The exhibition "Ferdinand Rudolf Hassler 1770-1843 - Swiss Pioneer for US Surveying, Mapping and Standards" has been presented on the occasion of the 22nd International Conference on hte History of Cartography, which took place from July 8th to 13th, 2007, in Bern and which was attended by about 250 schientists from all over the world. The exhibition took place under the patronage of the Federal Office of Metrology (METAS), the Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo) and the Swiss Federal Archives (SFA).
The exhibition has been dedicated to the lifework of Ferdinand Rudolf Hassler, geodesist, metrologist and mathematician, who was born in 1770 in Aarau, Switzerland. During the Helvetic times he was involved in national surveying in Switzerland.
The exhibition was first shown from July 8th to August 11th in the new Building of METAS in Wabern. Afterwards the exhibition was shown from August 23rd to October 7th in Hassler's home town in the Stadtmuseum in Aarau. Finally it went also to Murten, close to the "Grosses Moos", Hassler first area of operation, where it was open to the public from October 18th to December 2nd.
After closing the exhibition, the patronage decided to make the large collection of text-, image-, and audio-documents concerning with the life and work of F.R. Hassler permanently accessible on the internet in the form of the present virtual exhibition (e-expo). This website may contribute in the way that the name and the extraordinary history of this pioneer will not only be known in the US but also in his home country, Switzerland.