Switzerland

Swiss Confederation
Flag
Location  Europe
Capital  Bern
Area  41,277 sq km
Population  8,292,809

"There's no time like the present"
(Proverb/Quote of the Week)

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January

January 1 On 1 January 2020, Switzerland became the first country to successfully link its greenhouse gas emissions trading system with the European Union (EU) emissions trading system (EU ETS). Doris Leuthard was the third woman to be elected president of the Swiss Confederation and was in the office from 1 January to 31 December 2010. Micheline Calmy-Rey, a Swiss politician and country's second female President, was in the office from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007 and from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011. Ruth Dreifuss, a Swiss politician, was elected as the Switzerland's first female President, holding the office from January 1 to 31 December 1999. January 2 January 3 An international team of astronomers, that also includes researcher from Switzerland, studying a newborn star have caught a detailed glimpse of planets forming around it, revealing a never-before seen stage of planetary evolution. The research findings were published on 2 January 2013 in the journal Nature. January 4 January 5 January 6 Swiss and American scientists have developed a new method for detecting oxygen in exoplanet atmospheres that may accelerate the search for life. The study, which will use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to detect a strong signal that oxygen molecules produce when they collide, was published on 6 January 2020 in the journal Nature Astronomy. Switzerland won the Hopman Cup tennis championships for the third time after Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic combined to topple Team Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber 4-3(3) 4-2 on 6 January 2018. January 7 January 8 January 9 January 10 January 11 Swiss tennis master Roger Federer became just the third man in history to win 1,000 career ATP matches after defeating Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4 to win the 2015 Brisbane International Tennis tournament. January 12 January 13 A team of Swiss and international researchers has discovered a meteorite containing the oldest material ever found on Earth, stardust that predated the formation of our solar system by billions of years. The stardust found to be as old as 7 billion years, as detailed in PNAS on 13 January 2020. January 14 January 15 On 15 January 2012 it was revealed that Swiss and Egyptian archaeologists unearthed a roughly 1,100 year-old tomb of a female singer in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. It is the only tomb of a woman not related to the ancient Egyptian royal families ever found in the Valley of the Kings. January 16 January 17 January 18 January 19 Swiss researchers and their international colleagues have identified a series of mutations which make the malaria parasite resistant to an effective antimalarial drug, artemisinin. The results, published in Nature Genetics on 19 January 2015, could help to improve early detection of emerging artemisinin resistance. January 20 January 21 Swiss scientist Marcel Schuck has developed a prototype of a robotic gripper that can manipulate small and fragile objects without having to touch them. The technology that Schuck is working on is based on sound waves, as revealed on 21 January 2020. January 22 Switzerland topped the 2019 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), compiled by INSEAD global business school, that measures a nation's competitiveness based on the quality of talent it can develop, attract and retain. January 23 For the third consecutive year, Switzerland was ranked as the world's best country to live, according to a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report published on 23 January 2019. Switzerland topped the list at the 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a biennial ranking produced by Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum measuring environmental performance of a state's policies. Switzerland was ranked as the eighth most innovative country for 2014, with a total score of 86.02, according to the rankings released by Bloomberg on 23 January 2015. January 24 January 25 Switzerland ranked as the fourth least corrupt nation in the world, according to the Global Corruption Index published by Transparency International on 25 January 2017. January 26 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won his maiden Grand Slam tennis crown, overcoming Rafael Nadal of Spain to win a dramatic Australian Open men’s singles final in four sets 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on 26 January 2014. January 27 January 28 Swiss tennis master Roger Federer won his record 20th Grand Slam and sixth Australian Open title on 28 January 2018 defeating Croatian Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The European Commission on 28 January 2013 officially announced the selection of the Human Brain Project (HBP), a project led by Henry Markram from EPFL, Switzerland, as one of its two Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagship projects. January 29 Swiss tennis master Roger Federer won his fifth Australian Open and 18th Grand Slam title by downing Spaniard Rafael Nadal in five sets 6-4 3-6 6-1 3-6 6-3 on 29 January 2017. January 30 Switzerland was the proud organizer of the 1948 Winter Olympic Games. The games were held in St. Moritz from January 30 to February 8, 1948. After a 12-year break, the Olympic Winter Games took place for the first time since World War II. January 31

