Niggli an haife shi ne a Zofingen kuma ya yi karatu a Cibiyar Fasaha ta Tarayyar Switzerland (ETH) a Zurich da Jami'ar Zurich, inda ya sami digirin digirgir. Littafinsa na 1919, Geometrische Kristallographie des Diskontinuums, ya taka muhimmiyar rawa a cikin tsaftace ka'idar rukunin sararin samaniya. A cikin wannan littafin, Niggli ya nuna cewa kodayake yanayin yin tunani na X-ray ba koyaushe ne ke tantance rukunin sararin samaniya wanda lu'ulu'u ya kasance ba, amma suna bayyana ƙananan ƙungiyoyi na sararin samaniya waɗanda zai iya kasancewa. Niggli yayi amfani da hanyoyin morphological don yin la'akari da tsarin ciki kuma, a cikin 1928 Kristallographische und theoretische Struktur Grundfefefe, ya ɗauki abin da yake ainihin aikin juyawa, aikin kafa haɗin tsakanin lattices da yanayin sararin samaniya na waje. Babban burin rayuwarsa shine haɗa dukkanin fannonin kimiyyar lu'ulu'u na duniya.
Cibiyar Fasaha ta Tarayyar Switzerland (ETH) a Zurich da Jami'ar Zurich