The Reichenbach Falls (Reichenbachfall) are a series of waterfalls on the River Aar near Meiringen in the Canton of Bern in central Switzerland, Europe. They have a total drop of 250 metres (820 ft). At 90 metres (300 ft), the Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts in the Alps. The falls are made accessible by the Reichenbachfall funicular.
Today, a hydro-electric power company harnesses the flow of the Reichenbach Falls during certain times of year, greatly reducing its flow.
In popular literature, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave the falls as the location of the final fight of hero Sherlock Holmes with his nemesis Professor Moriarty.
Famous quotes containing the words reichenbach and/or falls:
“The predicate of truth-value of a proposition, therefore, is a mere fictive quality; its place is in an ideal world of science only, whereas actual science cannot make use of it. Actual science instead employs throughout the predicate of weight.”
—Hans Reichenbach (1891–1953)
“The common experience is, that the man fits himself as well as he can to the customary details of that work or trade he falls into, and tends it as a dog turns a spit. Then he is part of the machine he moves; the man is lost.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)