sentences:  The son of the theologian Karl Rudolf Hagenbach, he studied physics and mathematics in Basel (with Rudolf Merian), Berlin (with Heinrich Wilhelm Dove and Heinrich Gustav Magnus), Geneva, Paris (with Jules Célestin Jamin) and obtained his Ph.D. in 1855 at Basel.He taught at the "Gewerbeschule" (vocational school) in Basel and was after his habilitation, a professor of mathematics at the University of Basel for one year.From 1863 to 1906 he was a full professor of physics at Basel (successor of Gustav Heinrich Wiedemann).