Erastothenes
(c.276-196BC)
Born in Cyrene
and educated by the poet Callimachus, Erastothenes became the head of the
library in Alexandria at about the age of 36.
He managed to measure the circumference of the earth almost exactly by astronomical
calculations and wrote a book on 675 stars. He also wrote about geography
and calculated the earths tilt and was the first to divide Earth into longitudes
and latitudes.
Erastothenes tried to measure the distances between various countries and
cities, a project which was to be completed by Hipparchus.
He was also called Mr. Beta since he always came second as far as his contributions
to science were concerned, since he was a contemporary and friend of the great
Archimedes.
When he became blind, he starved himself to death.
