Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero

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Portrait of Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero in 1881
Portrait of Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero in 1881

Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero, 1st Marquis of Mulhacén, (April 14, 1825 - January 28 or 29, 1891) was a Spanish divisional general and geographer.[1] He represented Spain at the 1875 Conference of the Metre Convention and was the first president of the International Committee for Weights and Measures.[2] As a forerunner geodesist and first president of the International Geodetic Association, he played a leading role in the worldwide dissemination of the metric system.[3] His activities resulted in the distribution of a platinum and iridium prototype of the metre to all States Parties to the Metre Convention during the first meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1889.[2] Theses prototypes defined the metre right up until 1960.[4]

He was born in Barcelona. According to Spanish tradition, his surname was a combination of his father's first surname, Martín Ibáñez y de Prado and of his mother's first surname, Carmen Ibáñez de Ibero y González del Río. As his parent's surnames were so similar he was often referred as Ibáñez or Ibáñez de Ibero or as Marquis of Mulhacén. When he died in Nice (France), he was still enrolled in the Engineer Corps of the Spanish Army. As he died around midnight, the date of his death is ambiguous, Spaniards retained 28th, and continental Europeans 29th January.[1]

Scientific career

From the Map Commission to the Geographic and Statistical Institute in Spain

Spain adopted the metric system in 1849. The Government was urged by the Royal Academy of Science to approve the creation of a large-scale map of Spain in 1852.[5] The following year Ibáñez was appointed to undertake this task.[2] All the scientific and technical material had to be created.[2] Ibáñez and Saavedra went to Paris to supervise the production by Brunner of a measuring instrument which they had devised and which they later compared with the so-called Ruler ("module") N°1 of Borda which was the main reference for measuring all geodetic bases in France and whose relationship with the standard meter was rigorously known.[6][3]

In 1858 Spain's central geodetic base of triangulation was measured in Madridejos (Toledo) with exceptional precision for the time thanks to this instrument, which became known as the Spanish Rod.[7] Ibáñez and his colleagues wrote a monograph which was translated into French by Aimé Laussedat.[8] The experiment, in which the results of two methods were compared, ended a controversy between French and German geodesists about the length of geodesic triangulation bases, and empirically validated the method of General Johann Jacob Bayer, founder of the International Association of Geodesy.[9]

The Spanish Rod was replicated in order to be used in Egypt. In 1863, Ibáñez and Ismael Effendy compared the Spanish Rod with the Egyptian Rod in Madrid.[10] In 1869, Ibáñez went to Southampton to make the necessary measurements to compare the metre with the English yard.[2]

From 1865 to 1868 Ibáñez added the survey of the Balearic Islands with that of the Iberian Peninsula.[7] For this work, he devised a new instrument, which allowed much faster measurements.[7] Finally, this second version of the appliance, called the Ibáñez apparatus, was used in Switzerland to measure the geodetic bases of Aarberg, Weinfelden and Bellinzona.[2]

In 1870 Ibáñez founded the Spanish National Geographic Institute which he then directed until 1889. At the time it was the world's biggest geographic institute.[2] It encompassed geodesy, general topography, leveling, cartography, statistics and the general service of weights and measures.[2]

Measurement of the Paris meridian over the Mediterranean Sea

In 1865 the triangulation of Spain was connected with that of Portugal and France.[8] In 1866 at the conference of the Association of Geodesy in Neuchâtel, Ibáñez announced that Spain would collaborate in measuring the Paris meridian.[2] In 1879 Ibáñez and François Perrier representing France completed the junction between the geodetic network of Spain and Algeria and thus completed the measurement of the Paris meridian which extended from Shetland to the Sahara.[11]

International scientific collaboration in geodesy and calls for an international standard unit of length

Closeup of National Prototype Meter Bar No. 27, made in 1889 by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and given to the United States, which served as the standard for defining all units of length in the US from 1893 to 1960. After the Treaty of the Meter had been signed in 1875, the BIPM in Sevres, France made 30 prototype standard bars of 90% platinum–10% iridium alloy. One of the bars was selected as the International Meter. After selecting the bar to be used as the International Prototype Meter, the other bars were calibrated relative to it and given to nations to serve as their national standards. The main problem with defining the length standard by an artifact such as the meter bar is that there is no sure way to determine if it has changed length due to age, deterioration, or misuse. It can be compared to other bar standards, but these may have changed length themselves.

