Sirens wailing!? A worried glance at the clock. 1:30 p.m. precisely. Aha – siren test! Switzerland’s annual siren test takes place on the first Wednesday in February. But how long have we had sirens in Switzerland anyway, and what’s the history of this hair-raising means of communication?

Fifty years ago, humans walked on the moon for the first time. This epoch-defining achievement was made possible, in part, thanks to cutting-edge technology from Switzerland.

On 1 October 1968, the first scheduled colour television broadcast flickered on to Swiss TV screens. This historic TV event was preceded by tough wrangling over technical standards.

Anyone who wanted a computer in the 1950s had to develop one. The Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) set itself this challenge and invented the first computer built in Switzerland.

In 1978, PTT launched the National Car Telephone, or Natel for short, heralding the start of mobile telephony’s meteoric rise. By the turn of the millennium, the Natel had gone from being a status symbol in Switzerland to an everyday object which everyone takes for granted.