So, who discovered the location of the Equator? Who discovered the latitude zero? How?

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by GLontra

 

You changed your question from who discovered the equator to who determined the latitude of Athens.

The equator was "discovered" by some unknown traveler. Undoubtedly more than one.

edit on 5/28/2012 by Phage because: (no reason given)

I just want to know the name of genius who determined that Athens was located about 38 degrees North, and thus, the Equator was located 38 degrees south of Athens...

reply to post by GLontra

Like I said, that would be Hipparchus since he's the genius who came up with the idea of latitude and longitude to mark locations on Earth's surface.

i have a reasonable explanation for everybody so confused here.


humans in general had much better technology than they have now, a long time ago, but they had a big war or something with UFO's called Vimannas they made themselves, and nuked everything and turned the ground all white.



we basically had to start all over or something, thats what i heard.


we are MUCH more advanced than we think, and have been around a lot longer than scientists wanna believe.

As the development of the thread implies, humankind's discoveries are collective, sometimes we know of ONE person, but most of "ancient discoveries" were probably made several times by several people all around the world.
SOME are documented, and we say that THAT was the first time, sometimes not.

As Phage (i think) said, sea travelers all around the world would need more or less the same body of knowledge, so it is logical (imo) to think that your question cuold ONLY be answered if you take into account that when we say "first one" we mean "first documented one".

And that could be Hipparcus, I'm not really sure.

reply to post by SoymilkAlaska


That's a reasonable explanation?

Hipparchus was known to be a working astronomer from around 162 to 127 BC. That is near the age of the Antikythera device that among other things calculated Olympic years and used the metonic cycle math. Homer's Odyssey is older, dates back to around 800 BC predating Pythagoras. Obviously the Odyssey covers the same material allegorically in a poetic Greek style.

Check with the US CIA someone over there might know.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the theory of 'aliens' supposedly providing a detailed map to our ancestors just the way some of the advanced technology was (sarcasm)

They probably went out into the desert with a big stick, & planted it in the ground at 90 degrees.
At midday,if the stick has no shadow, then you are on the equator.
The desert is also a good clue....

At night (or at sea) you can plot the motion of the stars directly overhead, if they move in a straight line, you are on the equator.

That's how the ancients did it, and it still works today, how 'bout that?

reply to post by playswithmachines

They probably went out into the desert with a big stick, & planted it in the ground at 90 degrees.
At midday,if the stick has no shadow, then you are on the equator.

On the right day of the year (an equinox), yes. On another day you could be anywhere between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

At night (or at sea) you can plot the motion of the stars directly overhead, if they move in a straight line, you are on the equator.

You mean directly east to west? See above.

On any day of the year, when Polaris is on the horizon you are at the equator.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by GLontra

 

Who? Any navigator who used the stars; Polynesian, Japanese, Portuguese...
When? Whenever they crossed the equator.

It's so obvious it's trivial.

That's a pretty Richard move to make there phage, if it's so trivial let me ask you a question since we're on the topic of equators.

Is it possible that the black hole in the center of our galaxy produces an energy/debris ring at its equator, much like the debris rings around Saturn? And when our sun passes through the galactic equator will we experience any change from passing through that field of energy/debris?

Originally posted by boncho
Tell us who invented fire first.

I am surprised no one has said 'Aliens'.

Do you think man invented fire?

reply to post by Deafseeingeyedog

Is it possible that the black hole in the center of our galaxy produces an energy/debris ring at its equator, much like the debris rings around Saturn? And when our sun passes through the galactic equator will we experience any change from passing through that field of energy/debris?

What does that have to do with geography?

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Deafseeingeyedog

 

Is it possible that the black hole in the center of our galaxy produces an energy/debris ring at its equator, much like the debris rings around Saturn? And when our sun passes through the galactic equator will we experience any change from passing through that field of energy/debris?

What does that have to do with geography?

The question of what an equator actually is. Does our galaxy have rings around its equator like Saturn? Can we see that with telescopes?

His name was Bob & he was on an old arabian dow that got blown off course by several severe storms around the time of Christ. So now you know. BOB discovered the Equator. Your welcome.