Heinrich von Wild

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Heinrich von Wild (1833–1902) was a Swiss meteorologist and physicist who helped create a modern weather system for the Russian Empire and designed new meteorological instruments. He played a big role in international science, especially in metrology (the science of measurement).

He was born on December 17, 1833, in Uster near Zurich. He studied in Zurich, Königsberg, and Heidelberg. In 1858 he became professor of physics and director of the Bern Observatory, turning it into a central meteorological bureau and laying the groundwork for Switzerland’s extensive weather network. In 1864 he was appointed director of Switzerland’s federal Commission to maintain the Standards of Weights and Measures.

In 1868 Wild moved to Saint Petersburg, where he reorganized the observatory and set up a nationwide meteorological system across the Russian Empire. He founded observatories at Pavlovsk and Irkutsk. He represented Russia at the Paris conference that created the Metre Convention of 1875 and served on the International Committee of Weights and Measures. From 1879 to 1896 he was president of the International Meteorological Organization.

Wild received many honors and published widely. He invented several instruments, including a polaristrobometer (used to measure light polarization) and a polarization photometer, as well as other tools for measuring length and magnetism. He also wrote important works, including Temperature Conditions in the Russian Empire (1876).

He retired in 1895 and died in Zurich on September 5, 1902.