February

February 1 Swiss professional tennis player Martina Hingis and her partner Leander Paes of India won the mixed doubles title at the 2015 Australian Open beating Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada 6-4, 6-3. February 2 February 3 February 4 February 5 A team of international and Swiss researchers has successfully grown dates from 2000-year-old seeds recovered from an ancient fortress and caves in the Middle East. The find gives clues to how dates can survive for millennia, as published in Science Advances on 5 February 2020. Scientists from Switzerland and Italy have created a bionic hand which allows the amputee to feel lifelike sensations from their fingers. The research details were reported on 5 February 2014 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. February 6 February 7 On February 7, 1971 women’s right to vote is accepted in Switzerland. It was accepted with a majority yes vote from various Cantons or the member states of Switzerland. February 8 A team of international archaeologists, including researchers from Switzerland, have revealed that Germanic runes were the oldest script ever used by the ancient Slavs based on their discovery of an inscribed animal rib dating back to the seventh century. Their findings were published in Journal of Archaeological on 8 February 2021. February 9 Dario Cologna of Switzerland won gold in Men's Skiathlon 15 km Classic + 15 km Free at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. February 10 A team of international and Swiss researchers has discovered the rare disease LCH in the fossilized dinosaur tail that lived in Canada 60 million years ago afflicts humans to this day. The discovery was published on 10 February 2020 in Scientific Reports. February 11 A release of carbon dioxide from the deep ocean helped bring an end to the last Ice Age, according to a new research by Swiss scientists and their international colleagues. The finding, published in Nature on 11 February 2015, gives scientists an insight into how the ocean affects the carbon cycle and climate change. The second Winter Olympic Games were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland from February 11 to 19, 1928. These Winter Games were the first to be held in a different nation from the Summer Games of the same year. February 12 Swiss researchers and a team of International scientists have uncovered shells belonging to the largest turtle that ever existed, with a shell nearly 10 feet in length that weighed 2,500 pounds. The fossils were found in Colombia's Tatacoa Desert and Venezuela's Urumaco region, according to the study published on 12 February 2020 in the journal Science Advances. February 13 February 14 February 15 February 16 The 36-year-old Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer became the the oldest ATP world number one on 16 February 2018. February 17 February 18 February 19 February 20 February 21 Switzerland ranked as the third least corrupt country in the world according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index published on 21 February 2018. Swiss cyclist Stefan Kueng won the Men’s Individual Pursuit gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 21 February 2015. February 22 February 23 An international team of researchers, including scientists from Switzerland, has found evidence of naturally occurring antibiotic resistance on the teeth of 1,000 year-old skeletons. Their study was published on 23 February 2014 in the journal Nature Genetics. February 24 February 25 February 26 Gianni Infantino of Switzerland was elected as the new president of FIFA on 26 February 2016, succeeding countryman Sepp Blatter on a term until 2019. February 27 February 28 Astronomers from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Chile using a powerful telescope in southern Chile have captured the direct image of a protoplanet forming around another star. It would be the first time that scientists have succeeded in observing this process and their research findings were published on 28 February 2013 in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters. February 29

