Paris, France/parisE265
Previous | Home | NextWalking southward through the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Arago plaques are visible. Note the longitude of the GPS E2 20.2. At the time of Humboldt, he considered this the prime meridian and used this as 0 longitude in his reckonings as he traveled to the New World and to Russia. These plaques, placed in 1994 in memory of François Arago (1786-1853), run 9 kilometers north/south through Paris. We will follow this meridian as we walk southward toward the Observatory. Arago was very active in astronomy and physics and calculated with precision the meridian that passed through the Paris Observatory.
