# 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
* 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)
* Restriction endonuclease by Werner Arber
* Research of the Immune system by Rolf M. Zinkernagel

## Chemistry

* Laudanum by Paracelsus
* Aluminium foil by Robert Victor Neher
* 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

## Computing

* Computer mouse:
** First computer mouse by René Sommer, co-inventor
** First laser mouse (2004)
* Pascal programming language by Niklaus Wirth
* Smaky by Jean-Daniel Nicoud
* World Wide Web at CERN

## Construction

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

## Cuisine

* Absinthe
* Älplermagronen
* Aromat
* Bündnernusstorte
* Cheeses and cheese recipes
** Fondue
** Gruyère
** Raclette
** Sbrinz, the ancestor of the Parmiggiano Reggiano and the Pecorino romano
* Chocolates:
** Conching by Rudolf Lindt
** Hazelnut chocolate by Charles-Amédée Kohler
** Milk chocolate by Daniel Peter (disputed)
** White chocolate by Nestlé And his Partner
* Coffee
** Capsule
** Instant coffee by Max Morgenthaler
* Meringues
* Milk powder
* Muesli by Maximilian Bircher-Benner
* Rösti
* Stock cubes
* Tools:
** Immersion blender by Roger Perrinjaquet
** Rex vegetable peeler by Alfred Neweczerzal
* 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)
** 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
* 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$e^{i\varphi }=\cos \varphi +i\sin \varphi$
* Euler's identity$e^{i\pi }+1=0$
* 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
$y'=p(x)y+q(x)y^{n}.$
* Discovery of the constant e by studying a question about compound interest
$\lim _{n\to \infty }\left(1+{\frac {1}{n}}\right)^{n}$
* 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
* Probability and statistics research with the St. Petersburg Paradox

#### 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.
* Expected utility theory
* He laid the basis for the kinetic theory of gases, and applied the idea to explain Boyle's law (Hydrodynamica 1738).
* He worked with Euler on elasticity and the development of the Euler–Bernoulli beam equation.
* 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")

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

## Military

* Swiss Army knife
* Full Metal Jacket bullet

## 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

* Bobsleigh tracks
* Schwingen
* Hornussen

## 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
** Research on steam and gas turbines developed at ETH Zurich with Aurel Stodola
*** Law of the Ellipse
*** First gas turbine electric generator in collaboration with Brown, Boveri & Cie
*** 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
* Electric toothbrush, the Broxodent by Dr. Philippe Guy Woog
* Gearless cement drive developed by Brown, Boveri & Cie in 1969
* Internal combustion engine invented in 1806 by François Isaac de Rivaz, using oxygen and hydrogen.
* LCD projector at Brown Boveri & Cie
* Precision machinery:
** Thread whirling by Tornos in the 1990s
** Cam multispindle machine with the Tornos AS 14 (1958)
** CNC multispindle machine (Tornos CNC 632, 1988)
* Precision valve steam engine (Sulzer, 1876)
* Shuttle-less loom (Sulzer, 1876)
* Ski lifts
* 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)
** Tourbillon by Abraham-Louis Breguet
** Charles Édouard Guillaume's Guillaume balance (a type of balance wheel)

## 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
** Riggenbach rack system by Niklaus Riggenbach
** Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH, first train to run with a mechanical diesel power in 1912.
* 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