Major milestones in the history of determining Earth’s shape

Abstract

Throughout history, science has created various ideas about the shape of the Earth. There was the idea of a flat Earth floating in the
universe, or held by some mystical animals (e.g., according to the Indian idea, the Earth was held by 4 elephants standing on the back
of a giant turtle). Later, the sphere appeared, and then the rotating ellipsoid-shaped Earth model. Finally the definition of the Earth's
shape was based on physical foundations, and thus the geoid was created. This article deals with the most important stages of this
process.