Thaddeus Vincenty (born Tadeusz Szpila; 27 October 1920 – 6 March 2002) was a

Polish American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

geodesist Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equival ...

who worked with the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

and later the

National Geodetic Survey The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping an ...

to adapt three-dimensional adjustment techniques to

NAD 83 The North American Datum (NAD) is the horizontal datum now used to define the geodetic network in North America. A datum is a formal description of the shape of the Earth along with an "anchor" point for the coordinate system. In surveying, ca ...

. He devised

Vincenty's formulae Vincenty's formulae are two related iterative methods used in geodesy to calculate the distance between two points on the surface of a spheroid, developed by Thaddeus Vincenty (1975a). They are based on the assumption that the figure of the Earth ...

, a

geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a connection. ...

calculation technique published in 1975 which is accurate to about half a

millimeter 330px, Different lengths as in respect to the electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the metre and its derived scales. The microwave is between 1 meter to 1 millimeter. The millimetre (American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, ...

. Vincenty's studies were interrupted by

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 ...

, and he eventually arrived in a

displaced persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...

. He arrived in the United States in 1947, and took his father's first name as his surname. Within months, he enlisted in the Air Force, and only became involved in computer programming and surveying in 1957. After studying via correspondence courses, he published his first research paper in 1963. After 30 years in the Air Force, he left Cheyenne, Wyoming, and took a position at National Geodetic Survey. His contributions to the NAD 83 include the introduction of three dimensional Earth-centered coordinates, which unifies locations on Earth with locations in space, an essential development for the

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

. Vincenty received the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

Medal for Meritorious Service in 1982.Department of Commerce Medal recipients, 1980-1991
retrieved 29 December 2006 He and his

wife A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...

Barbara had one daughter, two sons, and three grandchildren at the time of his death.

References

Excel Add-in
by Tomasz Jastrzębski - complete Vincenty's direct and inverse formulae implementation with source code.

External links

*Selected publications
Closed formulas for the direct and reverse geodetic problems
Pages 241–242, Journal of Geodesy, Volume 51, Number 3 (September, 1977).
Height-controlled three-dimensional adjustment of horizontal networks
Pages 37–43, Journal of Geodesy, Volume 54, Number 1 (March, 1980).
Methods of adjusting space systems data and terrestrial measurements
Pages 231–241, Journal of Geodesy, Volume 56, Number 3 (September, 1982).
On the meaning of geodetic orientation
Pages 189–199, Journal of Geodesy, Volume 59, Number 2 (June, 1985). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincenty, Thaddeus 1920 births 2002 deaths Polish geodesists Polish scientists Polish emigrants to the United States United States Air Force officers Burials at Parklawn Memorial Park People from Lwów Voivodeship People from Montgomery County, Maryland

See also

References

External links