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Clairaut's theorem, published in 1743 by Alexis Claude de Clairaut in his Théorie de la figure de la terre, tirée des principes de l'hydrostatique, synthesized physical and geodetic evidence that the Earth is an oblate rotational ellipsoid. It is a general mathematical law applying to spheroids of revolution. It was initially used to relate the gravity at any point on the Earth's surface to the position of that point, allowing the ellipticity of the Earth to be calculated from measurements of gravity at different latitudes.

Formula

Clairaut's formula for the acceleration of gravity g on the surface of a spheroid at latitude φ, was:

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