News in 2021
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These seven books include a life-long research and work of Jim Smith and Jan De Graeve on the History of Surveying. Only a 100 Special Edition Sets of the seven volumes are currently being printed Jim and Jan presented the books at FIG General Assembly session 4 on the Work of FIG The section on the History of Surveying begins at the time 1:06:00 starting with an introdcution by FIG Vice President Mikael Lilje. |
Read more in the flyer by clicking on the photo above and see how you reserve your copy of this special edition.
Volumes I-V: Notes on the History of Determining the Size and Shape of the Earth Using Meridian Arcs
Volume I-V consist of notes on the estimation of the size and shape of the Earth starting from about 800 BCE until about 1960 CE, a span of over 2,700 years. Jan and Jim take us through the efforts of the early Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian and Greek astronomers and the work of the 3rd century BCE Greek mathematician, Eratosthenes, who estimated the circumference of the Earth with remarkable accuracy using the shadow cast by the sun and known latitudes of places in Egypt. They then come to the arc measurements in Europe, Lapland, Peru, Eastern Europe, India, South Africa and many others and end in the 1950s before the introduction of electronic computers and distance measuring devices and satellite navigation systems.
Volume VI: Meridian Arcs in East & Southern Africa with Emphasis on the Arc of the 30th Meridian
Volume VII: Connection Between the Struve Geodetic Arc and the Arc of the 30th Meridian
Although these two books can be considered as two separate volumes they are in fact companions in that they complement one another. Jan De Graeve and Jim Smith have compiled the notes to give researchers and students a feeling for the magnitude of the task to measure, what turned out to be the longest terrestrial measurement covering an amplitude of approximately 105° or 11,635 km from Hammerfest in Norway to Port Elizabeth in South Africa. The second of these two volumes, as the title suggests, only covers the connection between the Struve Arc and the Arc of the 30th Meridian in Africa.
To read more about the 7 volumes covering Three Milleniums of Measurement of Earth, click here.
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100 Special Edition Sets of the seven volumes are currently being printed. The printing of these Special Editions has been made possible by Trimble, and all income from the books are donated in full to FIG Foundation. Read more in
this flyer and see how you reserve your copy of this special
edition. |
It is with sadness that we have to announce that unfortunately, Jim Smith passed away on 12 August 2021, which means that he did not see the final result of this special work nor hold the books in his hands. He was however vividly participating in the printing preparations and was looking forward to the launch of the books.
Nanna Jørgensen
23, August 2021
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