Terence Tao on how we measure the cosmos | Part 1

2025-02-08

[public] 438K views, 32.7K likes, dislikes audio only

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The Cosmic Distance Ladder, how we learned distances in the heavens.

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Artwork by Kurt Bruns

Thanks to Paul Dancstep for several animations, such as the powers of 10 zoom out and the simulations of shadows on the moon.

Thanks to Tanya Klowden for helpful conversations about the history of the distance ladder.

Argument for why if every shadow of a convex shape is a circle, it must be a sphere: https://mathoverflow.net/questions/39127/is-the-sphere-the-only-surface-with-circular-projections-or-can-we-deduce-a-sp

Timestamps:

0:00 - About Terence Tao and the Distance Ladder

2:02 - Earth

8:07 - Moon

11:15 - Sun

15:45 - Heliocentrism in Antiquity

18:27 - Kepler’s genius

27:16 - Where this leaves us

SEV #5: https://youtu.be/uq83hprtpGE

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https://github.com/3b1b/manim

https://github.com/ManimCommunity/manim/

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The music is by Vincent Rubinetti.

https://www.vincentrubinetti.com

https://vincerubinetti.bandcamp.com/album/the-music-of-3blue1brown

https://open.spotify.com/album/1dVyjwS8FBqXhRunaG5W5u

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