Arnold Escher von der Linth
Arnold Escher von der Linth (8 June 1807 in ZürichTemplate:Snd12 July 1872) was a Swiss geologist, the son of Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth (1767–1823).
He made the first ascent of the Lauteraarhorn on 8 August 1842 together with Pierre Jean Édouard Desor and Christian Girard, and guides Melchior Bannholzer and Jakob Leuthold.<ref>The Alpine Journal, Volume 17 by Sir Leslie Stephen, Douglas William Freshfield, Sir William Martin Conway, Arthur John Butler, George Yeld</ref>
He studied geology and other sciences in Geneva, where one of his teachers was Nicolas Theodore de Saussure, and in Berlin as a student of Leopold von Buch and Alexander von Humboldt. In 1856 he became professor of geology at the École Polytechnique in Zürich and established the Geological Institute there.<ref name=SU>Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (biography)</ref> His researches led him to be regarded as one of the founders of Swiss geology.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |
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With Bernhard Studer, he was the first to systematically explore the geology of the Swiss Alps and its neighboring regions (eastern Switzerland, Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Piedmont and Lombardy).<ref name=SU/> Also with Studer, he produced a highly acclaimed geological map of Switzerland (1853).<ref name=DE>ADB:Escher, Arnold at Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie</ref>
In particular, his scientific liaison with the Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison (1792–1871) made him a contributor to the discovery of the Silurian system, and the first systematic description of sedimentary rocks and their index fossils.<ref>Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871) an Arnold Escher von der Linth (1807-1872) (in French) e-manuscripta. ETH Bibliothek Zürich. Retrieved 15 January 2014.</ref>
He was the author of Geologische Bemerkungen über das nordliche Vorarlberg und einige angrenzenden Gegenden (Geological observations on the northern Vorarlberg and some adjacent areas), published at Zürich in 1853.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=DE/>