List of Swiss inventions and discoveries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following list is composed of items, techniques and processes that were invented by or discovered by people from Switzerland.
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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

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

- 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
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

- 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
Summarize
Perspective
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
- Euler's identity
- 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
- Discovery of the constant e by studying a question about compound interest
- 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]
Other Swiss mathematicians
- Gabriel Cramer
- 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.
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
- 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
- Anesthesia
Military
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

Technology
- Electricity production and transmission:
- Transmission of electrical energy using high-voltage three-phase current developed by Brown, Boveri & Cie for the International Electrotechnical Exhibition[26]
- Research on steam and gas turbines developed at ETH Zurich with Aurel Stodola[27]
- Law of the Ellipse
- First gas turbine electric generator in collaboration with Brown, Boveri & Cie[28]
- 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[26]
- Electric toothbrush, the Broxodent by Dr. Philippe Guy Woog[29]
- Gearless cement drive developed by Brown, Boveri & Cie in 1969[30]
- Internal combustion engine invented in 1806 by François Isaac de Rivaz, using oxygen and hydrogen.[31]
- LCD projector at Brown Boveri & Cie[6]
- Precision machinery:
- 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)[33][34]
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[30]
- Riggenbach rack system by Niklaus Riggenbach
- Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH, first train to run with a mechanical diesel power in 1912.[35]
- Solar Impulse by Bertrand Piccard in co-operation with EPFL
Miscellaneous
See also
Notes
- Jordan & Timaeus claims to have created milk chocolate using donkey milk in 1839 in Dresden[14]
References
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