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Originally Posted by IMO
Quote:
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Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
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Originally Posted by IMO
He did not quite rank as an Alpha
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no
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Originally Posted by Arneb
A shot in the dark: Because he was the second of that name?
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no
PS: you all can look it up if you like, I found it in Cosmos just a few minutes ago. Sagan said he found the Assuan well info in an old papyrus he was reading, while he was director of the library at Alexandria  |
Thats funny, my Cosmos says that some of his contemporaries called him that because he was second best in everything he did ... i.e. not quite Alpha |
To be more specific, it says in Cosmos, "One of his
envious contemporaries called him "Beta," the second letter in the Greek alphabet, because, he said, Eratosthenes was second best in the world in everything. But it seems clear that in almost everything Eratosthenes was "Alpha." Pg 14, 1980 c. There was no "some"...Sagan mentioned one jealous(?) guy. :wink:
edit typo
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