Early History of Computing in Switzerland: Discovery of Rare Devices, Unknown Documents, and Scarcely Known Facts

Some aspects of computing history in Switzerland are well known to computing historians, such as Heinz Rutishauser’s early work with automatic programming and Algol, Niklaus Wirth’s creation of Pascal, both at ETH Zurich, and developments at IBM’s Zurich research laboratory. However, other Swiss contributions to early history of computing are less well known. A good place to research the history of other early achievements is in the archives of the main library of ETH Zurich and its “Sammlung Sternwarte” (collection of astronomical instruments). Another good source is the archive of the Neue Z€ urcher Zeitung, the leading Swiss daily newspaper, founded in 1780. In this note, I relate some of what I have learned about the early history of computing in Switzerland, about rare devices, forgotten documents, and scarcely known facts; and I suggest some of my journey as a computer scientist turned historian.