Descrizione

Stockholm, J. P. Lindh [Académie des Sciences], 1805. 8vo (21.5 x 13.5 cm). xvi, xxxii, 196 pp., three large, folded engraved plates. Original blind wrappers. = Jöns Svanberg (1771-1851) was a Swedish clergyman, surveyor and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In the years 1801-1803, Svanberg performed extensive degree measurements in Sápmi (Lapland, northern Sweden), essential for determining the size and shape of the Earth, and for which he received - in 1806 - the Prix Lalande, a prestigious astronomical award from the French Academy of Sciences. The work was done in order to check the earlier (1736) results obtained by the French mathematician Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. Maupertuis also made an expedition to the polar region of Scandinavia to determine the shape of the Earth. An untrimmed, uncut copy. Small hole in front wrapper, fire edge frayed, maps slightly crased, otherwise a very good, clean and unmarked copy.