AbstractOne hundred years ago, on November 15, 1877, Heinrich Wild, the renowned inventor and creator of the modern optical surveying instrument was born in the Swiss Canton of Glarus. In 1892 he was apprenticed to an engineer engaged in the amelioration of the swampy valley of the River Linth. In 1899 he terminated his formal education in surveying at the Winterthur Technical College and applied for a position with the Federal Topographic Survey in Bern because he felt that he had picked up enough theory. He was hired, a rare exception which the talented young man justified by his outstanding contribution to our profession later on. In 1900 he married Elisabeth Märchy.