Swiss Stories

asteroid

Outer space: the Swiss women looking to the stars

Science & Education
Women took an interest in space long before the space agencies undertook to diversify their teams of astronauts. Three Swiss women with their feet firmly on the ground and their faces turned to the stars share what attracted them to the space sector.

by Geneviève Comby

The tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

CERN, in search of the secrets of the universe

Science & Education
The physicists of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, near Geneva, probe the fundamental building blocks of matter. This is the third instalment of our series of articles on Swiss universities and research institutes.
Iris Bohnet

Iris Bohnet, the Swiss woman who conquered Harvard

Science & Education
Iris Bohnet, a 52-year-old native of Lucerne, is the first Swiss woman to teach at Harvard University and at the same time a world-renowned economist specialised in the issue of gender. Portrait of a woman fighting for equality.

by Lea Huszno

"Planet earth first"

Sonia Seneviratne – Swiss expertise furthering the fight against climate change

Science & Education
Swiss researcher Sonia Seneviratne, a specialist in heat waves, droughts and other extreme events, combines scientific rigour with a commitment to fight global warming. Co-author of the latest IPCC report on the physical impacts of climate change, she is considered one of the world's most influential climate scientists.
Powered wheelchair race ©EPF Zurich/Alessandro Della Bella

Cybathlon: the first ever Olympics for bionic athletes

Science & Education
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) is organising the world's first ever 'cybathlon' in Kloten in October. The scientific competition features 74 disabled athletes from 25 different nationalities, equipped with bionic prostheses, powered exoskeletons and brain-computer interfaces.
Red Divico grapes

Swiss wine without pesticides

Science & Education
Switzerland's centre of excellence for agricultural research Agroscope has been creating new grape varieties for 50 years. Their goals are ambitious – particularly the targets for disease resistance. Several generations of resistant varieties have emerged, helping to gradually reduce the impact of diseases and the use of pesticides. Fungal diseases – a major concern for winegrowers Swiss winegrowers face considerable difficulties with fungal diseases, two of which are particularly entrenched in Switzerland: downy and powdery mildew. It is very hard to cultivate grapes without pesticides today – both in conventional and organic vineyards. To help avoid this, Agroscope's viticulture research team focuses its efforts on creating resistant grapevines.
Artist's impression of the space telescope © ESA/ATG medialab

Switzerland in space

Science & Education
Switzerland is leading the consortium of 11 European countries participating in the CHEOPS mission. The CHEOPS telescope was launched in 2019 to learn more about the little-known world of exoplanets. This is the first mission Switzerland has led within the European Space Agency (ESA), although it has been a member since the agency's inception. Other missions are in the pipeline – more on that below.