21 June 2007
- 21 June 2007
Eratosthenes Festivity is an annual event organized by the the Planetarium Science Center (PSC) on 21 June every year since 2003; the day of Summer Solstice in Alexandria and Aswan. Eratosthenes, the Greek scientist and the third librarian of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, was the first scientist who measure the circumference of the Erath before 2000 years ago in these two cities.
The first activity of “Eratosthenes 2007” was the application of the experiment that Eratosthenes used to calculate the circumference of the Earth around 2000 years ago.
In Alexandria, more than 200 children participated in the event. The program included a workshop, which was divided into two parts; the 1st part teaching participating schoolchildren Eratosthenes’ method for measuring the Earth's circumference, while the 2nd allowing them to apply it at noontime on the day of summer solstice in the BA plaza. The program also included a videoconference between several schools inside and outside Egypt to compare results in different locations. That is in addition to a lecture entitled "Geodetics" about the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of Earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena in a three-dimensional time-varying space.
Meanwhile, in Aswan the program included a lecture on measuring the size of the world; a fieldtrip to the Elephantine Island to visit the famous well of Eratosthenes; a workshop on taking measurements; and a videoconference with schools in Alexandria and France. Participants in both Alexandria and Aswan showed great interest in the activities, and long fruitful discussions took place between the participating schoolchildren and the speakers.
