Alden Partridge Colvocoresses (September 23, 1918 – March 27, 2007) helped to develop the

Space-oblique Mercator projection Space-oblique Mercator projection is a map projection devised in the 1970s for preparing maps from Earth-survey satellite data. It is a generalization of the oblique Mercator projection that incorporates the time evolution of a given satellite gro ...

with

John P. Snyder John Parr Snyder (12 April 1926 – 28 April 1997) was an American cartographer most known for his work on map projections for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Educated at Purdue and MIT as a chemical engineer, he had a lifetime interest ...

and John Junkins, and developed the first satellite map of the United States in 1974.

Biography

Early life

Colvocoresses was born in 1918 to George M. Colvocoresses II and Alice Hagen, in Humboldt, Arizona. He is the grandson of

George Partridge Colvocoresses George Partridge Colvocoresses (April 3, 1847 – September 10, 1932) was a United States Navy rear admiral. He was the son of Captain George M. Colvocoresses, the adopted son of Captain Alden Partridge, founder of Norwich University in Vermon ...

and the great-grandson of

George Colvocoresses George Musalas "Colvos" Colvocoresses (October 22, 1816 – June 3, 1872) was a Greek-American United States Navy, Navy officer who commanded the during the American Civil War. From 1838 up until 1842, he took part in the United States Exploring ...

Army career

Colvocoresses served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in the 16th Armored Engineer Battalion of the 1st Armored Division, in North Africa and Europe. He was twice wounded in combat, receiving the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

. Colvocoresses was also twice awarded the

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

for valor: once, for capturing a German tank in Tunisia; and again, for escaping his Italian captors in North Africa. He became involved with aerial photo mapping for the 1st Army, where he oversaw some of the photo mapping as preparation for the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. He also served in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, and retired after playing a large role in mapping operations during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

Later life

Colvocoresses spent the rest of his career working for the U.S. Geological Survey's national mapping division, retiring in 1990. He was a research cartographer on the Landsat satellite program and received two patents for models of remote sensing systems. Alden helped to develop the first satellite map of the United States. He died on March 27, 2007. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

Biography

Early life

Army career

Later life

References

Further reading