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.
Franziska Rogger02.12.2025She was one of the country’s first natural science professors and he shaped social policy in Switzerland: Irma and Hans Peter Tschudi-Steiner reached the top of their respective professions – all while staying humble.
Sabine Richebächer20.11.2025The name Sabina Spielrein (1885-1942) mostly conjures up images of a very young woman who was both patient and friend to C. G. Jung before later becoming a psychoanalyst in her own right. But as well as practising as a therapist, she played a key role in shaping many theoretical and organisational aspects of the nascent field of psychoanalysis.
Christoph Kummer06.03.2025What do an orphan from Lucerne and a geologist from Western Switzerland have in common? A fascination with mysterious creatures. René Dahinden and François de Loys both made a name for themselves in the field of cryptozoology.
Géraldine Lysser04.03.2025Internationally coordinated glacier observation originated in Switzerland. Maintaining glacier measurements proved difficult during the two world wars. However, Paul-Louis Mercanton from Switzerland kept the research work going amidst the global turmoil.
Gabriel Heim04.02.2025The Swiss Tropical Institute was founded in 1943 out of a fear of post-war unemployment. It was designed to promote the emigration of young people to Africa and the world’s tropical regions.
Felix Frey09.01.2025Poncello or Puntcell? Illarsaz or Illarse? Kalbermatt or Chalbermatt? The spelling of place names has frequently been a contentious issue in all parts of Switzerland, particularly when it comes to striking the right balance between standard language and dialect.
Pascale Meyer21.11.2024Ghana is the world’s largest producer of cocoa. 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.
