Eduard Hagenbach-Bischoff

Who was Eduard Hagenbach-Bischoff?

Eduard Hagenbach-Bischoff was a Swiss physicist. The Hagenbach-Bischoff quota is named after him.

The son of the theologian Karl Rudolf Hagenbach studied physics and mathematics in Basel, Berlin, Geneva, Paris and obtained his Ph.D. in 1855 in Basel. He taught at the “Gewerbeschule” in Basel and was after his habilitation professor for mathematics at the University of Basel for one year. From 1863 to 1906 he was ordinary professor for physics in Basel. In 1874 he became director of the institute of physics at the newly founded “Bernoullianum” in Basel, and from 1874 to 1879 he was president of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

Hagenbach-Bischoff was involved in the popularisation of science and at the “Bernoullianum” he gave more than 100 popular talks, such as one in 1896 on the newly discovered X rays. His chair was taken over in 1906 by his son August Hagenbach, who worked in spectroscopy.