Pierre Antoine Ernest Tardi (4 June 1897 – 5 August 1972) was a French

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

, and

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. From 1946 to 1960, he was the secretary general of the

International Association of Geodesy The International Association of Geodesy (IAG) is a constituent association of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics focusing on the science which measures and describes the Figure of the Earth, Earth's shape, its rotation and gravity ...

, and editor-in-chief of the ''

Bulletin Géodésique The ''Journal of Geodesy'' is an academic journal about geodesy published by Springer on behalf of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). It is the merger and continuation of ''Bulletin Géodésique'' and ''manuscripta geodaetica'' (both ...

'' from 1946 to 1951. He also served as president of the

Société astronomique de France The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the France, French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law (Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its ...

from 1964 to 1966. Born in

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

on 4 June 1897, Tardi enlisted in

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in 1915. Following the war, in 1920, he joined the geodesy section of the

Service géographique de l'armée Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

. He published his first

treatise A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

on geodesy in 1934, for which he won an award conferred by the Academy of Sciences. One notable milestone during has geodetic career was at the 1936

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG; , UGGI) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment using geophysical and geodetic techniques. The IUGG is a me ...

meeting, where, in an effort to standardize mapping of the region, he suggested an idea to split the continent of

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into a grid system. His proposal was quickly accepted, but struggled to be actually adopted. A

bibliography Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

—his ''Bibliographie géodesique internationale''—was published in 1937. In 1946, Tardi was made the president of the International Association of Geodesy, succeeding

George Perrier Général Georges-François Perrier (28 October 187216 February 1946) was a French geodesist and military general. From 1922 to 1946, he served as secretary general of the International Association of Geodesy and from 1922 to 1945 as 1st editor ...

. In 1952, Tardi served on the inaugural advisory committee of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

's Institute of Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography, along with other geodesists such as Walter Davis Lambert. In 1956, while secretary general of the International Association of Geodesy, Tardi formed a committee on

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research; Lambert also sat on this committee. He was a professor at l'École polytechnique when he was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1956. In 1962, Tardi became a corresponding member of the

Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...

. He served as vice president of the French Academy of Sciences in 1969, and as president of the academy in 1970. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 5 August 1972.

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