In 1867 at the second general conference of the International Association of Geodesy held in Berlin, the question of an international standard unit of length was discussed in order to combine the measurements made in different countries to determine the size and shape of the Earth.[12][13][2] The conference recommended the adoption of the metre and the creation of an international metre commission, according to the proposal of Johann Jacob Baeyer, Adolphe Hirsch and Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero.[2] The French Académie des Sciences and the Bureau des Longitudes in Paris drew the attention of the French government to this issue. The Academy of St Petersburg and the English Standards Commission were in agreement with the recommendation.[12]

In November 1869 the French government issued invitations to join this commission.[12] Spain accepted and Ibáñez took part in the Committee of preparatory research from the first meeting of the International Metre Commission in 1870.[14] He became president of the permanent Committee of the International Metre Commission in 1872.[15] He represented Spain at the 1875 conference of the Metre Convention and at the first  General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1889.[2][16] He was the first president of the International Committee for Weights and Measures from 1875 to 1891.[17] He received the Légion d'Honneur in recognition of his efforts to disseminate the metric system among all nations and was awarded the Poncelet Prize for his scientific contribution to metrology. [15][3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero". Wikipédia (in French). 2017-05-19.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hirsch, Adolphe (1891). "Don Carlos IBANEZ (1825 - 1891)" (PDF). Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. pp. 9, 4, 8, 5, 10, 7, 8–9. Retrieved May 22, 2017. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Soler, T. (1997-02-01). "A profile of General Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero: first president of the International Geodetic Association". Journal of Geodesy. 71 (3): 176–188 pp. 178, 183. doi:10.1007/s001900050086. ISSN 0949-7714.
  4. ^ "BIPM - former Prototype Metre". www.bipm.org. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  5. ^ Núñez de las Cuevas, Rodolfo (2005). "Militares y marinos en la Real Sociedad Geográfica" (PDF). Universidad de Navarra. Retrieved May 22, 2017. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  6. ^ Brunner, Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du (2017-05-22). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels. Géodésie. - Appareil construit pour les opérations au moyen desquelles on prolongera dans toute l'étendue de l'Espagne le réseau trigonométrique qui couvre la France. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 150–152.
  7. ^ a b c J. Bertrand, Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du (1891-01-01). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels. Notice sur le général Ibañez, correspondant de l'Académie. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 266–269.
  8. ^ a b Laussedat, Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du (1866-01-01). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels. Géodésie. - Sur les travaux géodésiques exécutés en Espagne, à propos de la publication d'une traduction de l'ouvrage intitulé : Base centrale de la triangulation géodésique de l'Espagne. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 1007–1010.
  9. ^ Laussedat, Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du (1864-01-01). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels. Géodésie. - Sur les opérations en cours d'exécution pour la carte d'Espagne, d'après les renseignements donnés à l'académie de Madrid par M. le colonel Ibañez. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 70–72.
  10. ^ texte, Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du (1864-07-01). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. p. 623.
  11. ^ Perrier, Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du (1879-07-01). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels. Géodésie. - Jonction géodésique de l'Algérie avec l'Espagne, opération internationale exécutée sous la direction de MM. le général Ibañez et F. Perrier. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 885–889.
  12. ^ a b c "BIPM - International Metre Commission". www.bipm.org. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  13. ^ "A Note on the History of the IAG". IAG Homepage. Retrieved 2017-05-26.
  14. ^ Morin, Académie des sciences (France) Auteur du (1870-07-01). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences / publiés... par MM. les secrétaires perpétuels. Métrologie. - Notes sur la première session de la Commission internationale du mètre, tenue à Paris du 8 au 13 août 1870. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 381–383.
  15. ^ a b Pérard, Albert (1957). "Carlos IBAÑEZ DE IBERO (14 avril 1825 - 29 janvier 1891), par Albert Pérard (inauguration d'un monument élevé à sa mémoire)" (PDF). Institut de France Académie des Sciences. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ "Compte rendu des séances de la première conférence générale des poids et mesures, réunie à Paris en 1889" (PDF). Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. 1890. p. 5. Retrieved May 24, 2017. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  17. ^ "BIPM - Presidents of the CIPM". www.bipm.org. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
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