Shape and Size of the Earth

Dino Boccaletti was Professor of Celestial Mechanics at the Sapienza University of Rome from 1987 until his retirement, and was previously Professor in the Institution of Mathematics at the university. In addition to his teaching and supervisory responsibilities, Prof. Boccaletti conducted research in the fields of Physics of Elementary Particles, Theoretical Astrophysics, Theory of Gravitational Waves, Stellar Dynamics, Celestial Mechanics, and Mathematical Physics. He has published a number of papers in leading journals, including Nature, Physical Review D, and Astronomy & Astrophysics, and has acted as reviewer for various scientific journals. He is co-author, with G. Pucacco, of the two-volume Springer book Theory of Orbits, which is used for advanced courses in Celestial Mechanics and Stellar Dynamics at universities across the world. Since his retirement, he has been interested in the history of science and, besides papers, he has published the book Galileo and the Equations of Motion.

• 1 The Graeco-Roman World.- 2 The Roman world from the end of the republic to the end of the empire.- 3 The Middle Ages.- 4 From the age of the great transoceanic discoveries to the new measurements of the Earth .90.- 5 The Figure and the size of the Earth in the XVIII Century.- 6 From the French Revolution to the artificial Satellites.- Epilogue.- The concept of Geoid.- The mathematical Model.- The satellitar Geodesy.