March

March 1 Switzerland passport was ranked as the world’s eighth most valuable by the Nomad Passport Index 2017, assessed based on visa-free travel, taxation, perception, dual citizenship and overall freedom. March 2 Switzerland topped the list of the Global Energy Index 2016 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), showcasing the country's ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy. March 3 March 4 March 5 March 6 March 7 March 8 March 9 March 10 Swiss researchers have revealed how Chameleons accomplish their vivid color changes as they discovered Chameleons use tiny crystals in their skin to change color. Their study was published in the journal Nature Communications on 10 March 2015. March 11 An international team of astronomers, in collaboration with Swiss researchers, has discovered a planet, WASP-76b some 390 light years away, where it rains iron. The study published on 11 March 2020 in the journal Nature Astronomy. March 12 March 13 March 14 March 15 Switzerland was ranked as the world's fifth happiest country according to the annual UN report released on 15 March 2018. Christoph Kunz of Switzerland won gold at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Men's Giant Slalom - Sitting. March 16 Switzerland ranked as the second happiest country in the world according to the 2016 United Nations (UN) World Happiness Report. March 17 Walter Rudolf Hess, a Swiss physician, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949 for his discovery of the functional organization of the interbrain as a coordinator of the activities of the internal organs. He was born in Frauenfeld, Switzerland on March 17, 1881. March 18 March 19 March 20 Switzerland was named as the third happiest country in the world, according to an annual U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network report published on 20 March 2021. Switzerland was ranked as the fourth happiest country on Earth, according to a United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network report published on 20 March 2017. A team of astronomers from Switzerland, Germany, Australia and Finland discovered a highly unusual galaxy in the shape of an emerald-cut diamond roughly 70 million light years away. The discovery was published on 20 March 2012 in The Astrophysical Journal. March 21 Bertrand Piccard from Switzerland and Brian Jones from England were the first to fly nonstop around the world in a balloon. Their Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon left Château-d'Oex, Switzerland, on March 1, 1999 and landed on March 21 in the Egyptian desert 300 miles (482 kilometers) south of Cairo. March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 Switzerland ranked second at the 2019 Energy Transition Index (ETI) published by World Economic Forum (WEF) on 25 March 2019, which indicates how well countries around the world are able to balance energy security and environmental sustainability and affordability. Swiss film director Xavier Koller's movie Journey of Hope, depicts compassionate tale of a poor immigrant Turkish family who illegally emigrate to Switzerland, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991. March 26 March 27 EPFL researchers in Switzerland have developed a device that can zoom in on previously invisible cells at the back of the eye. The technology could be extremely useful for ophthalmologists, in particular for detecting age-related macular degeneration early, as revealed on 27 March 2020. Switzerland won the World Women’s Curling Championship 2016 beating Japan 9-6 in the final in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada. March 28 March 29 March 30 March 31 Grigorii Timin of Switzerland was selected as the Europe, the Middle East and Africa regional winner for an image of snakeskin at the Olympus Image of the Year Award announced on 31 March 2021.

April

April 1 April 2 April 3 April 4 The University of Basel was established on 4 April 1460 in Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland. It is Switzerland's oldest university and apparently one of the oldest universities in the world. April 5 After two years of intense maintenance and consolidation, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland, the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, restarted on 5 April 2015. April 6 April 7 Swiss professional road bicycle racer Fabian Cancellara won the Paris-Roubaix race on 7 April 2013 and in the process set a new record for average pace of 44.190 kilometers an hour. April 8 April 9 Swiss-made airplane Solar Impulse 2 built for the first round-the-world flight using only solar power was formally unveiled on 9 April 2014. The team will make the attempt next year. April 10 April 11 April 12 April 13 April 14 April 15 April 16 April 17 Swiss duo Marcel Hug and Manuela Schar took the respective men’s and women’s wheelchair race titles at the Boston Marathon on 17 April 2017. Scientists from Switzerland, Japan and Brazil have discovered four new insect species in Brazil that display what they say are the world’s first discovered instances of female penises. Their study, also found males' vagina-like openings, was reported in Current Biology on 17 April 2014. April 18 April 19 April 20 The Swiss science and technology university École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) became the 14th member of the Square Kilometre Array Organisation (SKAO) following a unanimous decision by the SKA Board of Directors on 20 April 2020. Switzerland ranked seventh at the 2016 Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index. The Index is based on an evaluation of media freedom that measures pluralism, media independence, the quality of the legal framework and the safety of journalists in 180 countries. April 21 April 22 April 23 April 24 April 25 April 26 April 27 April 28 April 29 Archaeologists from Switzerland and Egypt have discovered remains of about 50 mummies, thought to belong to Egypt's 18th Pharaonic dynasty, in a huge tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in Luxor. The findings were revealed on 29 April 2014. April 30 Céline Dion won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest for the song Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi representing Switzerland. This was the second time that Switzerland won the contest.

