Who was Eratosthenes?
Eratosthenes was born around the year 275 B.C.E. He was born in a city in Africa called Cyrene, and he lived here during his life as well. Eratosthenes was educated well by many teachers including Ariston of Chios, Lysanias of Cyrene, and the poet Callimachus. He was also thought to have studied for a time in Athens. The wide variety of subjects that Eratosthenes studied gave him the background knowledge he needed for his work. Ptolemy III appointed him the third chief librarian at the library in Alexandria, which was the most complete and well known library at the time. Eratosthenes also worked as a tutor of Ptolemy's son. Sometime in the middle of his life Eratosthenes became a mathematician, geographer, and scientist and made the discoveries he is most well known for. Around 194 B.C.E. Eratosthenes died from starving himself to death, after he became blind and could no longer do his work.
One major obstacle needed to be overcome in Eratosthenes work. It was not known at the time that earth was round, yet to find the circumference of the earth Eratosthenes needed this information. He assumed it was true, but when telling others of his discovery, he has to convince them that the earth was round before his calculations could make sense. Other obstacles that he had to face would include the lack of technology at the time, since it was difficult to accurately measure distances and any work with math had to be done by hand.
One major obstacle needed to be overcome in Eratosthenes work. It was not known at the time that earth was round, yet to find the circumference of the earth Eratosthenes needed this information. He assumed it was true, but when telling others of his discovery, he has to convince them that the earth was round before his calculations could make sense. Other obstacles that he had to face would include the lack of technology at the time, since it was difficult to accurately measure distances and any work with math had to be done by hand.
