the figure of the earth

Brigadier Martin Hotine is not quite the image of a decorated officer. His name is styled with trailing acronyms that make it no surprise that there is an official portrait, yet in that painting he appears disheveled, his tie far off center in the collar of his jacket. He leans off to one side, not quite like he is sitting for a portrait, but more like he was caught in the middle of something. Photos of the man are often similar: he's distracted, looking down at his desk or staring into space. His mind seems to be elsewhere. Hotine had a lot to think about. His duties in the First and Second World Wars had only been a distraction from the real work of his career: the precise measurement of the whole British Empire. Late in Hotine's career, he was honored not only by his own country (as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire) but by the United States as well (named an Officer of the Legion of Merit). Most of his awards, though, reflected the technical nature of his work: the…