Measure of the Earth: The Enlightenment Expedition That Reshaped Our World - Hardcover

Ferreiro, Larrie D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465017231 ISBN 13: 9780465017232

Publisher: Basic Books, 2011

Synopsis

In the early eighteenth century, at the peak of the Enlightenment, an unlikely team of European scientists and naval officers set out on the world’s first international, cooperative scientific expedition. Intent on making precise astronomical measurements at the Equator, they were poised to resolve one of mankind’s oldest mysteries: the true shape of the Earth.
 In Measure of the Earth, award-winning science writer Larrie D. Ferreiro tells the full story of the Geodesic Mission to the Equator for the very first time. It was an age when Europe was torn between two competing conceptions of the world: the followers of René Descartes argued that the Earth was elongated at the poles, even as Isaac Newton contended that it was flattened. A nation that could accurately determine the planet’s shape could securely navigate its oceans, giving it great military and imperial advantages. Recognizing this, France and Spain organized a joint expedition to colonial Peru, Spain’s wealthiest kingdom. Armed with the most advanced surveying and astronomical equipment, they would measure a degree of latitude at the Equator, which when compared with other measurements would reveal the shape of the world. But what seemed to be a straightforward scientific exercise was almost immediately marred by a series of unforeseen catastrophes, as the voyagers found their mission threatened by treacherous terrain, a deeply suspicious populace, and their own hubris.

A thrilling tale of adventure, political history, and scientific discovery, Measure of the Earth recounts the greatest scientific expedition of the Enlightenment through the eyes of the men who completed it—pioneers who overcame tremendous adversity to traverse the towering Andes Mountains in order to discern the Earth’s shape.  In the process they also opened the eyes of Europe to the richness of South America and paved the way for scientific cooperation on a global scale.

About this title

About the Author:

Larrie D. Ferreiro is the author and editor of several books on the history of science and technology, including Ships and Science, which received the North American Society for Oceanic History's John Lyman Award for Best Book in Science and Technology. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

Review:

Kirkus
“A sophisticated work tracing the arduous mid-18th-century international expedition to the Latin American equator to determine the “figure of the earth."

Publishers Weekly
“[A] fascinating and clearly written account”

Library Journal, starred review
“Ferreiro (whose Ships and Science won the 2007 John Lyman Award for Best Book in Science and Technology) here marvelously details an almost doomed 18th-century geodesic expedition to South America to determine Earth’s shape. Ferreiro’s skill as storyteller and scholar is displayed in full vigor. Easy to read and fast moving, the book is often dramatic.  ... Rarely does a history of science volume discuss such events, and rarely does its author present them so well. Ferreiro also masterfully blends political and scientific history, going to lengths to place the expedition’s people and events in context.”

Wall Street Journal “Deftly told....  Mr. Ferreiro's superb book makes every mosquito bite, pork dinner and sleepless night seem worth it.” Washington Post “An astonishingly detailed account of the Geodesic Mission... [it is] gripping, authoritative, and fair.”

 

Nature

Andrés Reséndez, author of A Land So Strange
“The greatest achievement of Larrie D. Ferreiro’s wonderful book is to walk us with perfect ease through remote locales and arcane subjects.  Mr. Ferreiro seems no less at home in Guayaquil than in Paris or London and no less lucid in explaining the debates over the shape of the earth between Newtonians and Cartesians than in describing the intrigues surrounding the French Academy or the excruciating logistics of a scientific mission unfolding in colonial South America.”

Kim MacQuarrie, author of The Last Days of the Incas“The story of the race to determine the shape of the Earth is one of history’s most engaging yet least-known stories. In Measure of the Earth, Larrie Ferreiro takes us inside the scientific expedition that set off from France to South America in the 18th century to discover the answer. Ferreiro not only brings to life the band of characters that embarked on this journey, with all of their intrigues and rivalries, but he also details the huge stakes involved. Whichever county discovered the Earth’s correct shape would take a giant leap forwards in enhancing their military and economic power.  A fascinating account of scientific inquiry thoroughly enmeshed in the race for power and empire.” 

Peter C. Mancall, author of Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson“Doing science in the eighteenth century demanded almost unbearable sacrifices for distant rewards and only the most dedicated could handle the challenges.  Larrie Ferreiro's deep research has produced a highly readable account of one of the great scientific expeditions of the age of the Enlightenment, a venture all the more riveting since it unfolded amidst imperial contests and devastating tragedy and tested the psychological and physical limits of those keen to expand knowledge of the shape of the Earth.” James Horn, author of A Kingdom Strange and A Land as God Made It“In Measure of the Earth, Larrie Ferreiro tells the dramatic story of the first international scientific expedition to South America to establish the precise dimensions of the globe.  The French scientists who led the expedition to the Andes overcame incredible adversities traversing the jungles and highlands of equatorial Peru, surviving near mutiny, attacks by local inhabitants, war, siege, and the skepticism of fellow academicians in their homeland to complete their mission and achieve lasting fame.  Beautifully written, Ferreiro’s book provides an authoritative and gripping account of one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of the Enlightenment.” 

Carla Rahn Phillips, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
“Ferreiro’s Measure of the Earth nicely captures the scientific complexity and physical difficulty of this extraordinary expedition. At the same time, the author provides richly textured portraits of all the principal protagonists, whose personal foibles and rivalries sometimes undercut their professional skills. This is a compelling tale of international politics, Enlightened science, and human drama, played out on both sides of the Atlantic.” Felipe Fernández-Armesto, William P. Reynolds Professor of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame, and author of Pathfinders
“Larrie D. Ferreiro tells us that Voltaire could make difficult subjects accessible to everyone. In Measure of the Earth Ferreiro shows that he can do the same, with his Voltairean gifts of mastery of material and fluency in prose.
 

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0465017231
• ISBN 13: 9780465017232
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376