Swiss Stories

Slalom

A clear run for Swiss slalom

Society
After years on the sidelines, the slalom is finally reclaiming the spotlight in Swiss competitive skiing – thanks largely to the success of two rising stars, Ramon Zenhäusern and Daniel Yule. A profile of two extraordinary champions making their mark both on and off the piste.

by Bertrand Monnard

SSW

Seedstars, an idea born in Switzerland

Economics

When most people think of emerging markets, they still assume them to be hubs of low-cost manufacturing and unskilled labour.

Alisee de Tonnac

by Alisée de Tonnac

Ursula Keller

Ursula Keller has seen the light at the end of the laser

Science & Education
Ursula Keller, the well-known Swiss physicist, has more than one string to her bow: as the first woman to obtain a professorship in physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, this inventor specialised in ultra-fast laser technology won the 2018 European Inventor Award and was awarded a gold medal in 2020 by the international society for optics and photonics (SPIE). She is also committed to encouraging women to pursue careers in science or engineering.
Start-up

Swiss start-ups provide competition for WhatsApp, Gmail and Facebook

Economics
Communications security has become a major social issue. In Switzerland some twenty companies have developed comparable software solutions for chatting, messaging and data storage which respect user privacy.
gottardo

A green tunnel

Environment
With UNESCO World Heritage sites, nature reserves, an arboretum and a highly active Swiss league for nature protection, wildlife conservation is of concern to the Swiss. The plans for the Gotthard Base Tunnel were drawn up with this in mind. 152 kilometers of shafts and passages were excavated with minimal environmental damage.
Tigerfinkli

9 Nostalgic Memories of Growing up in Switzerland

Society
There was a time when Swiss children went to school on Saturdays. Yet they had enough free time to build cardboard houses, play the game of Gummitwist and amuse themselves with toys that were mostly made out of wood.
Dimitri Burkhard

by Dimitri Burkhard

Cylinder music box at CIMA © T. Tissot

The captivating delights of Swiss mechanical engineering

Science & Education
Though closely related to watchmaking, Swiss music boxes and automated dolls are still less well known than Switzerland's famous watches. And yet their inner workings are just as complex - sometimes even more so…

by Tatiana Tissot