We know relatively little about the photographers who worked for the photo agency Comet Photo AG from 1952 to 1998. Self-portraits or portraits of the ‘Comets’ are also rather thinly sown in the collection, as they usually stood behind the camera themselves and photographed Read more
Today, April 20, Joan Miró would have turned 125. His often humorous paintings and sculptures made the Catalan one of the most popular artists of the 20th century.
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During his stay in Copenhagen in September 1958, the Comet photographer Hans Gerber took pictures of the famous Grundtvigskirche and in its interior with a model ship hanging from the ceiling.
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Russian cosmonaut Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin had made history through his first manned space flight on 12 April 1961 and was considered a national hero when he died on 27 March 1968 during a routine flight with a MiG-15 fighter jet.
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Many rare books have had a long and exciting journey on their way to a safe haven in a library. These works have for example seen continuous change in ownership and travelled through many countries over the centuries. The fate of these ‘travelling books’ has often been documented: thus handwritten notes, stamps and labels have assumed the role of storyteller, in many cases leaving unsolved mysteries in their wake. Read more
Today, 125 years ago on 23 February 1893, Rudolf Diesel received the patent for the diesel engine in Berlin. What is interesting from a Swiss point of view, is the connection between Rudolf Diesel and Maschinenfabrik Sulzer AG in Winterthur, where the young inventor had already completed two internships.
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Many thousands of frogs fell victim to Luigi Galvani’s scientific curiosity, and all because the anatomist observed how the leg of a dissected frog began to twitch as if from nowhere. This occurrence took place in Bologna in 1780 and led to one of the most important discourses in scientific history – and to the birth of the novel Frankenstein. Read more
Thirty years ago, on 28 January 1988, the tower chimney built in 1964/65 for the heating centre of ETH Zurich at Hönggerberg was blown up in a spectacular operation. Previously, a strong eccentricity had been measured in the 80-metre high concrete chimney and visible damage had been detected, which led to the decision to demolish. The new, lower chimney system with three steel chimneys Read more
At the beginning of February 2008 the first post on this weblog was published. Ten years later, ETHeritage is an established and popular platform for insights into the holdings of the ETH Zurich’s collections and archives. This first decade of the weblog was marked by dedicated bloggers and continuous development.
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There are only two days left of the old year. We would like to thank our readers for their loyalty and wish everyone a happy and fulfilled 2018. Read more