BELARUS

BELARUS / БЕЛАРУСЬ.

Struve Geodetic Arc.
Geodetic triangulations on a simplified map of Belarus.
Minisheet issued on 14.09.2017.
Face value: 3 Belarusian ruble.
Design: Yauheniya Biadonik.
Printing: Offset litography and hot stamping.
Print: 12,000 copies.
Size: 73 x 86 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. A1222.
- Belarus Post No. BL 126.
- Michel No. BL 153.
- StampWorld No. 1220.
- Yvert et Tellier No. BF 149.

The Struve Geodesic Arc is a chain of topographic triangulations that extends from the vicinity of Hammerfest, in northern Norway, to the Black Sea through ten countries and more than 2,820 km (1,752 mi). It was used to make the first precise measurement of a meridian. The chain was established and used by the German-Baltic scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve between the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth. The first point of the Arch is at the Tartu Observatory in Estonia, where Struve did much of the research on it. The triangulation chain measurement comprises 258 principal triangles and 265 geodetic vertices. In 2005, the chain was inscribed on the World Heritage List as a memorable ensemble made up of 34 commemorative plaques or obelisks built from the 265 points of the main station.

Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, born on April 15, 1793 and died on November 23, 1864, studied at the University of Dorpat (present-day Tartu, in Estonia, then in the Russian Empire) and did his research as an astronomer at the observatory of that city, of which he was director. In 1831 he published Beschreibung der Breitengradmessung in den Ostseeprovinzen Russlands ('Description of latitude measurement of the Baltic provinces of Russia').

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Thanks to Kazimierz R. Leszczyński (http://leszkarozdub.blogspot.com) and Віктар Анішчык for your contribution.