From Oranges to Satellites: A Chronicle of Scientific Rivalry and the Quest to Define Earth’s Shape

Yo, picture this: It’s , and you’re strolling through the hallowed halls of the Royal Society in London. You stumble upon this super cool exhibition called “Figuring the Earth.” This ain’t your grandma’s history exhibit, fam. This bad boy catapults you back to the s, a time when scientists were straight-up beefing over the shape of our planet. I kid you not, it was lit!

A Citrusy Conundrum: Orange or Lemon?

So, here’s the deal: Back in the day, figuring out if the Earth was round was, like, so last century. The hot new question that had everyone shook was, “Okay, it’s round-ish, but is it more like an orange or a lemon?” Seriously, this was big brain stuff!

This whole citrusy debate was the star of the show at the “Figuring the Earth” exhibition. It’s like a crash course on how international science squads threw some major shade while pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Spoiler alert: Things got a lil’ juicy!

When Science Gets Salty: The Great Earth-Shape Debate

At the heart of this epic scientific showdown were these totally different interpretations of Earth’s measurements. You had some French bigwigs, like this dude Jacques Cassini, who were all about Team Lemon. They were convinced that their data screamed “elongated Earth.” But hold up, enter Sir Isaac Newton, the OG physics rockstar. He was like, “Nah, fam, my whole centrifugal force jam says Earth’s gotta be flatter, more like an orange.” And the internet exploded… well, not really, ’cause it was the s. But trust me, the scientific community lost its collective mind!

This difference of opinion, which Voltaire totally roasted in , basically threw down the gauntlet for a scientific rivalry for the ages. Think Lakers vs. Celtics, but with, like, telescopes and stuff.

Game On! Royal Expeditions to Prove Earth’s Shape

Now, King Louis XV of France was like the ultimate patron of science. So, when this whole Earth-shape thing became the talk of the powdered-wig set, he was all in. The French Academy of Sciences decided to squash this debate once and for all. Their plan? Two epic expeditions, funded by the Crown and armed with the best science gizmos of the day. Talk about extra!

One crew of intrepid explorers got shipped off to the equator, while another group of hardcore science dudes braved the frozen wastelands of Lapland. Their mission? To triangulate the heck out of Earth’s curvature. Triangulation was the hottest tech back then— kind of like the equivalent of GPS. These guys were the pioneers of their time, braving mosquitos the size of small birds and existential dread in the name of science.