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.
Katrin Brunner31.10.2024Through his sometimes unconventional methods, Michael Schüppach made a name for himself as a barber-surgeon well beyond the Emmental region.
Gabriel Heim15.10.2024In the late 19th century, landlocked Switzerland was looking for ways to harness the immeasurable diversity of tropical botany. It found what it was looking for in Buitenzorg on the island of Java.
James Blake Wiener22.08.2024In 1812, the Swiss adventurer and explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817) traversed the ancient Nabataean city of Petra. He was the first European to set his eyes upon the ruins since the time of the Crusades. His life is a curious story of research and unexpected high adventure.
