouded volcanoes, beset by egos and disease, mutiny and murder, the world's first international team of scientists struggled for a decade to reach the single figure they sought. -- adapted from jacket

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-245) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9781643137957

1643137956

OCLC:

1273920221

Publisher Number:

99991055493