As we get ready to embark on a community adventure that may change the world (ie. Survey Earth in a Day), let's take a moment to learn more about those who came before us.
Famous geodesists
Mathematical geodesists before 1900
- Pythagoras 580–490 BC, ancient Greece[2]
- Eratosthenes 276–194 BC, ancient Greece
- Posidonius ca.135–51 BC, ancient Greece
- Claudius Ptolemy 83–c.168 AD, Roman Empire (Roman Egypt)
- Abu Rayhan Biruni 973–1048, Khorasan[3][4]
- Sir George Biddell Airy 1801–1892, Cambridge & London
- Muhammad al-Idrisi 1100–1166, (Arabia & Sicily)
- Al-Ma'mun 786–833, Baghdad (Iraq/Mesopotamia)
- Pedro Nunes 1502–1578 Portugal
- Gerhard Mercator 1512–1594 (Belgium & Germany)
- Snellius (Willebrord Snel van Royen) 1580–1626, Leiden (Netherlands)
- Christiaan Huygens 1629–1695 (Netherlands)
- Pierre de Maupertuis 1698–1759 (France)
- Pierre Bouguer 1698–1758, (France & Peru)
- Johann Heinrich Lambert 1728–1777 (France)
- Alexis Clairaut 1713–1765 (France)
- Johann Jacob Baeyer 1794–1885, Berlin (Germany)
- Karl Maximilian von Bauernfeind, Munich (Germany)
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel 1784–1846, Königsberg (Germany)
- Roger Joseph Boscovich, Rome/ Berlin/ Paris
- Heinrich Bruns 1848–1919, Berlin (Germany)
- Alexander Ross Clarke 1828–1914, London (England)
- Loránd Eötvös 1848–1919 (Hungary)
- George Everest 1830–1843 (England & India)
- Hervé Faye 1814–1902 (France)
- Abel Foullon 1513-1563 or 1565, (France)
- Carl Friedrich Gauß 1777–1855, Göttingen (Germany)
- Friedrich Robert Helmert 1843–1917, Potsdam (Germany)
- Hipparchus, Nicaea, modern Turkey
- Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749–1827, Paris (France)
- Adrien Marie Legendre 1752–1833, Paris (France)
- Johann Benedikt Listing 1808–1882 (Germany)
- Friedrich H. C. Paschen, Schwerin (Germany)
- Charles Sanders Peirce 1839–1914 (United States)
- Henri Poincaré 1854-1912, Paris (France)
- J. H. Pratt 1809–1871, London (England)
- Regiomontanus 1436-1476, (Germany/Austria)
- Georg von Reichenbach 1771–1826, Bavaria (Germany)
- Heinrich Christian Schumacher 1780–1850 (Germany & Estonia)
- Johann Georg von Soldner 1776–1833, Munich (Germany)
- George Gabriel Stokes 1819–1903 (England)
- Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve 1793–1864, Dorpat and Pulkowa/St.-Petersburg (Russia)
- Wilhelm Jordan 1842–1899, Germany
Twentieth century
- Willem Baarda, 1917-2005, (Netherlands)
- Tadeusz Banachiewicz, 1882–1954, (Poland)
- Arne Bjerhammar, 1917-2011, (Sweden)
- W. Bowie, 1872–1940, (US)
- Erik Grafarend, Stuttgart, (Germany)
- John Fillmore Hayford, 1868–1925, (US)
- Irene Kaminka Fischer, 1907–2009, (US)
- Veikko Aleksanteri Heiskanen, 1895–1971, (Finland and US)
- Friedrich Hopfner, 1881-1949, Vienna, (Austria)
- Martin Hotine, 1898–1968, (England)
- Harold Jeffreys, 1891-1989, London, (England)
- Karl-Rudolf Koch, Bonn, (Germany)
- Rafael Mercado, (US)
- Mikhail Sergeevich Molodenskii, 1909–1991, (Russia)
- Helmute Moritz, Graz, (Austria)
- John A. O'Keefe, 1916–2000, (US)
- Karl Ramsayer, 1911-1982, Stuttgart, (Germany)
- Hellmut Schmid, 1914-1998, (Switzerland)
- Petr Vaníček, 1935, Fredericton, (Canada)
- Yrjö Väisälä, 1889–1971, (Finland)
- Felix Andries Vening-Meinesz, 1887–1966, (Netherlands)
- Thaddeus Vincenty, 1920-2002, (Poland)
- Alfred Wegener, 1880–1930, (Germany and Greenland)
International organizations
- International Association of Geodesy (IAG)
- International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG)
- Fédération Internationale des Géomètres (FIG)
- European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) (which despite being officially disbanded in 2005 continues to refine a well tested set of Geodetic Parameters)
- International Geodetic Student Organisation (IGSO)
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