Andreas Walter03.02.2026The canton of Bern introduced information technology as a subject in schools during the 1990s and organised computer training for teaching staff. It was one of the first cantons to embrace technology in education.
Helmut Stalder27.01.2026Johannes Badrutt sought to offer guests at the Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz a truly exclusive experience. He built Switzerland’s first hydroelectric plant and installed its first electric lighting system in the hotel dining room – and all before Edison had invented the light bulb. An historic event with unexpected results.
Thomas Weibel15.01.2026In the 1950s, the Swiss dreamed of having their own nuclear power plant and built a test facility in Lucens in the canton of Vaud. It proved an ill-fated project: just after becoming operational in January 1969 a fuel rod melted and exploded, bringing Switzerland to within a hair’s breadth of a disastrous outcome.
Helmut Stalder30.10.2025There was a public fascination in the 19th century with the idea of building a railway to the top of the Jungfrau. A competition launched in the mid-1880s prompted an animated response from the country’s engineers, with each one trying to outdo the other. Adolf Guyer-Zeller cherry-picked their ideas and got rid of the competition. He also opened up the mountain to mass tourism.
Juri Jaquemet24.10.2025The Swiss Post was long responsible for bringing the exact time into households in Switzerland, whether by phone or by radio. Sometimes it also offered a morning wake-up call.
Jean-Luc Rickenbacher18.09.2025Falling travel costs and diminishing distances led to an increase in tourism in the 19th century. The Swiss mountains held a special fascination for many travellers, and innovative solutions were needed to transport tourists to the more inaccessible mountain areas in comfort.
Patrick Borer16.09.2025Franziska Möllinger was not only the first woman to work as a photographer in Switzerland, she was also a pioneer of the use of photographs as templates for prints. There are only two original photographs by Möllinger in circulation today, the second of which surfaced in 2024.
Felix Frey11.09.2025The construction of an aerial cableway from the Italian town of Breuil to Testa Grigia in 1937 alarmed the federal authorities as the terminus was located in the sensitive Swiss-Italian border area.
