The Distorted Meridian
2007; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 98; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1086/529270
ISSN1545-6994
Autores Tópico(s)History of Science and Natural History
ResumoDenis Guedj’s La Méridienne (1792–1799); où comment Jean‐Baptiste Delambre et Pierre Méchain, traversant la France révolutionnaire à la rencontre l’un de l’autre, parvinrent à définir un nouvel étalon universel, le mètre, is a novel about the survey of the meridian of Paris on which the metric system was based. The author’s account distorts and falsifies the facts in order to make what he considers a good story. This essay contrasts that approach with writings on history of science by other than historians of science and with two historical novels that are faithful to the historical record.
Referência(s)