For many years geodesy was considered to be a science devoted only to the determination of the shape and size of the earth. In general the operations necessary to make such determinations were base measurements, triangulation, and the determination of astronomic latitudes, longitudes, and azimuths. The first geodetic work of any importance was the triangulation in Lapland and Peru to test Newton's view that the shape of the earth was that of an oblate spheroid. There was also an important piece of geodetic work involved in the extension of the French arc from which the shape and size of the earth were derived in order to establish the metric system.