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Zero of Longitude

From: Norm Wolcott <nwolcott2~at~kreative.net>
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 11:52:01 -0400
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

There has been discussion about Verne's lattitude and longitude, including
the fact that the French zero went through Paris. Apparently there were some
maps of the Indian Ocean as late as the 1970's still printed thus.

In the 1998 'discovery' of the lost pages from "80 days around the
world" the following was included--

"The problem is as you describe", responded Phileas Fogg. "For although
Omar the Tentmaker resolved the problem of timekeeping some centuries ago,
every place in the world considers itself the most important, and therefore
considers noon to be that time at which the sun is nearest overhead. The
problem is not less with the origin of our degrees of longitude which the
British consider to commence at their observatory at Greenwich and the
French, with their observatory at Sevres, naturally choose Paris for their
origin of longitude. Not to mention the other cities such as Rome,
Copenhagen, Jerusalem, St. Petersburg, Philadelphia which have also claimed
the distinction. "

Now apparently it appears that Washington DC also has its zero of longitude
courtesy of Thomas Jefferson. I quote from the Washington Post--

washingtonpost.com
DECODING MD + VA + DC

Sunday, August 31, 2003; Page M10


Where is the American meridian? As I understand it, several Western states
are measured from it, and I would hate for Wyoming to have to move over
eight blocks if they used the wrong line.

Michael Pinck, Washington

First, some definitions: A "meridian" is a line of longitude -- those lines
that circle the globe from top to bottom. A "prime meridian" is where you
start counting; it comes in handy for navigation and mapmaking.

Thomas Jefferson was among those who thought the United States should have
its own meridian and not rely on the one running through Greenwich, England.
In 1804 he ordered a meridian to be surveyed. It ran from the White House up
16th Street NW. That's how Meridian Hill Park got its name (though it was in
a sort of roundabout way, being named after a mansion on the site that was
itself named after the meridian).

In 1850 another American meridian was calculated. This one started from
where the U.S. Naval Observatory was at the time, on 24th Street NW, and was
intended for use in astronomical observations. It was used to fix the
borders of a dozen Western states, including Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and
the Dakota territories.

A lot of countries had their own prime meridians. Eventually they realized
that was kind of confusing, so over time, Greenwich won out. The United
States officially ditched 24th Street in 1912.

There's a monument today at the southeast corner of 24th and H streets NW.
The marker is a bit overblown, indicating that to the left is the hemisphere
of "the Silk Road and the rising sun," while to the right is the hemisphere
of "towering volcanoes and the starry night."

So, Bowie is in the Silk Road hemisphere and Sterling is where the volcanoes
are? John F. Kelly

Have a question about the D.C. area? Let Answer Man employ the vast
reporting resources of The Washington Post to answer it. E-mail
answerman~at~washpost.com. Please include your name and address.



© 2003 The Washington Post Company

I have a jpeg image of the "meridian monument" in Washington DC (18K) that
was included in the article which I will email to anyone interested.

Verne's "Meridiana" (1872) is about "measuring the meridian".
Unfortunately I believe by the time Verne's book came out the meridian had
already been "measured".

nwolcott2~at~post.harvard.edu Friar Wolcott, Gutenberg Abbey, Sherwood Forrest
Received on Wed 03 Sep 2003 - 19:27:22 IDT

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