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

Career

He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society on 17 April 1807. Through the influence of Albert Gallatin, 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. An Act of Congress on February 10, 1807, appropriated $50,000 for the beginning of the work. In 1812, Hassler was appointed the superintendent of the Survey of the Coast by the United States Congress. He was sent to France and England to collect supplies for the project.

After Hassler's return to the United States, President James Madison appointed him the first superintendent of the Survey of the Coast in 1816. 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 Hassler from his role as superintendent of the Survey of the Coast and gave control to the United States Army, which remained in control until 1832.

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 appointed Hassler United States gauger. With the approval of Secretary of the Treasury Samuel D. Ingham and President Jackson he determined to adopt standards for the United States and produce and distribute them to the customhouses.

thumb|Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler memorial in [[Laurel Hill Cemetery]]

He died on November 20, 1843,

Legacy

The iron-hulled steamship Hassler, built in 1870, was named in his honor.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey ship was also named for Hassler.

Hassler's granddaughter, Mary Caroline Hassler Newcomb, married the noted astronomer and mathematician Simon Newcomb. 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 1818 dismissal from 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

See also

  • Fire Island
  • History of the metre
  • Metre
  • Polyconic projection
  • Seconds pendulum

Further reading

References

  • Hassler's biography at USMA Department of Mathematical Sciences
  • Hassler's Dilemma from Discover Lewis and Clarc
  • Ferdinand Hassler at surveyhistory.org
  • History of NOAA Ocean Exploration: Early years
  • F.R. Hassler Exhibition 2007