Otto Rickenbacher

The history of geodesy (/dʒiːˈɒdɪsi/) began during antiquity and ultimately blossomed during the Age of Enlightenment. Many early conceptions of the Earth held it to be flat, with the heavens being a physical dome spanning over it. Early arguments for a spherical Earth pointed to various more subtle empirical observations, including how lunar eclipses were seen as circular shadows, as well as the fact that Polaris is seen lower in the sky as one travels southward.