Thaddeus Vincenty (born Tadeusz Szpila; 27 October 1920 – 6 March 2002) was a Polish American geodesist who worked with the U.S. Air Force and later the National Geodetic Survey to adapt three-dimensional adjustment techniques to NAD 83.
[1] He devised Vincenty's formulae, a geodesic calculation technique published in 1975 which is accurate to about half a millimeter.
[2][3] Vincenty's studies were interrupted by World War II, and he eventually arrived in a displaced persons camp.
Within months, he enlisted in the Air Force, and only became involved in computer programming and surveying in 1957.
After 30 years in the Air Force, he left Cheyenne, Wyoming, and took a position at National Geodetic Survey.