Flattening the earth

M.R Hoare. The quest for the true figure of the Earth: ideas and expeditions in four centuries of geodesy. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005. pp. xii +275, £47.50. 0-7546-5020-0 The publication of his Principia Mathematica in 1687 at once established Newton's position as one of the leading mathematicians