Professor Ferdinand Hassler of West Point and Union College

1
Professor Ferdinand Hassler of West Point and
Union College

• V. Frederick Rickey
• West Point
• (and friend of Union College)
• 30 September 2008

2
(No Transcript)
3
Ferdinand Hassler (1770-1843)

• Born in Aarau
• Watch manufacturing family
• Studied diplomacy in Bern
• Studied with Georg Tralles, a Swiss surveyor
• Surveyed the canton

4
Acquiring a Library

• To Paris in 1793 to view a solar eclipse, where
  he acquired a fine mathematical and diplomatic
  library
• Paris 1796 bought valuable additions to my
  mathematical instruments and library

5
Voyage to America

• The French invaded Switzerland in 1798 and took
  over the survey in 1803
• He decided to found a utopian farming community
  in South Carolina
• Sold his law, literature and politics books
• Took only 3000 scientific books
• Took a standard metre and kilogram

6
Hassler in Philadelphia

• The community was bankrupt
• Attended the American Philosophical Society
• Probably met Jefferson
• Robert Patterson and John Vaughn were impressed
  with his knowledge and suggested the Coast Survey
• Law founding the Survey passed in 1807

7
Hassler at West Point

• A starvation salary of 700
• Made a plan for the studies of WP, 1808
• Tried to teach practical geodetic work to recent
  graduates but they were entirely unprepared
• Began to write his trigonometry
• Influenced Joseph Swift and J. J. Albert
• Secretary of War Wm. Eustis said the law did not
  allow the hiring of civilians.

8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
Hasslers Trigonometry, 1826

• The first US book on analytic trigonometry
• Translated by James Renwick of Columbia
• Trig functions were ratios (a big deal!)
• The word function is used, concept unclear
• No graphs
• Stress on trigonometric identities
• Stressed care in laying out computations

11
West Point Curriculum

• Until 1823 the mathematics curriculum at WP was
  based on Charles Huttons Course in Mathematics
• It dealt with arithmetic, geometry, and algebra
• Calculus was just entering the curriculum

12
Hassler at Union, 1810-1811

• Professor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics
• Salary of 1250
• He was happy at Union

13
Union Curriculum in 1828

• Sophomore
• Haslers Arithmetic
• Eulers Algebra
• Legendres Plane Geometry
• Junior
• Legendres Solid Geometry
• Haslers Trigonometry
• Biots Analytic Geometry
• Senior
• Boucharlots Differential and Integral Calculus

14
Hassler in Europe

• In 1811 he went to London to buy astronomical
  instruments
• He designed them himself and drew plans

15

• Ferdinand Hassler, first superintendent of the
  U.S. Coast Survey, gathered books for the Coast
  Survey Library beginning in 1811 and inscribed
  them with the words shown.

16

• Hassler was a connoisseur of scientific
  instrumentation. He bought instruments from the
  best makers, often ordering custom features of
  his own design and instruments of his own
  invention. This collapsing field telescope was a
  personal item. Probably obtained by Hassler
  during his instrument buying trip to London
  between 1812-1815. The signature on the
  instrument ---"Bate, London--- refers to Robert
  Brettell Bate, a London maker and dealer of
  mathematical, philosophical, and optical
  instruments.

17

• This is Hasslers 26.8 inch wooden slide rule
• There is a wrap-around logarithmic scale for
  numbers 1 000 000 to 100 000 000 in 10 parallel
  lines
• The logarithmic scale on the bottom slat is for
  numbers 1 000 000 to 1 000 000 000
• These scales would have been useful to a
  terrestrial or celestial cartographer, which
  Hassler was

18
The Coast Survey I

• After returning from London in 1815, the Survey
  began
• Congress did not understand how difficult and
  time consuming the work was and cut off funding
  in 1818.
• So Hassler became a teacher, writer, farmer,
  etc., in order to survive

19
Selling Books to Survive!

• In 1820, Hassler attempted to sell books to the
  government.
• They were extremely valuable but not necessary
  to complete the WP library
• In 1825, he sold 408 books to WP for 1311
• No list of those books has been found

20
The WP Library

• The 1822 catalog contains 941 titles, 78
  classified as Mathematics and Navigation
• One-third are in English, two-thirds in French
• They include 39 titles purchased by Thayer
• The 1830 catalog lists 366 mathematics books
• 44 in Latin, 21 in German
• I conjecture all of these came from Hassler

21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
A copy sold at Christies for 2,210,500 on 17
June 2008

• NICHOLAS COPERNICUS OF TORUÑ
• THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES
• Diligent reader, in this work, which has just
  been created and published, you have the motions
  of the fixed stars and planets, as these motions
  have been reconstituted on the basis of ancient
  as well as recent observations, and have moreover
  been embellished by new and marvelous hypotheses.
  You also have most convenient tables, from which
  you will be able to compute those motions with
  the utmost case for any time whatever.
• Therefore buy, read, and enjoy this work.
• Let no one untrained in geometry enter here.
• NUREMBERG, JOHANNES PETREIUS, 1543

24
Jacob Bernoullis Opera, 1744
25
The Art of Conjecturing, is now in English
translation, edited by Edith Sylla.
26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
The Coast Survey II

• In 1830 he began work on standards for weights
  and measures
• The Coast Survey revived in 1832 and lasted for
  the remainder of Hasslers life
• His salary was 6000

32
Ferdinand Hassler directing movement of a 300
pound surveying instrument which he designed and
proudly called the Great Theodolite.
33

• The camp of Hasslers survey party (c. 1814)
• His theodolite is in a tent
• His specially designed and reinforced carriage
  was for carrying survey equipment
• It featured a wine chamber and a disappearing
  dining table
• It came under fire in Washington for its supposed
  extravagance

34

• 24-inch theodolite made by Troughton of London

35
Hassler's triangulation of Long Island Sound

• He measured a base-line on the shore
• Then built triangle against triangle
• Measured angles with his theodolite
• Used trigonometry to calculate distances
• An imposition of pure geometry on the winding
  coast

36

• Simon Newcomb
• 1835-1903

37

• Hassler Whitney
• 1907-1989

38

• In Memory of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler(1770-1843)
  
• Having filled with honor both in his native and
  adopted country offices of high trust and
  responsibility as Superintendent of The United
  States Coast Survey and Standards of Weights and
  Measuresboth great national work from their
  origin entrusted to and conducted by him with
  distinguished reputation and success.
• Strict integrity and love of truth with strength
  and activity of intellect, characterized him as
  a man whilst his various scientific writing as
  well as the national works projected by him are
  alike memorial of his laborious life and of his
  contribution as a man of scientific instruction
  and improvement of his fellow men.

39

• When the Reverand Doctor Eliphalet Nott,
  President of Union College, learned of the death
  of Hassler, he wrote
• We have not such another man to die.

40
(No Transcript)
41
(No Transcript)