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It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of my
dear friend Jim Smith who died this past Thursday, 12 August 2021. He
was preceded in death by his dear loving wife Ann. He is survived
by two daughters, Nicola (Michael) Jones and Bridget (Antony) Johns; two
grandchildren Eleanor (Peter) McCullagh (Johns) and Peter Johns; and his
new baby great-granddaughter Annie McCullagh.
Jim qualified as a Land Surveyor in 1961 and has been an active
member of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) since 1968.
This year during the 2021 FIG Working Week General Assembly Jim was
named FIG Honorary Member in recognition for his many contributions to
FIG over the past 50+ years.
Jim has authored various survey oriented texts including Everest: The
Man and the Mountain (reprinted and again available), From Plane to
Spheroid, The Tellurometer from Dr. Wadley to the MRA7 and R S Webb From
Shropshire to Paarl via Geodesy and Lesotho.
He started his career in Nigeria as a Provincial Surveyor and
also lecturer at the School of Surveying in Oyo teaching the
local candidate surveyors and working for a government office in
surveying.
Later he was Principal Lecturer in Surveying in the Civil
Engineering Department of Portsmouth Polytechnic (now Portsmouth
University) for 21 years and a great part of the English and
Colonial surveyors have benefitted from his experience.
He was not only Editor of the well known survey journal Survey Review
for ten years but was also the author of many text books, which have
guided more than two generations of Land Surveyors. Together with Jan De
Graeve he translated and edited the conversion of the Struve Report from
1855-1857 into English, from early French in 2008.
Since then he has prepared Notes on the history of
determining the size and shape of the earth using meridian arcs,
in 5 volumes of some 2100 pages with the aid of Jan. He has also
prepared the Meridian arcs through East and South Africa with
emphasis on the arc of the 30th Meridian and Connection between
the Struve Geodetic Arc and the Arc of the 30th Meridian. Both
sets (a total of 3000 pages) are currently being printed and
will be available September 2021.
With Jan De Graeve he created The International Institution
for the History of Surveying & Measurement- an FIG Permanent
Institution, which was formed during the FIG congress in
Melbourne in 1994. Jim has served as Honorary Secretary of the
Institute since 1995 and was considered the preeminent authority
on the history of surveying.
Since 1984 Jim and Jan have organized most of the symposia that have
taken place the day before the FIG conferences and or FIG working weeks.
Together they prepared the inscription of the Struve Meridian Arc from
Northern Norway to the Black Sea covering 10 countries, with the help of
local colleagues. They started this after a paper was read in FIG
Commission 1. Jan had the Honor to propose the inscription on the UNESCO
World Heritage in 1994 to the FIG General Assembly in Melbourne and the
WHL inscription was during the UNESCO general meeting in Durban RSA in
2005. Jim had been the silent force to achieve this recognition for our
profession worldwide: This was first multi-national achievement covering
10 countries and was the first scientific monument inscribed on the
World Heritage List.
Jim and Jan were currently continuing working on the project from
Pole to Pole covering the Struve Meridian Arc, the 30th Meridian and the
crossing over the Mediterranean sea from Hammerfest to Buffelsfontein
covering 135° of latitude.
Jim has been for decades the working hand for friendship between
land-surveyors and the silent help and encouragement for young surveyors
to publish and share their experiences. He will be dearly missed by
family, friends and colleagues. May he rest in peace with his dear wife
Ann.
John Hohol, President FIG Foundation
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