Born January 27, 1701, Paris, France
Died February 4, 1774, Paris, France

During the eighteenth century scientists debated the shape of the earth. Was it a sphere, swollen in the center and flattened at the poles, as English mathematician Sir Isaac Newton had suggested? Or was it more oval in shape, slimmer in the middle and longer at the poles, as proposed by French-Italian mathematician Jacques Cassini? The controversy needed to be resolved so that locations could be accurately mapped around the world. French scientists were especially interested in proving the theory of their countryman correct. The king of France proposed sending out two expeditions to test the theories. One went to measure the curvature of the earth in Lapland, near the North Pole. The other, headed by Charles-Marie de La Condamine, went to Quito in South America to measure the earth at the equator.

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