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Objekt 2

Caricature on the "Old Basel Time

Description

The gentleman with compass and protractor in his hands who fell is supposed to be the Basel mathematician and physicist Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782). After a controversial discussion in the Grand Council in October 1774, "whether the local clocks could not be put into uniformity with the clocks of the neighboring countries", Daniel Bernoulli was commissioned to draw up an expert opinion on the "Basel clock". He came to the conclusion that the hand of the clock had been incorrectly placed when it was made. This thesis was again called into doubt - and it was not until 1798 that the time was adjusted to the surrounding areas.

Object description

Producer: Viktor David von Rütti (1760-1810)

Basel, 1779

Etching, colored

Purchase

Inv. 1973.240.

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