May

May 1 May 2 May 3 May 4 A Swiss engineered solar-powered aeroplane, Solar Impulse, on 4 May 2013 successfully completed the first leg of a journey that aimed to cross the United States. The flight from San Francisco to Phoenix took 18 hours and 18 minutes and didn't use a drop of fuel. Swiss-registered Tûranor PlanetSolar, a solar-powered boat, completed its around-the-world trip on 4 May 2012 in approximately 18 months. The boat was powered by 537 square meters of photovoltaic panels and became the first boat to sail around the world using nothing but the power of the Sun. May 5 May 6 Switzerland ranked as the sixth most tourism-friendly country in the world in the 2015 World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. May 7 May 8 The University of Basel, Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) signed an agreement on 8 May 2014 to strengthen scientific cooperation between the two institutions in the fields of global history and humanitarian affairs. The agreement will provide Basel researchers easier access to historical documents of the ICRC. May 9 May 10 Louis Palmer from Switzerland was named one of the recipients of the prestigious 2011 Champions of the Earth Award by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on May 10, 2011 for raising global awareness of the need for renewable energy. May 11 Scientists from Switzerland and their international colleagues have found bones in a Bulgarian cave that shows modern humans may have arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought, as published in the journal Nature on 11 May 2020. Swiss and Italian researchers on 11 May 2017 unveiled the first smart robotic exoskeleton that can detect when someone loses their balance– and prevents falling. May 12 May 13 Swiss star Martina Hingis and Taiwanese tennis player Yung-Jan Cha were crowned champions of the 2017 Mutua Madrid Open women’s doubles after beating Hungarian player Timea Babos and the Czech Andrea Hlavackova in two sets in the final 6-4, 6-3. Switzerland placed 8th in the global school ranking published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as revealed on 13 May 2015. Swiss tennis king Roger Federer won his third Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament on 13 May 2012 beating Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the final. Swiss solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse landed in Brussels after its first international flight on 13 may 2011. After a flight lasting 12 hours 59 minutes, using no fuel and propelled by solar energy alone, Solar Impulse HB-SIA landed safely in Brussels at 21h39 in front of a supporting crowd. It is the world’s first aircraft powered by solar energy. May 14 ICVolunteers of Switzerland won a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Project Prize in Geneva, Switzerland, with the project Green Voice at a prize ceremony held on 14 May 2012. May 15 May 16 May 17 May 18 May 19 May 20 May 21 May 22 May 23 May 24 Swiss singer Lys Assia was the winner of first ever Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in 1956. The first ever Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lugano, Switzerland, at the Teatro Kursaal, on May 24, 1956. May 25 May 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 Swiss astronomers and their international colleagues have found a rare exoplanet, named as NGTS-4b, as revealed on 29 May 2019. The planet is three times the size of Earth and 20% smaller than Neptune and the planet has its own atmosphere. May 30 May 31

June

June 1 Researchers from Switzerland and their international colleagues have manufactured a chip on which fast electronic signals can be converted directly into ultrafast light signals—with practically no loss of signal quality. The discovery was published in the journal Nature Electronics on 1 June 2020. The world's longest and deepest rail tunnel, Gotthard Base Tunnel, was officially opened in Switzerland on 1 June 2016. The 57km twin-bore tunnel will provide a high-speed rail link under the Swiss Alps between northern and southern Europe. June 2 Professor Christoph Gerber from the University of Basel, Switzerland received the 2016 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for the invention and realization of atomic force microscopy, a breakthrough in measurement technology and nanosculpting that continues to have a transformative impact on nanoscience and technology. June 3 June 4 Swiss scientist and explorer Bertrand Piccard was named as one of the winners of the 2012 United Nations Champions of the Earth award for his efforts to combine science and adventure in order to address some of today’s global environmental challenges. June 5 An international team of astronomers, including researchers from Switzerland, has discovered the hottest known exoplanet, a world where temperatures exceed those on the surface of most stars. The Jupiter-like planet, named as KELT-9b, was detailed in the journal Nature on 5 June 2017. Swiss pilot and adventurer Bertrand Piccard completed the world’s first intercontinental flight in a giant experimental solar-powered plane, Solar Impulse-a Swiss aircraft, on 5 June 2012 by landing in the Moroccan capital after flying across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. June 6 June 7 Swiss tennis star Stanislas Wawrinka won his first French Open title beating Novak Djokovic 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 in the final on 7 June 2015. June 8 Sepp Blatter of Switzerland assumed office as the 8th President of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on 8 June 1998. Later, Blatter was re-elected as President three more times. June 9 Professor Michael Grätzel from Switzerland won the 2010 Millennium Technology Grand Prize for his invention of third generation, low cost, dye-sensitized solar cells. President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen handed the EUR 800,000 Grand Prize and the prize trophy "Peak" to Professor Grätzel on June 9, 2010 at the Grand Award Ceremony at the Finnish National Opera, Helsinki. June 10 June 11 In a paper published in the journal Science Advances on 11 June 2021 Swiss scientists proposed to use deep learning approach to augment human intelligence for the development of novel medicines in order to revolutionise the way we make drugs. June 12 June 13 Jolanda Neff of Switzerland won gold in the Women's Cross-country Mountain Bike Cycling at the 2015 European Games. June 14 World’s first ‘tree museum’, spanning 75,000 square meters, was officially opened on June 14, 2010 in Switzerland. The purpose of the museum is to emphasize the exceptional presence, beauty and rarity of the exhibited trees and shape visitors’ perception of how time and space are embedded in the very essence of these ancient and venerable trees. June 15 June 16 June 17 Switzerland ranked as the fifth most peaceful country in the world at the 2015 Global Peace Index published by Institute for Economics & Peace. Swiss researchers at the EPFL technical university in Lausanne on 17 June 2013 unveiled a small four-legged, high-speed robot that runs like a cat in a bid to create a new breed of robots for use in search and rescue operations. Researchers added that the "cheetah-cub robot," the size of a small house cat or cheetah cub, moves as fast as an adult human walking briskly. June 18 Swiss and German scientists have grown mini-brains from human stem cells that contain Neanderthal DNA and proteins, according to their study published in the journal Stem Cell Reports on 18 June 2020. June 19 June 20 Egyptologists from Switzerland and Egypt have discovered details of production techniques and usage of one of the oldest artificial wooden big toes in history after re-examining using modern techniques. The find is almost 3000 years old and was discovered in a female burial in the city of Luxor in Egypt, as revealed on 20 June 2017. Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland won gold in Women's Floor Exercise - Gymnastics Artistic at the 2015 European Games. June 21 June 22 The grimsel electric racing car, developed by Swiss students at ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, broke the world record for acceleration by an electric car on 22 June 2016. The vehicle accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.513 seconds over a distance of less than 30 m. June 23 June 24 June 25 June 26 June 27 June 28 June 29 June 30

