Heinrich Wild
1877 - 1951
Heinrich Wild (1877-1951) was a Swiss surveyor, inventor, and founder of Wild Heerbrugg. He was born November 15, 1877, at Mitlödi (Canton Glarus). He died at Baden, Switzerland, December 26, 1951.
At age 15, Wild apprenticed himself to a hydraulic engineer named Legler, who was working on the river Linth. He bought his first theodolite. Wild then studied at the Geometerschule des Technikums Winterthur, and completed his degree in 1899. He accepted a position at the Eidgenössischen Topographischen Bureaus (later named the Schweizerische Landestopographie)--i.e., the Swiss Federal Office of Topography at Berne. There he worked as a land surveyor, topographer, and leveler. His experiences in the mountains led Wild to design new forms of theodolites.
During the years 1905 to 1907, he was a member of a Swiss military commission
charged with providing new range finders. In this capacity, he came into contact with personnel at Carl Zeiss Jena.
In 1908, Wild left the Landestopographie and moved his family to Jena, Germany where he became the manager of Carl Zeiss's new geodetic department, Geo Carl Zeiss. Wild designed and produced leveling instruments, transits, and theodolites for Zeiss. His instruments were small, light weight, durable in their calibrations, and easy to use. Best known of these is Th1, a theodolite.
In 1919 at the close of World War I, hard living conditions in Germany led Wild to return to Switzerland. He resigned from his post at Carl Zeiss Jena, but continued as a consultant until 1921.
In 1921 Wild founded his own company--Heinrich Wild, Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Optik, Heerbrugg--with a geologist, Dr. Robert Helbling, who operated a measurement office in Flums, and an industrialist, Colonel Jacob Schmidheiny of Balgach. An early product was the famous Wild universal theodolite, later known as WILD T2. Other products included a precision theodolite (WILD T3) and the stereo autograph (WILD A1) for aerial photo interpretation.
Wild did not worry much about the economics of his company, and eventually left it in 1932 in order to work as a freelance technical instrument designer. He moved to Zurich at this time. Before his death in 1951, he designed theodolites DK1, DKM1, DM2, DKM2, and DKM3 for Kern & Co, Aarau, Switzerland.
At age 15, Wild apprenticed himself to a hydraulic engineer named Legler, who was working on the river Linth. He bought his first theodolite. Wild then studied at the Geometerschule des Technikums Winterthur, and completed his degree in 1899. He accepted a position at the Eidgenössischen Topographischen Bureaus (later named the Schweizerische Landestopographie)--i.e., the Swiss Federal Office of Topography at Berne. There he worked as a land surveyor, topographer, and leveler. His experiences in the mountains led Wild to design new forms of theodolites.
During the years 1905 to 1907, he was a member of a Swiss military commission
charged with providing new range finders. In this capacity, he came into contact with personnel at Carl Zeiss Jena.
In 1908, Wild left the Landestopographie and moved his family to Jena, Germany where he became the manager of Carl Zeiss's new geodetic department, Geo Carl Zeiss. Wild designed and produced leveling instruments, transits, and theodolites for Zeiss. His instruments were small, light weight, durable in their calibrations, and easy to use. Best known of these is Th1, a theodolite.
In 1919 at the close of World War I, hard living conditions in Germany led Wild to return to Switzerland. He resigned from his post at Carl Zeiss Jena, but continued as a consultant until 1921.
In 1921 Wild founded his own company--Heinrich Wild, Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Optik, Heerbrugg--with a geologist, Dr. Robert Helbling, who operated a measurement office in Flums, and an industrialist, Colonel Jacob Schmidheiny of Balgach. An early product was the famous Wild universal theodolite, later known as WILD T2. Other products included a precision theodolite (WILD T3) and the stereo autograph (WILD A1) for aerial photo interpretation.
Wild did not worry much about the economics of his company, and eventually left it in 1932 in order to work as a freelance technical instrument designer. He moved to Zurich at this time. Before his death in 1951, he designed theodolites DK1, DKM1, DM2, DKM2, and DKM3 for Kern & Co, Aarau, Switzerland.
