physics

Pierre Tardi

Pierre Tardi is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pierre Tardi rather than just read about it. In short: Pierre Antoine Ernest Tardi (4 June 1897 – 5 August 1972) was a French geophysicist, astronomer, and geographer. From 1946 to 1960, he was the secretary general of the International Association of Geodesy, and editor-in-chief of the Bulletin Géodésique from 1946 to 1951.

Key takeaways

Pierre Tardi belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pierre Tardi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pierre Tardi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pierre Antoine Ernest Tardi (4 June 1897 – 5 August 1972) was a French geophysicist, astronomer, and geographer. From 1946 to 1960, he was the secretary general of the International Association of Geodesy, and editor-in-chief of the Bulletin Géodésique from 1946 to 1951. He also served as president of the Société astronomique de France from 1964 to 1966. Born in Bastia on 4 June 1897, Tardi enlisted in World War I in 1915. Following the war, in 1920, he joined the geodesy section of the Service géographique de l'armée. He published his first treatise 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 meeting, where, in an effort to standardize mapping of the region, he suggested an idea to split the continent of Africa into a grid system. His proposal was quickly accepted, but struggled to be actually adopted. A bibliography—his Bibliographie géodesique internationale—was published in 1937. In 1946, Tardi was made the president of the International Association of Geodesy, succeeding George Perrier. In 1952, Tardi served on the inaugural advisory committee of Ohio State University'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 tidal 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. 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 on 5 August 1972.

Notes

References

Further reading Hough, Floyd W. (March 1949). "European First Order Triangulation And Its Adjustments" (PDF). Photogrammetric Engineering. XV (1): 26–32 – section 16 describes some efforts of Tardi at the International Association of Geodesy. Kovalevsky, Jean; Barlier, François (14 October 2010). "Les débuts de la géodésie spatiale en France" (PDF). Evolutions et perspectives de la géodésie (Presentation). Saint-Mandé: IGN – includes a photo of Tardi as a figure advancing geodesy in France. Rizos, Chris (21–22 June 2013). "IGS Services & Other Initiatives" (PDF). Reference Frame in Practice (Conference presentation). International Federation of Surveyors – includes Tardi in context among other historical geodesists. Lequeux, James (August 2020). "The Shape of the Earth" (PDF). Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 23 (2): 297‒326. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2020.02.05 – discusses some of Tardi's work in geodesy.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pierre Tardi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pierre Tardi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pierre Tardi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pierre Tardi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pierre Tardi

In research: Pierre Tardi appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pierre Tardi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pierre Tardi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1897 births, 1972 deaths, 20th-century French physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pierre Tardi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pierre Tardi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pierre Tardi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pierre Tardi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pierre Tardi in simple terms?

Why does Pierre Tardi matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pierre Tardi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pierre Tardi.