Karl Elsener (inventor) Karl Elsener (inventor) Karl Elsener (9 October 1860 - 26 December 1918) was a Swiss cutler, inventor and entrepreneur. Karl Elsener completed an apprenticeship as a knife maker in Zug. After some journeyman years he opened a factory in Ibach, Switzerland in 1884 for the manufacture of knives and surgical instruments. He invented the Swiss army knife in 1891 and developed his knife manufacturing company into what has become Victorinox. From 1912 to 1918 Elsener was a member of the cantonal parliament of the Canton of Schwyz. He was married three times. After him his son, Carl Elsener (1886-1950), and
Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer (14 November 1829 – 16 December 1902) was a Baltic German anatomist who discovered stellate macrophage cells that bear his name. He was the eldest son of pastor Karl Hermann Kupffer (1797-1860). In 1854, he obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Dorpat, where shortly afterwards he served as an assistant to Friedrich Heinrich Bidder (1810-1894). In 1856-57 he took a scientific journey to Vienna, Berlin and Göttingen, an extended trip in which he studied physiology with Emil Du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896) and Johannes Peter Müller (1801-1858). Afterwards, he returned to Dorpat,