Slightly Pear Shaped: Surveying & Mapping the World        Jeremy Batch

That the Earth is round had been known for centuries: that it might be (very) slightly oval was long suspected. That it is indeed, slightly pear shaped, became headline news in March 1958 when the ‘Vanguard’ satellite’s orbit deviated from expectations, thus irreparably confusing a generation of schoolchildren and their geography teachers.

So- who was Mercator. How did he make his projection and why is it not always used? How did Swallows and Amazons make their map of the Walton Backwaters with nothing more than a compass and a few sticks? How did the Romans give their aqueducts a slope of 1:3000 and how did the Egyptians align their pyramids?

Jeremy will explain all. It will be his fourteenth talk to Chiltern Branch. Such is the reputation for the excellence of his presentations that this talk is one not to be missed.