Science and technology in Switzerland
Science and technology in Switzerland play an important role in economy as very few natural resources are available in the country. The Swiss National Science Foundation, mandated by the Federal government, is the most important institute promoting scientific research.
The raw output of scientific research from Switzerland consistently ranks within the top 20.2
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Institutions
Universities
The first university was founded in 1460 and today the country has 12 universities.
- University of Basel (Basel)
- University of Bern (Berne)
- University of Fribourg (Fribourg)
- University of Geneva (Geneva)
- University of Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel)
- University of Lausanne (Lausanne)
- University of Lucerne (Lucerne)
- University of Lugano (Lugano)
- University of St. Gallen (HSG) (St. Gallen)
- University of Zurich (Zürich)
- ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) (Zürich)
- EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) (Lausanne)
Research institutes
- Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen
- CERN (Large Hadron Collider), Geneva
- Idiap Research Institute, Martigny
- KOSMA, Gornergrat
- Observatory of Geneva
- Basel Institute for Immunology
- Swiss Nanoscience Institute, Basel
- Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
Scientific fields
Astronomy and space program
Switzerland Space Agency, the Swiss Space Office, has been involved in various space technologies and programs. In addition it was one of the 10 founders of the European Space Agency in 1975 and is the seventh largest contributor to the ESA budget. In the private sector, several companies are implicated in the space industry such as Oerlikon Space (payload fairing) or Maxon Motors (mars rovers).
Claude Nicollier is a Swiss Astronaut and flew several missions with the United States space program.
In the field of astronomy, Michel Mayor discovered in 1995, 51 Pegasi B, the first extrasolar planet orbiting a sun-like star.3
Mathematics
Leonhard Euler is considered to be the preeminent mathematician of the 18th century and one of the greatest of all time. A statement attributed to Pierre-Simon Laplace expresses Euler's influence on mathematics: "Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all." 4 Euler made important discoveries in fields as diverse as calculus and graph theory. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion of a mathematical function.
The Bernoulli family produced many notable scientists (Bernoulli number, Bernoulli's principle, Bernoulli's rule...).
Physics
Albert Einstein (naturalized in 1901) 5 was probably one of the greatest physicists of all time. He is known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2 and also contributed in many other areas (cosmology, solid state physics). Einstein was named "Person of the Century" by the Time.
More recently, in 1987, Karl Alexander Müller received the Nobel prize for his work on High-temperature superconductivity.
Chemistry
In the field of chemistry Germain Henri Hess is known for his discovery of the Hess's law. Albert Hofmann discovered the Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Paul Hermann Müller received the Nobel prize for his discovery of the insecticidal qualities of DDT.
Engineering
Biological and earth sciences
Psychology
Carl Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration.
See also
References
- ^ Swiss technology powers Mars mission swissinfo.ch 20 February 2002
- ^ Top 20 Country Rankings in All Fields, 2006, Thomson Corporation, retrieved 30 March 2009.
- ^ Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz (1995). "A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star". Nature 378 (6555): 355–359. Bibcode 1995Natur.378..355M. doi:10.1038/378355a0. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v378/n6555/abs/378355a0.html.
- ^ Dunham, William (1999). Euler: The Master of Us All. The Mathematical Association of America. xiii. "Lisez Euler, lisez Euler, c'est notre maître à tous."
- ^ "Einstein's nationalities at einstein-website.de". http://www.einstein-website.de/z_information/variousthings.html#national. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Science and technology in Switzerland |
- myScience.ch - The Swiss Portal for Research and Innovation
- Research fields in Switzerland
- ETHZ
- Swiss Universities Handbook
- The State Secretariat for Education and Research
- The Ranking Forum of Swiss Universities
- sieps.ch Information Services on Swiss Private Schools and Universities
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