Pi à la carte number
- County Posey (Indiana, USA), 1888. Dr. Edward Johnston Goodwin discovered the square of the circle. In his model, the ratio between diameter and circumference was five quarters four; that is, for him the pi number was 3.2. And it's over.
Since ancient times, mathematicians tried to calculate the surface of the circle using only the compass and the rule; with these instruments they wanted to make a square that had the same surface as the circle, the square of the circle. In 1882, mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann definitively proved that it was impossible, that it made no sense.
After patenting his method in the United States and seven European countries, Goodwin presented to a representative of the Indiana General Boards the bill of “new mathematical truth”, “a contribution to education that will be used free of charge in the State of Indiana if it is officially approved in the 1897 legislature.” The Indiana House of Representatives unanimously approved the draft on 5 February that year, with 67 votes in favour and none against. Therefore, Archimedes was wrong and the value of Pi was not 3.14.
The project only needed the Senate yes to get through. But that day, by chance, there was Clarence Abiathar Waldo, head of the mathematics department at Purdue University, who came to a petition to expand the faculty budget. He concisely and concisely explained to the senators that this project was a nonsense. On 13 February, the newspaper Indianapolis News reported on the next session of the Senate: “A proposal was put on the table to legalize the formula of squaring the circle, in a joke atmosphere. The senators laughed at the project. The fun lasted half an hour.” And the project was paralyzed forever.
In 2009, the U.S. Congress declared March 14 as Pi Number Day, so the date would match the number. But if it were for Goodwin – and not for Waldor-, I would surely have chosen March 20 for that. In fact, many of the members of this congress, for example, categorically reject climate change, as if they had found the square of the circle.
Tijarafe (Canary Islands), mid-14th century. When the first Catholic monks came to the area of the island of La Palma, the Awares, the local Aborigines, saw that they worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars.
And this has been confirmed by the archaeological campaigns carried... [+]
On the northern coast of Peru, in the deposit of Diamarca, mochica culture (c. 330-H. C. 800) have found a trunk room. This culture is known for its impressive architecture, vast religious imaginary and colorful walls full of details.
The room found confirms these... [+]
Maule, 1892. Eight women from the Salazar Valley headed home from the capital of Zuberoa, but on the way, in Larrain, they were shocked by the snow and all were killed by the cold. Of the eight, seven names have come: Felicia Juanko, Felipce Landa, Dolores Arbe, Justa Larrea,... [+]
The University of Nottingham has changed its name to the Master in Studies on Anglo-Saxons and Vikings: Medieval Higher Studies of England. The Anglo-Saxon England Journal of the University of Cambridge had also been previously renamed: It's the Early Medieval England Journal... [+]
Born 2 April 1970. The newspaper New York Herald published a letter with activist and broker Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927), in which he realized his candidacy for the U.S. presidential elections of 1872. It is the youngest candidate in history, who would be 34 years old on the... [+]
Treviño, 6th century. A group of hermits began living in the caves of Las Gobas and excavated new caves in the gorge of the Laño River, occupied since prehistory. In the next century, the community began to use one of the caves as a necropolis. In the 9th century they left the... [+]
The Atacama Desert Foundation has denounced on social networks the destruction of the geoglyphs of the area and, through several photographs, has shown the destruction that visitors who travel in 4x4 vehicles to the desert are causing. These are large geoglyphs made between 1000... [+]
Knustrup (Danimarka), 1546ko abenduaren 15a. Tycho Brahe astronomoa jaio zen. Besteak beste, Kopernikoren Ilargiari buruzko teoria hobetu zuen, errefrakzioei buruzko lehen taula osatu zuen eta Johannes Keplerren irakaslea izan zen.
Beraz, astronomiaren alorrean egindako... [+]
Although it was thought that in most of the cities of the Roman Empire there were jails, little remains have been found of the prisons of the time in the fields.
Recently, however, the archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, Matthew Larsen, has identified the Roman... [+]
Geissenkloesterle (Germany), 42,000 years ago. Those living in the cave of the Danube basin made a flute with bird bones and mammoth ivory. At the same time, the inhabitants of the cave of Divje Babe in Slovenia also made a flute with the femur of a bear. These are the oldest... [+]
Rome, towards the year 100 d. C. The poet Juvenal received the X. In Satira: “For a long time, particularly since we have to sell the vote, this people has lost interest in politics. Before, the head, the lots, the legions and, after all, they gave it all, but now they let it... [+]
The TRAILER of the film Gladiator II, which will be released in the autumn, already shows in less than three minutes an error or a historical license.
Ridley Scott's film celebrates a naumaki or naval battle at the Colosseum. The expensive show was held three times in the Roman... [+]
Gulf of Ambracia (Ionian Sea). In the 15th century a. 2 September 31. The Romans achieved victory in the naval battle of Accio and ensured control over Egypt. Therefore, the Greek hegemony in the Mediterranean is concluded on that date, but the Hellenic influence has remained so... [+]
In the desert of Coahuila (Mexico), in the dunes of Bilbao, remains of a human skeleton have been found. After being studied by archaeologists, they conclude that they are between 95 and 1250 years old and that they are related to the culture of Candelaria.
The finding has been... [+]
In the south of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, in the cave of Leang Karampuang, archaeologists from the Griffith and Southern Cross universities and the Indonesian National Agency have discovered a painting of three anthropomorphic figures and a boar. According to the study... [+]