Public Radio International’s program The World features a section about the Venus transit, the transit voyages of 1769 and The Day the World Discovered the Sun. 

“Back in 1769, the transit of Venus was more than a curiosity. Scientists were trying to answer a key scientific question: how far away is the sun?

“Mark Anderson has written about that quest in a new book called The Day the World Discovered the Sun.

“Anderson says the key for scientists back in 1769 was to scatter to different locations around the globe. Each scientific team was assigned to measure how long it took for Venus to cross the sun’s face…”