The history of the globe

Planet Earth. A view from space.

Caravel swiftly cut heavy waves. The captain, having determined the position of the Polar Star and performing calculations, bent over the globe - they had been floating for many days, and only this ball and the stars could help determine where the ship was. Without a globe it is difficult to find a way to distant overseas countries. On many ships that set out on a distant voyage, there was a globe, it served as a card in those times. This continued until the XVIII century. And then detailed sea charts and sailing directions appeared, and the globe lost its importance for navigation, but it was very useful for schoolchildren. In the dictionary of the Russian language SI Ozhegov we read: "The globe is a visual aid - a rotating model of the globe or other spherical celestial body."We add that this model most correctly reflects both the appearance of the Earth and the ratio of its parts.

The globes were made from ancient times. Ancient writers mention Crates of Pergamum, which more than 2000 years ago made the "earthly ball".Unfortunately, no images of him have reached us. The oldest of the surviving globes is the "earth apple" with a diameter of 0.54 meters, created in 1492 by the German geographer Martin Beheim of Nuremberg. When working on the "apple" he used the materials of the famous traveler Marco Polo and the Portuguese, who sailed along the coast of Africa. But there is no image of America on this globe, because it has not yet been discovered.

150 years passed and globes became very popular. In London, for example, relatively cheaply sold pocket globes the size of an orange, on the inner hemisphere of which was a map of heavenly bodies, that is, the globe was simultaneously a model of the Earth and the starry sky.

An ancient globe.

Gradually the design of the globe became more complicated. In the XVI-XVIII centuries, the clock mechanism was used, with the help of which the globe rotated around the axis and it was possible to determine the time anywhere in the world. Sometimes such a globe was joined by the Moon model moving around it, and then it served not only as a universal clock, but also as a calendar. Many monarchs of Europe considered it necessary to have globes in their office, of rather impressive size, complex and ornate.

In St. Petersburg, a unique globe with a diameter of about 3 meters is stored, which simultaneously serves as a planetarium. On the outer surface of it is plotted the map of the Earth, on the inner - of the starry sky. The history of this globe is interesting. In 1713, Peter I traveled to the Schleswig-Holstein duchy( now the territory of Germany).During the trip, he visited Gottorp Castle. There he was struck by a globe of unusual sizes - And feet in diameter( 3 meters 19 centimeters).They claimed that the globe was made under the guidance of the famous traveler and geographer Adam Olearius. In gratitude for the military assistance rendered by Peter I, the guardian of the young duke presented a curiosity to the Russian emperor. This huge globe was carried to St. Petersburg, cutting through forest clearings. Subsequently, he was placed in the building of the newly constructed Kunstkamera, and after its opening in 1719 many people came to see an amazing exhibit.

In 1747 a fire broke out in the Kunstkammer, and the gift of the Duke was among the exhibits damaged by the fire. From the globe there were only scorched metal structures. Wanting to hide from the Tsar's court the true size of the damage suffered, the Academy decided on its own "to build another, the same size with the first ball."Several proposals were made, including the famous mechanic-inventor Andrei Konstantinovich Nartov. In 1748, according to his project, the work of "compass case master" Benjamin Scott and his assistant FN Tirutin began. The work took 7 years, but, according to contemporaries, the new globe was "the best of the old art."Until the end of the 18th century, the map continued to be updated with the latest data related to geographical discoveries. The ball was strengthened on a metal axis, inside the table was set up and a bench on which could accommodate 10-12 people to observe the motion of the heavenly bodies, as in a planetarium( on the inner surface of the globe a map of the starry sky was performed).

In Russia, one of the first original globes was made in the late XVIII - early XIX century Pskov deacon Karp Maksimov. The structure had a diameter of about 90 centimeters. Probably, this globe was presented as a gift to the Russian emperor, since until 1793 he was kept in the "Cabinet of Peter the Great" in the Kunstkamera. Much attention was paid to the manufacture of globes by MV Lomonosov, who headed the Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences.

According to experts, the largest in the world is the globe, made for the Paris exhibition in 1899.Its diameter is 13 meters, and the length of the meridian is 40 meters, each millimeter corresponds to about a kilometer of the earth's surface. The weight of the globe was almost 10 tons( the modern bus weighs so much)!The globe rotated around its axis at a speed corresponding to the actual rotation speed of the Earth. It featured the relief of the earth's crust, the borders of countries, sea routes, railways, routes of famous travelers and even designated deposits of minerals.

The globe is much smaller, but also very large, stored in Denmark.

Originally it was a spherical tank for natural gas, but about 50 years ago an artist decided to draw geographic symbols characteristic of our planet to attract tourists to the outer surface of a metal ball. It turned out a huge globe.

Medieval scientist.

The globe-giant was created in our country. It stands on the astronomical site of the Moscow Planetarium. The model of the globe, with a diameter of two and a half meters, is made of special, specially designed for this purpose long-lasting materials - fiberglass and polymers, painted with colors that are not afraid of precipitation( valleys - green, blue - blue, rivers - blue).At 70 meters from the globe, on the roof of the building next to the astronomical site, a second ball is installed - this is a mock-up of the Moon. Its diameter is 70 centimeters. Such dimensions are not chosen by chance. The real prototyping system Earth-Moon has turned out, it is less than real "only" 5 million times.

If you read M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita", then, probably, remember the globe of the "Prince of Darkness" Woland. The globe lived the life of the Earth. If any part of it was filled with blood, then the war began at the appropriate point on the globe. Looking closely, you could see all the details of the battles - destroyed houses, dead people. But such a globe is a fantasy of a genius writer. And what globes are in reality? The most diverse models of the Earth are produced. The most common are political ones, reflecting the modern territorial division of the world, and physical, showing the physical and geographical structure of the Earth. Particularly peculiar are the so-called relief globes with stucco, the convex surface of mountains and hills. And probably, for a long time these small spheres will serve people, showing our planet the way it is seen only by cosmonauts.

Take note of

The largest island in the world is Greenland.

The highest continent on Earth is Antarctica, the thickness of the ice here in some places exceeds 4 kilometers. If all this ice melted, then the ocean level would rise by 60 meters.

The most stormy place of the globe is on the island of Java, the lightning there glitter 322 days a year.

The highest mountain in the world can be considered the Mauna Kea volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. Its base is under water at a depth of 5500 meters, and the summit rises to 4300 meters above sea level. In total, the distance between the sole and the top is 9800 meters.