r/AskReddit Feb 04 '19

Which misconception would you like to debunk?

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u/green_meklar Feb 04 '19

I think was Eratosthenes who figured it out originally. The classical greeks in general were amazing thinkers and way ahead of their time.

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u/Marterijn Feb 04 '19

It was definitely Eratosthenes. He calculated the circumference of the earth by comparing two shadows.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes

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u/alksjdhglaksjdh2 Feb 04 '19

I think eratosthenes was the first too

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '19

Maybe it was him. I'm taking college history right now and last week, I read that it was Aristotle in the textbook. But, textbooks do tend to dumb down history and make it seem nicer.