Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, 1770-1843

Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler was appointed the first Superintendent of the Survey of the Coast by President Madison in 1816. Born in Aarau in Switzerland in 1770, Hassler emigrated to the United States in 1805 after French occupation of his home-land hampered his professional amibitions. In 1807, he responded to a request made by the American Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, for proposals to survey the coast of the United States.