What was the highest mountain in the world before Everest was discovered?

August 21, 2019 History aconcagua, alexander von humboldt, andes, charles-marie de la condamine, chimborazo, dhaulagiri, everest, himalayas, joseph barclay pentland, kangchenjunga, pierre bouguer, sajama 2 Comments

What was the highest mountain in the world before Everest was discovered?

Yes, I know that a number of pedants will read the title of this blog post and mutter under their breaths with a shrug of indignation: ‘What was the highest mountain in the world before Everest was discovered? Why, Everest

Chimborazo’s role in proving Newton’s theory of gravity

February 14, 2018 History andes, charles-marie de la condamine, chimborazo, ecuador, french geodesic mission, pierre bouguer, science, sea to summit, triangulation 2 Comments

Chimborazo’s role in proving Newton’s theory of gravity

It’s a little-known fact that in 1738, during a boring period of the French Geodesic Mission to Ecuador, the scientist Pierre Bouguer decided to use Ecuador’s highest mountain, Chimborazo, to prove Newton’s theory of gravity.