[Ferdinand Rudolph]. Swiss-American scientist, born on the 6th of October 1770, in Aarau; served on the trigonometrical survey of Switzerland; came to the United States when Mr. Gallatin was Secretary of the Treasury, and through him Hassler was appointed mathematical professor at West Point Academy, 1807–11; sent by the government on a scientific mission to Europe; first superintendent of the United States Coast Survey in 1816–18, organizing the new service; chief of the Bureau of Weights and Measures; resumed the superintendency in 1832, and completed a coast triangulation from Delaware Bay to Rhode Island; wrote System of the Universe and some mathematical textbooks. He died in Philadelphia on the 20th of November 1843.
