LOS OFICIALES GEODÉSICOS DEL SERVICE GÉOGRAPHIQUE DE L’ARMÉE Y LA MEDIDA DEL ARCO EN ECUADOR (1901-1906)

Abstract

Between 1901 and 1906, a French military mission was sent to South America (mainly Ecuador) to measure a terrestrial meridian arc. The mission was organized under the auspices of the Bureau des longitudes and the International Geodetic Association. This mission was led by Lieutenant Robert Émile Bourgeois, from the geodesy section of the Service géographique de l’armée (Army Geographical Service). With the support of the mathematician Henri Poincaré, the mission carried out its task, not without difficulty, and secured im- portant scientific benefits for geodesy and its actors. Based on archival documentation mainly compiled in France, in this article I propose to study some events that occurred in the process of their studies to show the complex context of the actors who intervened in the mission, thus highlighting the strong links that exist in that mis- sion time, between the constitution of a precision scientific culture and the military world.