Johann Jakob Früh (1852–1938) [1]

After his education at the teacher training college in Kreuzlingen, Früh worked as a teacher at the cantonal school in Trogen from 1871 to 1891. At the same time, he trained as a teacher of natural sciences and physical geography at the University and Polytechnic of Zurich from 1873 to 1876. In 1892 he became a private lecturer and from 1899 professor of geography, climatology and meteorology at the Polytechnic. In this function he founded the Geographical Institute of the Polytechnic and directed it until his retirement in 1923. His real life’s work, the three-volume standard work “Geography of Switzerland”, was written in Zurich in the period from 1920 until shortly before his death in 1938.

Terrain model made by Früh (details on Swiss Relief Catalogue)

Zurich and surroundings, 1893

[1] This article bases on Mair, Toni. Grieder, Susanne. Das Landschaftsrelief – Symbiose von Wissenschaft und Kunsthandwerk. Mit Schweizer Reliefkatalog. Verlag hier+jetzt. Baden, Schweiz. 2006. S.157.