Figure 33. Gravity characteristics 01 rm olobi 



Dedu ns as to the distribution ol matter in the earth 



can be made from gravitj measurements, rhis gli bi 

 shows worldwide variations in gravitj as the) now a 

 from observations al sea (in submarines) as well as on 

 land. Il is based on data from the Institute ol Geodesy 



.11 ( )hio State I niversit) . 



determinations of the intensity ol gravitj became ol 

 value to the geodesist as a means of determining 

 the figure of the earth. Xcwton, on tin- basis of the 

 meager data available to him, calculated the ellipticity 

 of the earth to be ^30 (the ellipticity is defined by 



— — > where (/ is tl'.e equatorial radius and l> the 1 olar 



radius). Observations of the intensity ol gravitj 



were made on the historic missions to Peru and 

 Sweden. Bouguer and l.a ( ondamine found that at 

 the equator at sea level the seconds pendulum was 

 1.26 Paris-lines shorter than at Paris. Maupertuis 

 found that in northern Sweden a certain pendulum 

 clock gained 59.1 seconds per day on its rate in 

 Paris. I ben ( lau. int. from the assumption that the 

 earth is a spheroid of equilibrium, derived a theorem 



PAPER 44: DEVELOPMENT OF GRAVITY PENDULUMS 1\ llll 19TH CENTURY 



343 



