"Perilous Journey: Determining the Distance to the Sun"
In 1672, French astronomer Jean Richer and his partner embarked on a perilous journey to French Guiana to measure the distance between Earth and the sun. Despite facing illness, harsh weather, and dangerous wildlife, they successfully made key observations that, combined with calculations by astronomer Giovanni Cassini, revealed the sun to be 87 million miles away. This groundbreaking expedition not only determined the solar system's immense scale but also contributed to Isaac Newton's theories of gravity.