MAUPERTUIS (Pierre-Louis Moreau de).

Lot 165
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600 - 800 EUR
MAUPERTUIS (Pierre-Louis Moreau de).
The Figure of the Earth. Paris, De l'Imprimerie royale, 1738. In-8, blond calf, triple fillet, decorated spine, red title-piece, inside lace, gilt edges on marbling (contemporary binding). Babson, n°94. - La Lande, p. 406. Original edition, illustrated with a map of the arc of the meridian measured at the Arctic Circle and 9 plates explaining the measurement. Account of the mission financed by the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1736-1737 in Lapland, during which Maupertuis (1688-1744) and his companions had to measure the Arctic arc in order to determine the exact shape of the Earth. It is in this book that we find the first evidence of the flattening of the Earth at the poles, thus confirming Newton's theory on this subject. Stamp on title: 42142. Well-bound copy.
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