If they knew the earth rotated, then they could assume that noon happened at different times at different locations. But did they have a way to prove this without being able to travel or communicate fast enough to observe the effects?
In: Mathematics
It was known to scholars & navigators thanks to Magellan’s circumnavigation expedition. Magellan died, but one of his fellow captains, Elcano, arrived in Cape Verde Islands on what he thought was July 9 1522 and was told it was actually July 10 1522. This got people thinking about the concept of local time, but it would be another 350 years until Sanford Fleming proposed the whole time zone idea.
Latest Answers