State briefly the Bedford level experiment
Answers
Explanation:
The Bedford Level experiment is a series of observations carried out along a six-mile (9.7 km) length of the Old Bedford River on the Bedford Level of the Cambridgeshire Fens in the United Kingdom, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, to measure the curvature of the Earth.
In 1870, Alfred Russell Wallace successfully demonstrated the curvature of the Earth to answer the challenge put forward by a flat-Earther, John Hampden.
Hampden was a disciple of Rowbotham, who was a significant influence on flat-Earth movement back in the day. Rowbotham had previously used the Bedford Canal to prove the non-existence of Earth’s curvature. He looked through a telescope from one end of the canal and was able to observe boats on the other end.
He ignored the effect of refraction and wrongly concluded that the Earth does not have curvature. Wallace designed a better experiment to minimize the effect of refraction:
He raised the entire experiment by 13 ft 3 in (4 m) above water. In contrast, Rowbotham did his experiment only 8 in (20 cm) above water.
He added a pole with two discs in the middle of the canal for observational aid. This way, if there’s a curvature, it would be easy to observe.
In the experiment, Wallace successfully proved the existence of Earth’s curvature. Unfortunately, Hampden was not an honest person. He didn’t allow Wallace to take the wager. Instead, he made various threats to Wallace and his friends over the years and as a result, was put in jail many times.