Thursday, April 17, 2008
17 April 08
Today, in 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano reached (that is, "discovered") what is now New York City's harbor. They named the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge after him. (The bridge is famous as one of the world's longest suspension bridges, at 4260 feet. It was the first bridge whose construction had to compensate for the curvature of the earth, the towers being 1-5/8 inches farther apart at their tops than at their bases. My tie focuses on Manhattan Island but the bridge is not far away.)
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2 comments:
That is very interesting. Compensating for the curvature of the Earth. They think the world is round. Next thing people will be saying that the Earth orbits around the sun.
How long until a history teacher starts having weekly quizzes in class over the little obscure things you share here?
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