List of Swiss inventions and discoveries

The following list is composed of items, techniques and processes that were invented by or discovered by people from Switzerland.

Astronomy

• First exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star discovered by Swiss astronomers Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor in 1995 (51 Pegasi b), Nobel-prize laureates in Physics in 2019 ^[1]
• Earliest estimation of the "radiation of the stars” in his 1896 article "La Température de L'Espace" by Charles Édouard Guillaume

Biology

DNA structure

• Nucleic acid, DNA by Friedrich Miescher (1868) ^[2]
• Restriction endonuclease by Werner Arber
• Research of the Immune system by Rolf M. Zinkernagel

Chemistry

Cellophane bag

• Laudanum by Paracelsus
• Aluminium foil by Robert Victor Neher ^[3]
• Cellophane by Jacques E. Brandenberger
• DDT by Paul Hermann Müller
• Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) by Albert Hofmann
• Nickel–steel alloys he named invar, elinvar and platinite [it] by Charles Édouard Guillaume
• Reichstein process by Tadeus Reichstein
• Glyphosate by Henri Martin
• Sandmeyer reaction by Traugott Sandmeyer

Clothes and Fashion

• Velcro by George de Mestral
• Coil Zip fastening invented by Martin Winterhalter ^[4]

Computing

• Computer mouse:
  • First computer mouse by René Sommer, co-inventor ^[5]
  • First laser mouse (2004) ^[6]
• Pascal programming language by Niklaus Wirth
• Smaky by Jean-Daniel Nicoud
• World Wide Web at CERN ^[7]

Construction

• Construction machines
  • Walking excavator by Ernst Menzi, 1966 (Menzi Muck)
• Structural steel reinforced concrete revolution by Robert Maillart at ETH Zurich ^[8]
  • three-hinged arch
  • deck-stiffened arch for bridges
  • beamless floor slab
  • mushroom ceiling for industrial buildings
• Tunnel waterproofing by Sika ^[9]

Cuisine

Dry muesli mix, served with milk

• Absinthe
• Älplermagronen ^[10]
• Aromat ^[6]
• Bündnernusstorte ^[10]
• Cheeses and cheese recipes
  • Fondue ^[10]
  • Gruyère
  • Raclette ^[11]
  • Sbrinz, the ancestor of the Parmiggiano Reggiano and the Pecorino romano ^[12]
• Chocolates:
  • Conching by Rudolf Lindt ^[13]
  • Hazelnut chocolate by Charles-Amédée Kohler ^[13]
  • Milk chocolate by Daniel Peter ^[13] (disputed) ^[a]
  • White chocolate by Nestlé And his Partner
• Coffee
  • Capsule ^[6]
  • Instant coffee by Max Morgenthaler ^[4]
• Meringues ^[10]
• Milk powder ^[15]
• Muesli by Maximilian Bircher-Benner
• Rösti ^[11]
• Stock cubes ^[10]
• Tools:
  • Immersion blender by Roger Perrinjaquet
  • Rex vegetable peeler by Alfred Neweczerzal ^[4]
• Zürcher Geschnetzeltes

Economics

• Discovery of economic cycles and propagation of Social policy against the classic liberal economy by Simonde de Sismondi
• Bank secrecy

Mathematics

Leonhard Euler

Leonhard Euler's work:

• Mathematical notations that he introduced:
  • Concept of a function (first to write f(x) to denote the function f applied to the argument x) ^[16]
  • Letter Σ for summations
  • Letter i to denote the imaginary unit
  • Modern notation for the trigonometric functions
  • Natural logarithm (now also known as Euler's number)
• Differential equations
• Defined logarithms for negative and complex numbers
• Defined the exponential function for complex numbers and discovered its relation to the trigonometric functions
• Development of power series, the expression of functions as sums of infinitely many terms ^[17]
• Euler–Bernoulli beam equation, a cornerstone of engineering
• Euler's critical load, the critical buckling load of an ideal strut
• Euler equations in Fluid dynamics
• Euler's formula $${\displaystyle e^{i\varphi }=\cos \varphi +i\sin \varphi }$$
• Euler's identity $${\displaystyle e^{i\pi }+1=0}$$
• Introduction of exponential function and logarithms in analytic proofs
• Predicted the phenomenon of cavitation in 1754 before observing it
• Solution to the Basel problem (1735)

Bernoulli family

Jacob Bernoulli (1655–1705)

Jacob Bernoulli's work:

• Ars Conjectandi published in Basel in 1713, theory of probability from which resulted the Bernoulli trial.
• Bernoulli numbers
• Bernoulli differential equation solved y

${\displaystyle y'=p(x)y+q(x)y^{n}.}$

• Discovery of the constant e by studying a question about compound interest

${\displaystyle \lim _{n\to \infty }\left(1+{\frac {1}{n}}\right)^{n}}$

• Introduces the term integral in calculus
• Lemniscate of Bernoulli
• Solution of differential equation by separation of variables

Nicolaus I Bernoulli (1687-1759)

Nicolaus I Bernoulli's s contributions:

• Orthogonal trajectories ^[18]
• Probability and statistics research with the St. Petersburg Paradox ^[19]

