Alexis Claude Clairaut was a French mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was a prominent Newtonian whose work helped to establish the validity of the principles and results that Sir Isaac Newt
Alexis Claude Clairaut
Théorie de la Figure de la Terre, tirée des Principes de l’Hydrostatique, 1743
Théorie de la Lune & Tables de la Lune, 1765
1743 copy of "Théorie de la Figure de la Terre, tirée des Principes de l’Hydrostatique"
In geodesy and navigation, a meridian arc is the curve between two points near the Earth's surface having the same longitude. The term may refer either to a segment of the meridian, or to its length.
The north and south sections of the meridinal survey met at Rodez Cathedral, seen here dominating the Rodez skyline at left.
A copy of the "provisional" metre located in the wall of a building, 15 rue de Vaugirard, Paris. These metres were provisional (French: provisoire) because the expedition and the calculations to determine the definitive length of metre were not completed until 1799.
Montjuïc Castle in Barcelona, Spain – the southern end of the meridian arc