July

July 1 July 2 July 3 Swiss solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 completed a historic flight in its quest to circle the globe without consuming a drop of fuel, touching down in Hawaii on 3 July 2015 after a record breaking 118 hours flight from Nagoya. July 4 July 5 Roger Federer won the 2009 Wimbledon Championships–Men's Singles tennis tournament. With this Federer secured a record-breaking 15th grand slam, putting him ahead of Pete Sampras. He is still going strong and already won his 16th grand slam championships. July 6 Switzerland and China on 6 July 2013 signed a free trade agreement in Beijing, a comprehensive and mutually beneficial pact that should contribute to increased trade between the two economies. July 7 July 8 Tennis King Roger Federer won his seventh Wimbledon title and record 17th Grand Slam crown on 8 July 2012 beating Andy Murray of Scotland 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. July 9 July 10 July 11 Swiss Martina Hingis and Indian Sania Mirza won ladies' doubles tennis crown at the 2015 Wimbledon beating Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-5. Researchers from Switzerland and an international team using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have, for the first time, determined the true color of a planet outside our solar system. If seen up close this planet, known as HD 189733b, would be a deep cobalt blue, reminiscent of Earth’s color as seen from space. Their findings were published on 11 July 2013 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. July 12 Swiss astronomers and a team of international researchers have discovered a star about the size of Saturn – the smallest ever measured. The newly-measured star, called EBLM J0555-57Ab, is located about six hundred light years away, as revealed on 12 July 2017. July 13 July 14 A team of international scientists, including researchers from Switzerland, at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider has reported the discovery of a new particle called the pentaquark, as announced on 14 July 2015. Physicists had theorized the existence of the pentaquark since the 1960s, but had never been able to prove it until now. July 15 July 16 Swiss tennis master Roger Federer won record 8th Wimbledon title and 19th Grand Slam trophy beating Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in the final on 16 July 2017. July 17 July 18 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer was named as the winner of the Best Record-Breaking Performance award at the 2018 ESPY Awards held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. July 19 July 20 July 21 Swiss National Bank (SNB) on 21 July 2014 signed a bilateral currency swap agreement with the Chinese central bank worth 150 billion yuan, or 21 billion Swiss francs ($24.4 billion). July 22 July 23 July 24 July 25 July 26 Swiss and English scientists have discovered an approximately 3,000-year-old lunchbox containing traces of cereal in the Swiss Alps that may have been used by a prehistoric settler for sustenance as he made the grueling climb across the Swiss mountains. Their findings were detailed in the journal Scientific Reports on 26 July 2017. Swiss Solar Impulse 2 on 26 July 2016 completed its historic round-the-world journey, becoming the first airplane to circle the globe powered only by the sun. July 27 July 28 July 29 The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge, the world's longest suspension footbridge - measuring over 1600 feet in length and rising as high as 279 feet, was opened in Switzerland on 29 July 2017. Swiss researchers, in collaboration with a team of international scientists, have shown that artificial blue light can synchronize the body clock under conditions in which natural light is scarce or unavailable. They performed their experiment under real conditions in Antarctica and published the study on 29 July 2014 which can be appreciated with the knowledge that disturbance to this biological clock causes problems with sleep, alertness, cardiovascular problems and even depression. July 30 July 31 Swiss city Lausanne was named as the host city of the Winter Youth Olympic Games 2020 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 31 July 2015.