Nicolaus II Bernoulli (1695-1726)

Nicolaus II Bernoulli's contribution:

• He posed the problem of reciprocal orthogonal trajectories

Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782)

Daniel Bernoulli's contributions:

• Bernoulli's principle is of critical use in aerodynamics. ^[20]
• Expected utility theory
• He laid the basis for the kinetic theory of gases, and applied the idea to explain Boyle's law (Hydrodynamica 1738). ^[21]
• He worked with Euler on elasticity and the development of the Euler–Bernoulli beam equation. ^[22]
• Principle of superposition was first stated by Daniel Bernoulli in 1753 ("The general motion of a vibrating system is given by a superposition of its proper vibrations") ^[23]

Gabriel Cramer

Gabriel Cramer's contributions

• Cramer's theorem (algebraic curves)
• In 1750 he published Cramer's rule, giving a general formula for the solution for any unknown in a linear equation system having a unique solution, in terms of determinants implied by the system. This rule is still standard.]

Others

• Planimeter by Jakob Amsler-Laffon.

Medicine

• Artificial hip joint (Sulzer joint, by Maurice Edmond Müller) ^[15]
• Diazepam (Valium) (1958, company Hoffmann-La Roche) ^[6]
• Diclofenac (Voltaren) (1973, company Ciba-Geigy)
• Hydro-alcoholic gel (1995, Didier Pittet)
• Hydrogel skin cancer treatment (2022, University of Bern) ^[24]
• Laudanum by Paracelsus
• Panthenol (Bepanthen) (1944, company Roche)
• Stent (1986, Medinvent, Hans Wallsten) ^[6]
• Theodor Kocher
  • Anesthesia
    • Masks to deliver chloroform-ether narcosis ^[25]
  • Surgical methodology
    • Hygiene rules ^[25]
    • Techniques of sterilisation ^[25]
    • Surgical records quantifying and analysing success and failures ^[25]
  • Surgical procedures
    • Pre-operative preparation of patients to receive anaesthesia to avoid aspiration of gastric content ^[25]
    • Reduction technique for shoulder dislocation ^[25]
    • Thiroidectomy ^[25]
  • Surgical tools
    • Artery clamp ^[15]
    • Bowel clamp ^[25]
    • Craniometer ^[25]
    • Kidney holding forceps ^[25]
    • Scissors chisels and files ^[25]

Military

Victorinox "Huntsman" Swiss Army knife

• Swiss Army knife
• Full Metal Jacket bullet by Eduard Rubin
• Milliradian by Charles-Marc Dapples

Physics

• Argand lamp by Aimé Argand
• Twisted nematic field effect by Hoffmann-La Roche
• Scanning tunneling microscope by Heinrich Rohrer (co-inventor with German Gerd Binnig)
• Super-twisted nematic display by Brown, Boveri & Cie
• Swatch Internet Time by Swatch
• Research on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance by Kurt Wüthrich

Sports

The Swiss bobsleigh team from Davos, ca. 1910

• Bobsleigh tracks ^[4]
• Schwingen
• Hornussen

Technology

• Basic oxygen steelmaking by Robert Durrer in 1948 ^[26]
• Electricity production and transmission:
  • Transmission of electrical energy using high-voltage three-phase current developed by Brown, Boveri & Cie for the International Electrotechnical Exhibition ^[27]
  • Research on steam and gas turbines developed at ETH Zurich with Aurel Stodola ^[28]
    • Law of the Ellipse
    • First gas turbine electric generator in collaboration with Brown, Boveri & Cie ^[29]
    • Aurel Stodola constructs a closed-loop heat pump in 1928 (water source from Lake Geneva) which provides heating for the Geneva city hall to this day.
• Electric kilns invented by Brown, Boveri & Cie ^[27]
• Electric toothbrush, the Broxodent by Dr. Philippe Guy Woog ^[30]
• Gearless cement drive developed by Brown, Boveri & Cie in 1969 ^[31]
• Internal combustion engine invented in 1806 by François Isaac de Rivaz, using oxygen and hydrogen. ^[32]
• LCD projector at Brown Boveri & Cie ^[6]
• Precision machinery:
  • Thread whirling by Tornos in the 1990s ^[33]
  • Cam multispindle machine with the Tornos AS 14 (1958) ^[33]
  • CNC multispindle machine (Tornos CNC 632, 1988)
• Precision valve steam engine (Sulzer, 1876)
• Shuttle-less loom (Sulzer, 1876)
• Ski lifts ^[15]
• Turbocharger by Alfred Büchi
• Chronometry / watches:
  • Constant escapement by Girard-Perregaux
  • Cross-beat escapement and remontoire for watches by Jost Bürgi
  • Quartz watches (Centre électronique horloger) ^[6]
  • Tourbillon by Abraham-Louis Breguet
  • Charles Édouard Guillaume's Guillaume balance (a type of balance wheel) ^{[34] [35]}

