Samuel Engel

Samuel Engel (2 December 1702 – 26 March 1784) was a Swiss librarian, civil servant, economist and agronomist working in Bern who introduced innovations in several fields. The son of a Landvogt, he studied at the University of Bern before starting a career in administration. In 1736, he became head librarian of the city library of Bern. He assembled a large collection of rare books that was intended for the library, but had to sell them at a loss. In 1745, he became a member of the Grand Council of Bern; from 1748, he was a Landvogt himself. He introduced several innovations in forestry and agriculture such as promoting potato farming in Vaud.

A keen amateur geographer, Engel was convinced of the existence of a Northeast Passage and published several influential books about the Arctic. His theories about an ice-free polar sea influenced the British Admiralty's decision in favour of the 1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole. Provided by Wikipedia