August

August 1 August 2 Swiss scientists and a team of international researchers have found the strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on an enormous planet WASP-121b outside our solar system, with an atmosphere hot enough to boil iron. Their findings were reported in the journal Nature on 2 August 2017. August 3 August 4 Swiss Nicola Spirig won the Olympic gold medal in the London 2012 women's triathlon in the sport's first photo-finish at the Olympics on 4 August 2012. August 5 Papua New Guinea has the highest plant diversity of any island in the world, botanists from Switzerland and their international colleagues have discovered. Their findings were published on 5 August 2020 in the journal Nature. August 6 Professor Martin Jinek in the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Zurich, Switzerland was presented with the 2015 Vallee Young Investigator Award. The international prize is awarded to young researchers for outstanding achievements in biomedicine and carries USD 250,000 in prize money. Swiss and English scientists have identified a new species of dinosaur in Venezuela, named Laquintasaura Venezuela, with the help of its 200-million-year-old fossilized bones. It is the first new dinosaur species found in northern South America, as announced on 6 August 2014. August 7 August 8 Scientists at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland have succeeded in deciphering the entire visual network in the brain of a fly. The study published on 8 August 2017 in the journal eLife Sciences is expected to support brain research. August 9 August 10 August 11 August 12 August 13 August 14 August 15 Switzerland topped the 2016 Global Innovation Index, released on 15 August 2016 by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), that ranks countries based on their capacities and results for innovation. August 16 Swiss teen Belinda Bencic defeated world No. 3 Simona Halep 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 3-0 (retired hurt) on 16 August 2015 to win her maiden Rogers Cup tennis title in Canada. August 17 August 18 August 19 Sarah Hornung from Switzerland won gold in the 10m air rifle women’s competition at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. August 20 August 21 August 22 The First Geneva Convention was signed in Geneva, Switzerland on August 22, 1864 by twelve states and was later accepted by others. This international Convention for the Amelioration of the "Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field", included provisions guaranteeing neutrality for medical personnel and equipment and officially inaugurated the work of the Red Cross. August 23 August 24 August 25 August 26 August 27 August 28 August 29 August 30 August 31

