How to Weigh the World
Atlas knew the answer. Straining under the task of holding up the Earth, this Titan god likely got a good idea of how much the Earth weighed. But none of us are so conveniently situated. How could a mere mortal, a tiny person residing on Earth’s surface, carry out their own estimate of Earth’s weight? Where would—where could—you possibly place the scale?
A firm answer didn’t arrive until the Englishman John Michell figured out a way. Little known today, he was actually one of the of the 18th century. As a geologist, astronomer, mathematician, and theorist who hobnobbed with his fellow greats at the Royal Society of London, he was
