Ngs History Books?

[+Team RAGAR]

I was wondering if there are any in print publications that would explain the history of the National Geodetic Survey? Something that would cover the topic of the markers that we so eagerly seek out would be great. I have searched on line and anything I can come up with are out of print and unable to obtain.

[+Shorelander]

If you're willing to brave 480, Parma's got a copy of Introduction to geodesy : the history and concepts of modern geodesy - not about the NGS per se, but reasonably good stuff, I'm guessing (haven't read it, though).

 

Also, if you're down Akron-way anytime, check out this book - although it's reference-only, it looks like a complete guide to Akron's geodetic monuments and methods.

 

The CPL site was down, so I couldn't check it. Oh well.

 

Edit: The CPL site is up for me now. You've got a bunch of choices:

• Geodesy: Imagine the Possibilities
  
• Products and services of the National Geodetic Survey
  
• NGS, the National Geodetic Survey, 1807-1980
  
• Geodetic bench marks
  

Those seem to be the highlights. I like the first, but would like it better if it had an exclamation point in the title.

Edited April 28, 2006 by Shorelander

[holograph]

The NGS web site has a few articles on their history: National Geodetic Survey History. It's not a book, but there's some interesting information there.

[+frelancr]

The NGS web site has a few articles on their history: National Geodetic Survey History. It's not a book, but there's some interesting information there.

 

I agree with this one...I was up reading http://www.lib.noaa.gov/edocs/CONTENTS.htm until the wee hours one morning...facinating stuff (to me at least)....now only if I could find the marker that is a stone's throw from my house! (one of the first of the coastal survey)

 

M

[+m&h]

There is also a weird little biography of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, the "first US Geodesist". We're sorry not to have the exact particulars right now; we're still not moved in to the place we're renovating, and the books are all packed up. Something like The Tumultuous Life of Ferdinand Rudoph Hassler. It's rare, but has been reprinted. We might have found it on Amazon, or maybe abebooks.

 

Mighty informative, on rereading . . . .

[+m&h]

We are at last moved in and just about unpacked, and the Hassler biography has found its place on the bookshelves. It turns out to be entitled The Chequered Career of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler. It's by Florian Cajori, and was first published in 1929. It's now available from Arno Press, a reprint house that in 1980 put out a series of reprints under the general title of Three Centuries of Science in America. The Arno Press edition still turns up as available new on Amazon.com.