September

September 1 September 2 Switzerland retained the top position as the world’s most innovative country according to the 2020 Global Innovation Index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization on 2 September 2020. September 3 Switzerland retained its crown as the world’s most competitive economy for the sixth year in a row, according to a ranking published on 3 September 2014 by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland's economy grew by a robust and better-than-expected 0.5 percent in the second quarter, according to data published on 3 September 2013, driven by private consumption and spending on machinery. September 4 Swiss International Air Lines was recognised as Europe's Leading Airline - Business Class at the 2016 World Travel Awards. September 5 September 6 Swiss tennis player Jil Belen Teichmann and Turkish Ipek Soylu claimed the title in the Junior Women's Double Final at the 2014 U.S. Open. September 7 September 8 September 9 Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and Taiwan’s Chan Yung-Jan won the 2017 U.S. Open women’s doubles tennis title beating Czech duo Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova 6-3 6-2. September 10 A team of international scientists, including researchers from Switzerland, has discovered a new species of human relative in a cave system in South Africa, and named it Homo naledi. Their findings were published in the journal Elife on 10 September 2015. September 11 World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland won his 1st US Open and 3rd Grand Slam tennis title on 11 September 2016 beating top seed Novak Djokovic 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 in a four-set thriller. September 12 September 13 Swiss and Indian duo Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza captured their second consecutive Grand Slam women's tennis doubles crown of the year, defeating Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3 in the US Open final on 13 September 2015. September 14 September 15 Switzerland ranked as the sixth most democratic country in the world according to the Democracy Index 2014 published by the Economist on 15 September 2015. September 16 September 17 September 18 September 19 September 20 September 21 September 22 September 23 September 24 Swiss wheelchair racers Marcel Hug and Manuela Schär won the 2017 Berlin men's and women's wheelchair marathons respectively. Swiss astronomers and their international colleagues have detected water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet that orbits a star far beyond our solar system. This marks the first time that an exoplanet, named HAT-P-11b, smaller than the size of Jupiter has been revealed to feature traces of water, according to the findings published in the journal Nature on 24 September 2014. September 25 September 26 Switzerland retained its rank as the world’s most competitive economy for the ninth consecutive year, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report published on 26 September 2017. This report identifies the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. Swiss agronomist/entomologist Dr Hans R. Herren was named as one of the winners of the 2013 Right Livelihood Awards for his expertise and pioneering work in promoting a safe, secure and sustainable global food supply with his Swiss-based Biovision Foundation. It is the first time that a Right Livelihood Award, honoring those who work to improve the lives of others, goes to a Switzerland. September 27 A team of Swiss and Greek archaeologists have uncovered an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis, the whereabouts of which have eluded researchers for more than 100 years, as widely reported on 27 September 2017. September 28 Swiss researchers have developed a procedure that allows them to mimic the complex fine structure of biological composite materials, such as teeth or seashells. They can thus create synthetic materials that are as hard and tough as their natural counterparts, as revealed on 28 September 2015. September 29 September 30 Switzerland ranked as the world’s most competitive country for the seventh year in a row, according to a World Economic Forum report released on 30 September 2015. This report, provides insight into the drivers of a country’s productivity and prosperity, suggests Switzerland has been nurturing innovation and talent. Swiss economist Ruedi Nutzi was honored as one of the recipients of the 2014 Chinese Government Friendship Award. The award is conferred upon foreign experts who have contributed to China’s economic and social development in the areas of economics, technology, education and culture.

October

October 1 October 2 October 3 October 4 Jacques Dubochet of Switzerland, Joachim Frank of the USA and Richard Henderson of England were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution. October 5 October 6 October 7 Rolf Martin Zinkernagel, a Swiss doctor, along with Peter C. Doherty from Australia won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on 7 October 1996 for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence. October 8 Three scientists, two Swiss scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz and a Canadian-American cosmologist James Peebles, were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for ground-breaking discoveries about the evolution of the universe and the Earth’s place within it. October 9 Swiss mountaineer Ueli Steck became the first person to make a solo ascent of the south face of Mount Annapurna, one of the Himalaya´s most dangerous 8,000-meter peaks, on 9 October 2013. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded one half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2002 to Kurt Wüthrich from Switzerland. Kurt received the award for his development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution. October 10 October 11 October 12 Richard Robert Ernst, a Swiss physical chemist, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991 for his contributions to the development of the methodology of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. October 13 October 14 October 15 The Gotthard Base Tunnel of Switzerland is the world's longest rail tunnel with a route length of 57 km or 35.4 mi. On 15th October 2010 Swiss engineers cut-through the last piece of rock to create the record. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) a Swiss humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization received the Nobel Peace Prize 1999 in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents. Since its inception in the early 1970s, MSF has adhered to the fundamental principle that all disaster victims, whether the disaster is natural or human in origin, have a right to professional assistance, given as quickly and efficiently as possible. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics by one half jointly to Dr Gerd Binnig and Dr Heinrich Rohrer from Switzerland, for their design of the scanning tunnelling microscope. October 16 October 17 Swiss, French and Moroccan researchers have discovered the remains of now-extinct creatures called trilobites that were almost perfectly preserved in the Moroccan desert near the town of Zagora, as reported in the journal Scientific Reports on 17 October 2019. October 18 October 19 Physicist Jack Steinberger from Switzerland jointly won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino. October 20 October 21 October 22 October 23 October 24 October 25 October 26 October 27 October 28 Swiss astronomers and their international colleagues have discovered an elusive new low-mass, low-density planet located 2,300 light years away from Earth with an atmosphere loaded with hydrogen and helium. The planet dubbed as PH3c was described in the Astrophysical Journal on 28 October 2014. October 29 Prehistoric sharks thought to have perished during the most severe and mass extinction in the earth's history some 250 million years ago, in fact lived another 120 million years, reported by researchers from Switzerland and France on 29 October 2013 in the journal Nature Communications. The fish may have survived the calamity by hiding away in the deep seas. October 30 October 31 Three paralysed men were able to walk again through precise electrical stimulation of their spinal cord through a wireless implant, developed by Swiss researchers, as published in the journal Nature on 31 October 2018.

