One claim that still circulates every now and then is that the explorer Auguste Piccard said the earth was flat due to this language in a Popular Mechanic article: https://books.google.com.vc/books?id=BCgDAAAAMBAJ&sitesec=reviews&rview=1&rf=ns:5

"Through the portholes, the observers saw the earth through copper-colored, then bluish haze. It seemed a flat disk with upturned edge." This was at an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet.
Now, Piccard wrote about the globe in his book Earth, Sea, and Sky, so he clearly could not have thought he was witnessing a flat earth from his balloon, and the translation in the comments section of this interview YouTube video seem to indicate the believed he'd be able to see the curvature with a ruler at that altitude (
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVuDr18N-M&t=447s
), but I have another question for the group.
If you continue to listen to that interview, the French subtitles seem to say the following, which I'm sure is a very poor transcription:
Clearly, the translation suffers, but I think the general point is that Piccard was saying at the altitude of 50,000 feet, you lose half a percent of weight, which somehow affects the measurements of the equipment. I believe this is an indirect reference to gravity, since by my calculation, an object at 50,000 feet should have a "g" of approximately 9.7599 m/s², which is about 99.5% of 9.8 m/s². So my question is, is there anyone who speaks French that can give a better transcription and translation of this portion of the interview? This would be helpful to refute those who like to use Auguste Piccard as a Flat Earth champion.
Thanks
"Through the portholes, the observers saw the earth through copper-colored, then bluish haze. It seemed a flat disk with upturned edge." This was at an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet.
Now, Piccard wrote about the globe in his book Earth, Sea, and Sky, so he clearly could not have thought he was witnessing a flat earth from his balloon, and the translation in the comments section of this interview YouTube video seem to indicate the believed he'd be able to see the curvature with a ruler at that altitude (
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVuDr18N-M&t=447s
), but I have another question for the group.
If you continue to listen to that interview, the French subtitles seem to say the following, which I'm sure is a very poor transcription:
- Interviewer: est ce qu'un pareil l'altitude terrestre diminue deja assez sensible ces depots d'instruments? (does such a terrestrial altitude already decrease quite significantly these deposits of instruments?)
- Piccard: ampere impots mille la du poids de 3000 mais nous avons denc un demi pour cent de perte. c'est dire sur 100 kilos on perde un demi kilo de poids. avec un balance dynamometrique alors on pourrait parfaitement constate et quelle temperature avait voulu a cette altitude. (ampere taxes thousand the weight of 3000 but we have lost half a percent. that is to say on 100 kilos we lose half a kilo of weight. with a dynamometer then we could perfectly see and what temperature had wanted at this altitude.)
Clearly, the translation suffers, but I think the general point is that Piccard was saying at the altitude of 50,000 feet, you lose half a percent of weight, which somehow affects the measurements of the equipment. I believe this is an indirect reference to gravity, since by my calculation, an object at 50,000 feet should have a "g" of approximately 9.7599 m/s², which is about 99.5% of 9.8 m/s². So my question is, is there anyone who speaks French that can give a better transcription and translation of this portion of the interview? This would be helpful to refute those who like to use Auguste Piccard as a Flat Earth champion.
Thanks