Pascale Meyer08.01.2026From LSD and Largactil to Valium, psychotropic drugs fundamentally changed the treatment of mental disorders in the 1950s and quickly became marketing-driven products. Swiss pharmaceutical companies played a key role in this.
Pascale Meyer21.11.2024Ghana is one of the world's largest cocoa producers. Pre-independence, the Basel Mission was one of the players making money from the cocoa trade in the Gold Coast region. It ran an agricultural research station there from the middle of the 19th century and attempted to cultivate the cocoa plant ‒ with varying degrees of success.
Pascale Meyer23.05.2022Around 150 years ago, things were looking grim for Switzerland’s flora and fauna. Then two Basel academics seized the initiative, and set about bringing to life their vision of an unspoiled, primordial landscape in the Engadin. In 1914, the first national park in Central Europe was opened in the Val Cluozza.
Pascale Meyer27.04.2022Bruno Manser was one of the world’s first environmental activists, and he launched spectacular protests to fight against rainforest deforestation. This earned him admiration, but it also caused him problems with the authorities.
Pascale Meyer30.12.2020Emil Frey fought in the American Civil War as an army major. In 1890 he became a Federal Councillor. His dual citizenship didn’t bother anyone.
Pascale Meyer31.03.2017Lenin wrote probably two of his most important works at his desk in Zurich. Thanks to Jean Kammerer the desk remained in Switzerland.
