Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (October 6, 1770 – November 20, 1843) was a Swiss-American

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...

who is considered the forefather of both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for his achievements as the first Superintendent of the U.S. Survey of the Coast and the first U.S. Superintendent of Weights and Measures.

Early life and education

Hassler was born on October 6, 1770 in

Aarau , neighboring_municipalities= Buchs, Suhr, Unterentfelden, Eppenberg-Wöschnau, Erlinsbach , twintowns = Neuchâtel (Switzerland), Delft (Netherlands), Reutlingen (Germany) Aarau (, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the ...

, Switzerland. He was the son of Magdalena Ernst and Hans Jakob Hassler, a prosperous watchmaker and local official. He attended the Latin school and an advanced private school, then in 1786 the institute that later became the University of Bern. At first he studied law, but became a student of

Johann Georg Tralles Johann Georg Tralles (15 October 1763 – 19 November 1822) was a German mathematician and physicist. He was born in Hamburg, Germany and was educated at the University of Göttingen beginning in 1783. He became a professor at the University ...

and changed his academic focus to astronomy, mathematics and physics. From 1791 to 1797 he continued his studies in France and Germany. In the summer of 1793, he studied under scientists Jean-Charles de Borda, Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre,

Jérôme Lalande Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (; 11 July 1732 – 4 April 1807) was a French astronomer, freemason and writer. Biography Lalande was born at Bourg-en-Bresse (now in the département of Ain) to Pierre Lefrançois and Marie‐Anne‐Gab ...

and

Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

United States in 1805.

Career

He was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

on 17 April 1807. Through the influence of

Albert Gallatin Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan– American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figure in the early years ...

, he was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as professor of mathematics at the United States Military Academy from 1807 to 1810. Hassler was unpopular as a teacher and was dismissed on 31 December 1809, when John Calhoun, then Secretary of War, realized that Congress had not authorized the hiring of civilians to staff the academy. Hassler obtained another mathematics professorship at Union College at Schenectady from 1810 to 1811.

U.S. coastal survey

In 1811, he was employed by the federal government of the United States to begin a survey of the U.S. coast. An

Act of Congress An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called private laws), or to the general public ( public laws). For a bill to become an act, the text must pass through both hous ...

on February 10, 1807, appropriated $50,000 for the beginning of the work. In 1812, Hassler was appointed the superintendent of the first United States Coast Survey by the United States Congress. He was sent to France and England to collect supplies for the project. Hassler bought instruments of the most reputed French and British makers. After the British-American War of 1812 broke out, his instruments were confiscated as spoils of war and Hassler was detained in England until 1815 as the British thought him an enemy spy. After Hassler's return to the United States, President James Madison appointed him the first superintendent of the United States Coast Survey in 1816. The creative side of Hassler was seen in the design of new surveying instruments. Most original was Hassler's baseline apparatus which involved an idea worked out by him in Switzerland and perfected in America. Instead of bringing different bars in actual contact during the process of baseline measurements, he used four two-metre iron bars fastened together totaling eight metres in length and optical contact. As early as February–March 1817, Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, standardized the bars of his device which were actually calibrated on the Committee Metre (an authentic copy of the '' Mètre des Archives'') which was the property of the

, to whom it had been presented by Hassler himself, who had received it from Tralles, a foreign member of the French Committee charged with the construction of the standard metre by comparison with the Toise of Peru, which had served as unit of length in the measurement of the meridional arcs in France and Peru. The Committee Metre possessed all the authenticity of any original metre extant, bearing not only the stamp of the committee, but also the original mark by which it was distinguished from the other bars during the operation of standardising. Thus the metre became the unit of length for geodesy in the United States. Indeed, the Committee Metre served as the standard of length for Coast and Geodetic Survey until 1890, when the National Prototype Metre Bar No. 27 allotted to the United States in 1889 at the first General Conference on Weights and Measures arrived in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. However, Hassler had exceeded the spending limitations that had been set for his trip to Europe, and the resulting controversy foreshadowed the frictions between Hassler and the American Government that would plague his career. In 1818, the United States Congress removed supervision of the U.S. Coast Survey from Hassler and gave control to the army, where it lingered until 1832. On July 10, 1832, Congress reestablished the Coast Survey on the basis of the original act of 1807. Upon President Jackson's recommendation, Hassler again became its Superintendent and was able to continue his superintendence over the work in Weights and Measures.

Superintendent of weights and measures

Hassler became the head of the Office of Standard Weights and Measures (this office was a progenitor of the

United States Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

created by an

on March 3, 1901) in the Treasury Department as an office within the Coast Survey which was reorganized in 1832, where he carried out the early work of establishing the standards of weights and measures in the United States, with the involvement of fellow Swiss immigrant

, then

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

of the United States at London, who in 1827 had brought from Europe a troy pound of brass, made at his request by

Henry Kater Henry Kater FRS, FRAS (16 April 1777 – 26 April 1835) was a British physicist of German descent. Early life He was born at Bristol. At first he intended to study law; but he gave up the idea on his father's death in 1794. He entered the ...

