News in 2021
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The History of Surveying - Secure your special edition set
August, 2021
7 volumes covering Three Milleniums of Measurement of Earth
35 years of research - 3,000 pages - over 350 illustrations
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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.
ORDER HERE.
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.
Read more
Nanna Jørgensen
23, August 2021
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