Three of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore started as surveyors, specifically, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.

Surveying tools and basic mathematical principles helped ancient Egyptians set the corners of the Great Pyramid.

President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore and survey the territories from Jefferson’s great real estate deal, the Louisiana Purchase. Their extensive reports, maps, and collected data provided critical information that encouraged westward settlement.

Surveyors made sure the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads met in Promontory Point, Utah, to form the first transcontinental railroad.

Surveyors helped measure the distance from the earth to the moon. The first men to land on the moon placed a grouping of reflector prisms—measuring tools used by surveyors. The distance measured was accurate within just a couple of feet.

When the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on February 1, 2003, debris scattered over hundreds of miles across 40 counties. Using high-precision GPS equipment, surveyors helped to mark the location of debris so that scientists could reconstruct the accident.