Workshop: Following in the Footsteps of Eratosthenes
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Alexandria, 20 June 2005—For the third consecutive year, the Planetarium Science Center (PSC) at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, is hosting the workshop ‘On the Footsteps of Eratosthenes’, 21 June 2005, held in cooperation with the French Cultural Center and the Egyptian Ministry of Education.
Students from Alexandria and Aswan in Egypt will work together via video-conference with students in France to calculate the Earth’s circumference, following the steps taken by Eratosthenes, one of the chief librarians of the ancient Library of Alexandria. Eratosthenes, an astronomer, mathematician, geographer, studied in Athens then in Alexandria, where he became the Chief Librarian of its library in 236 B.C.
Students in the workshop will be able to compare results on their calculations of the Earth’s circumference, and the degree of inclination of the Earth’s axis on the first day of the summer solstice and the longest in the Solar year, 21 June.
The PSC is hosting Mr. Denis Savoie, Director of the Astronomy Department at the Palais de la Decouverte, France, to supervise the workshop and give a lecture on measuring the Earth’s circumference.
An exhibition, will also accompany the workshop, where the astronomical experiments performed by school students during the past school year will be presented.