Transportation

• Azipod, first azimuth thruster with the motor located in the pod itself (by ABB Group)
• Bathyscaphe Trieste by Auguste Piccard
• Trains and tracks
  • Articulated locomotive by Anatole Mallet
  • Diesel electric locomotive traction control by Hermann Lemp
  • High-speed locomotive with drive shafts fitted exclusively in bogies developed by Brown, Boveri & Cie in 1944 ^[31]
  • Riggenbach rack system by Niklaus Riggenbach
  • Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH, first train to run with a mechanical diesel power in 1912. ^[36]
• Solar Impulse by Bertrand Piccard in co-operation with EPFL

Miscellaneous

• The Red Cross by Henry Dunant
• Helvetica Typeface by Max Miedinger
• World Health Organization

See also

List of Swiss inventors and discoverers

Notes

1. Jordan & Timaeus claims to have created milk chocolate using donkey milk in 1839 in Dresden ^[14]

References

1. "Nobel Winners Changed Our Understanding with Exoplanet Discovery - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
2. Dahm, Ralf (January 2008). "Discovering DNA: Friedrich Miescher and the early years of nucleic acid research". Human Genetics. 122 (6): 565–581. doi:10.1007/s00439-007-0433-0. PMID   17901982. S2CID   915930.
3. Mary Bellis (2012-04-09). "Charles Martin Hall - The History of Aluminum". Inventors.about.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
4. "8 Swiss inventions that changed the world | Swiss Science & Education". houseofswitzerland.org. 2018-07-19. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
5. "Computer mouse inventor dies in Vaud". World Radio Switzerland . 2009-10-14. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
6. "Les 20 inventions suisses qui ont marqué ces 70 dernières années". agefi.com (in French). 2024. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
7. "The birth of the Web | CERN". home.cern. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
8. "Robert Maillart (1872–1940)". library.ethz.ch. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
9. "History". www.sika.com.
10. "Foods Invented in Switzerland | Swiss tours and travel". www.alpenwild.com. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
11. "Switzerland's national dishes". www.eda.admin.ch. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
12. swissinfo.ch, S. W. I. (2002-04-22). "L'ancêtre des fromages a son AOC". SWI swissinfo.ch (in Swiss French). Retrieved 2024-07-25.
13. Thomas Stephens (13 December 2017). "The pioneers of Switzerland's 'Chocolate Revolution'". Swissinfo . Retrieved 10 April 2021.
14. "Wie zwei Dresdner die Milchschokolade erfanden". Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk . 7 July 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
15. "33 Swiss inventions that will amaze you". Swiss Activities. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
16. Dunham 1999, p. 17. sfn error: no target: CITEREFDunham1999 (help)
17. Ferraro 2008, p. 155. sfn error: no target: CITEREFFerraro2008 (help)
18. Engelsman, Steven B., ed. (1984). "Nicolaus I Bernoulli and Orthogonal Trajectories". Families of Curves and the Origins of Partial Differentiation. North-Holland Mathematics Studies. Vol. 93. pp. 92–123. doi:10.1016/S0304-0208(08)73567-9. ISBN   978-0-444-86897-8.
19. Peterson, Martin (2023), "The St. Petersburg Paradox", in Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2024-07-25
20. [Anon.] (2001) "Daniel Bernoulli", Encyclopædia Britannica
21. Rouse Ball, W. W. (2003) [1908]. "The Bernoullis". A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (4th ed.). Dover. ISBN   0-486-20630-0.
22. Timoshenko, Stephen (1983). History of Strength of Materials: With a Brief Account of the History of Theory of Elasticity and Theory of Structures. Courier Corporation. ISBN   978-0-486-61187-7.^{[ page needed ]}
23. Brillouin, L. (1946). Wave propagation in Periodic Structures: Electric Filters and Crystal Lattices, McGraw–Hill, New York, p. 2.
24. Bradley, Simon (2022-12-27). "Top Swiss inventions you may have missed this year". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
25. Tröhler, U. "The Subtle Knife: A Revolution in Surgery". Karger Gazette. No. 71.
26. Feichtinger, Prof. Dr. Heinrich K. "Prof. Robert Durrer (1880-1978)". ETH Zürich. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
27. "140 years of ASEA". new.abb.com. 2023-10-30.
28. Lang, Norbert. "Aurel Stodola and his influence on the ETH and on Mechanical Engineering" (PDF).
29. Early Gas Turbine History at web.mit.edu
30. Ebneter, Catherine (2023-01-04). "Swiss discoveries that changed the world". The Swiss Times. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
31. "History of ABB". ABB Group. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
32. Michelet, Henri (1965). L'inventeur Isaac de Rivaz: 1752 - 1828 (in French). Editions Saint-Augustin. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
33. "A History of Precision: The Invention and Evolution of Swiss-Style Machining". www.mmsonline.com. 2024-07-24. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
34. "Phillips: CH080217, Patek Philippe". Phillips. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
35. Bond, Alexander Russell (1921). Scientific American Monthly.
36. Glatte, Wolfgang (1993). Deutsches Lok-Archiv: Diesellokomotiven 4. Auflage. Berlin: Transpress. ISBN   978-3-344-70767-5.

Sources

• Churella, Albert J. (1998). From Steam to Diesel: Managerial Customs and Organizational Capabilities in the Twentieth-Century American Locomotive Industry. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-02776-0.

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