November

November 1 Switzerland ranked as the third most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2017. Switzerland Named World’s Most Positive Country for 2016, for two consecutive years. Switzerland Named World’s Most Positive Country for 2015. Switzerland ranked fourth in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries for 2014. Switzerland ranked seventh in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries 2013. This is the first time Switzerland made it to the list. November 2 November 3 Switzerland took the fourth place at the Legatum Prosperity Index 2016, making it as one of the best places in the world to live. November 4 November 5 An international team of scientists, including researchers from Switzerland, believed to have discovered ice sheet in eastern Antarctica that may date back 1.5 million years. The newly discovered ice may reveal earth's climate conditions of the distant past. The study was published on 5 November 2013 in the Climate of the Past journal. November 6 November 7 Swiss climber Ueli Steck was named an Adventurer of the Year 2014-15 by the National Geographic for completing a lightning-fast solo climb of a difficult and deadly Himalayan face. November 8 November 9 Swiss tennis great Roger Federer won the Comeback, Sportsmanship and Fans’ Favourite Awards at the 2017 Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour Awards. Swiss researchers and their international colleagues have developed a neuroprosthetic system called the “brain-spine interface” that bypasses the lesion, restoring communication between the brain and the region of the spinal cord. Their prototype, detailed in the journal Nature on 9 November 2016, helped a paralysed monkey to walk again. November 10 November 11 November 12 November 13 November 14 November 15 November 16 November 17 November 18 November 19 November 20 Switzerland named second best place in the world to do business after Singapore, according to the annual research report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on 20 November 2014. November 21 November 22 November 23 Swiss tennis team won the Davis Cup for the first time defeating France 3-1 in the final on 23 November 2014. November 24 November 25 A team of neuroscientists and electrical engineers from Switzerland and Germany developed a highly sensitive implant that enables to probe brain physiology with unparalleled spatial and temporal resolution. The breakthrough design will allow entirely new applications in the life sciences, as revealed in the journal Nature on 25 November 2019. November 26 DNA, the building blocks of life, can survive a flight through space and re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere – and still pass on genetic information, according to a study by scientists from the University of Zurich, Switzerland revealed on 26 November 2014. The scientists obtained these astonishing results during an experiment on the TEXUS-49 research rocket mission, launched from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. November 27 November 28 November 29 November 30

December

December 1 Swiss pediatrician Joanne Liu was named as one of the world's top 100 global thinkers by Foreign Policy, a Washington-based prestigious magazine of global politics, economics and ideas, on 1 December 2015 for her stand against the bombing of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan by the American force. December 2 December 3 December 4 December 5 December 6 December 7 December 8 December 9 December 10 The International Committee of The Red Cross won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1917 for their outstanding humanitarian work during World War One; including delivering letters and messages from Prisoners of War (POW) and organizing the return of over 420,000 POWs to their home countries. The Permanent International Peace Bureau, founded in 1891, won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for its role in the peace movements, holding conferences and releasing regular publications. The Nobel Peace Prize 1902 was awarded jointly to Élie Ducommun and Charles Albert Gobat from Switzerland on December 10, 1902. They were awarded in recognition of their continuous efforts for peace and combating wars. The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Jean Henry Dunant (along with Frédéric Passy from France) on December 10, 1901. Dunant was awarded for his passionate humanitarianism which inspired the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Geneva Convention. December 11 Scientists in Switzerland have come up with a material mimicking the way tendons connect to bones, which could speed the development of stretchy, wearable electronic devices. The research findings were published on 11 December 2012 in the journal Nature Communications. December 12 December 13 December 14 Switzerland ranked third at the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) 2015 that measures long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development — a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. December 15 Switzerland ranked third at the United Nations’ Human Development Index, a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development, according to an UNDP report published on 15 December 2020. Swiss tennis star Roger Federer won the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award for a record fourth time on 15 December 2017 after a public vote. December 16 December 17 December 18 December 19 December 20 Swiss researchers and their international colleagues have identified a new dolphin species, named Urkudelphis chawpipacha, based on a small dolphin skull discovered in Ecuador. Their findings were detailed in the journal PLOS ONE on 20 December 2017. December 21 December 22 December 23 December 24 December 25 December 26 December 27 December 28 December 29 December 30 December 31

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