, from which the standard of mass was derived. This troy pound called ''troy pound of the United States' Mint at Philadelphia'' or ''Pound Troy, 1824'' was used as the standard for the coining of money until the twentiest century. The avoirdupoids pound adopted by Hassler had 7000

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

, the ''Pound Troy,1824'' having 5760 grains. In the autumn of 1829, Hassler was appointed as gauger in the New York Custom House. For some time Congress had been discussing the establishment of standard of weights and measure for the United States. Up to this time the various customhouses had worked independently of each other. They used separate weights and measures from wherever they could be obtained - most of them came from England - and in some cases the customhouses depended upon the ordinary standards of local officials. On 29 May 1829, the Senate decided a comparison of weights and measures used at customhouses. Five month later, President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

appointed Hassler United States gauger. With the approval of

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Samuel D. Ingham Samuel Delucenna Ingham (September 16, 1779 – June 5, 1860) was a state legislator, judge, U.S. Representative and served as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Andrew Jackson. Early life and education Ingham was born near New Hope, Pe ...

and President Jackson he determined to adopt standards for the United States and produce and distribute them to the customhouses. On 3 March 1831, Samuel D. Ingham reported to the President of the Senate Hassler's inspection far advanced and mentioned the Troughton scale as one of the authentic units adopted for the comparison. The Troughton scale was held to be identical with Bird's Standard Yard of 1760, which had been tested and deemed identical with the British Parliamentary Standard of 1758, which was destroyed in 1834. The fundamentals units of length, mass and capacity recommended by Hassler were adopted by the Treasury Department in 1832. Another meaningful national standard to be adopted in 1832 was the

gallon The gallon is a unit of volume in imperial units and United States customary units. Three different versions are in current use: *the imperial gallon (imp gal), defined as , which is or was used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Austra ...

at 231 cubic inches. Appraised by Treasury reports of Hassler's progress, Congress in a joint resolution of June 14, 1836, gave its formal approval and directed the Treasury to fabricate for the customhouses the standards of weights and measures established by Hassler. By reason of the joint resolution of 1836, the Office of Weights and Measures in the Coast Survey is considered formally established as of that date. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1838.

He died on November 20, 1843, and was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Legacy

The iron-hulled steamship ''

Hassler Hassler (also Haßler, Häßler, Hässler, Hasler, ...) is a toponymic surname derived from a number of places called Hasel or Hassel in German-speaking parts of Europe. Notable people with this name include: Musicians *A musical dynasty in Nur ...

'', built in 1870, was named in his honor. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

survey ship A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the purpo ...

'' NOAAS Ferdinand R. Hassler (S 250)'' was also named for Hassler. Hassler's granddaughter, Mary Caroline Hassler Newcomb, married the noted astronomer and mathematician

Simon Newcomb Simon Newcomb (March 12, 1835 – July 11, 1909) was a Canadian– American astronomer, applied mathematician, and autodidactic polymath. He served as Professor of Mathematics in the United States Navy and at Johns Hopkins University. Born in ...

. Simon and Mary Caroline Hassler Newcomb were themselves the grandparents of the also much noted professor of mathematics, Hassler Whitney.

Bibliography

Besides several textbooks of science, Hassler produced a publication in 1828 titled ''A Popular Exposition of the System of the Universe''. After his dismissal of the United States Survey of the Coast, Hassler proved his worth as a theorist, publishing two influential books ''Elements of Analytical Trigonometry'' and ''Elements of Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical''. He also wrote a defense of his work on the coast survey and published it in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society in 1825. Other publications: *Extract from a Paper on Meteoric Stones, 1809
A Popular Exposition of the System of the Universe, with Plates and Tables
New York, G & C Carvill, 1828
Elements of Arithmetic, Theoretical and Practical; Adapted to the Use of Schools, and to Private Study
New York, James Bloomfield, 1826
Elements of the Geometry of Planes and Solids: with Four Plates
Richmond, Shepherd & Co., 1828
Logarithmic and Trigonometric Tables; to Seven Places of Decimals in a Pocket Form
New York, C. & G. & H. Cargill, 1830

References

External links

Hassler's biography
a

Hassler's Dilemma
from ''Discover Lewis and Clarc''

at surveyhistory.org

F.R. Hassler Exhibition 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassler, Ferdinand Rudolph 1770 births 1843 deaths United States Coast Survey personnel American science writers American surveyors Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Members of the American Antiquarian Society Members of the American Philosophical Society People from Aarau Swiss emigrants to the United States Union College (New York) faculty United States Military Academy faculty