Alumni News

The Platzspitz weir at the confluence of the Limmat and Sihl rivers regulates Lake Zurich and harnesses hydropower. After more than 70 years of operation, it has reached the end of its technical service life. We visited the construction site and the Letten power plant in two groups.

Many of us have seen the huge building when passing it by train already, more than 40 ETH Alumni and Alumnae of the OG Zürich now also got to know the "inside" of the Zürich-Mülligen letter center of the Swiss Post on the evening of October 31^st.

On Tuesday, September 24, 2024, a group of 54 interested ETH alumnae and alumni visited the Hardhof groundwater plant to learn more about where the water we take for granted comes from and how it finds its way into our households.

On 22 October, the event "Artificial Intelligence (AI/AI) – ETH Alumni Innovators Exchange" took place in the auditorium of the Technopark in Zurich, organized by the ETH Alumni Zurich chapter and FOUND (getfound.ai).

On 23.05.2024, 33 interested people met at SIX in Zurich to visit the Finance Museum. In two groups, we were presented with some highlights from the collection of historical securities as well as a brief overview of the development of banking in Switzerland.

The ETH Alumni Zurich chapter organized the exciting, fully booked event "On the way to net zero" on 25 June 2024 at ETH with the support of ETH Event Management and ETH Alumni Engagement Office.

concert surprise with the Armenian Gurdjieff Ensemble

Shortly before Christmas, on December 19, 24 alumnae and alumni got in the mood for the festive season. Night watchman Harzenmoser led us through the festively decorated old town, entertained us with some spooky stories and treated us to a winter aperitif. After the cultural part, we warmed up in the Fondue-Alp and were spoiled with culinary delights.

The inspiring event at Sonova stood in stark contrast to the gloomy weather on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, when Chapter Zurich and AMIV Alumni invited alumni for a joint tour of Sonova's headquarters in Stäfa. Around 30 ETH alumnae and alumni were introduced to today's world of hearing and its future.

Whether top-fermented or bottom-fermented, malty or hoppy: during the guided tour and subsequent beer tasting at the Chopfab brewery in Winterthur on 14 September, our group from the OG Zurich was able to deepen its knowledge of barley juice both theoretically and practically.

Thursday, 31 August 2023: 39 ETH alumnae and alumni were introduced to the eventful  mining history in Horgen at the Käpfnach mine. In what was once Switzerland's largest coal mine, we experienced first-hand the difficult conditions under which work was carried out on the 1.4 km long, somewhat adventurous underground tour.

On June 27, 2023, 120 people at ETH Zurich attended exciting presentations and a lively panel discussion on the hot topic of the energy future 2050 in Switzerland.

On June 27, 2023, 120 people at ETH Zurich attended exciting presentations and a lively panel discussion on the hot topic of the energy future 2050 in Switzerland.

On Friday, 26 May 2023, 30 alumni and alumnae met in Oerlikon at Hall 622 to immerse themselves in the dazzling and subversive world of street art superstar and anonymous art activist Banksy.

The 'Sprayer of Zurich', Harald Naegeli, has repeatedly visited the ETH underground car park since 1977 to leave his legendary stick figures on the bare concrete walls. Around 20 Alumnae und Alumni followed the expert explanations of Anna-Barbara Neumann, curator of Naegeli's foundation and long-time right-hand person, with great interest on the day of the meteorological beginning of summer.

On Friday, 5 May 2023, the time had come and a group of 17 alumni met eagerly on the first floor of the Bacher Garden Centre in Langnau, where the the Cantonal Department of Waste, Water, Energy and Clean Air of Zurich (AWEL) had installed an exhibition on the Sihl-Zurichsee relief tunnel.

Last August, the SRF radio studio moved to the Radio Hall in the southeast of the Leutschenbach area. On March 21, a large group of young and older alumni and alumnae of the Chapter Zurich gathered at the SRF to visit the new Radio Hall and to get a taste of television.

It has become a tradition that the Chapter Zurich Alumni patronises one of the concerts in the series Music at ETH and USZ. ETH alumni and alumnae were able to enjoy discounted admission to the concert of the ensemble Blattwerk.

How does a letter get from A to B? What is behind it all and what could go wrong? The participants of the OG Zurich found out about this and more during the guided tour of the Zurich-Mülligen mail center.

Shortly before Christmas, around 30 alumnae and alumni experienced an exciting and humorous guided tour through the theatre “Schiffbau”. We were able to get a taste of the stage, take a look behind the scenes and rummage in the trove.

On 4 November, 40 alumnae and alumni took the opportunity to look behind the scenes at Stadler Rail. During the guided tour, participants gained exciting insights into the world of the internationally renowned rail train manufacturer.

In diesem zweiten Teil der Reise durch Raum und Zeit machten wir uns nach dem ersten Warm-Up-Event auf zu einem Spaziergang zu Hotspots der Urbanen Kunst im Kreis 5 und 4 in Zürich. Während dem Rundgang konnten wir die verschiedenen Techniken im öffentlichen Raum entdecken.

During a short presentation with an imaginary graffiti spaceship at the "Urban Art Kunstraum Starkart", we travelled through time taking off at the roots of visual communication. We followed its development up to the present during a gallery tour and finally, we tried to cast a glance at its future.

"Net zero emissions by the year 2040" - what is behind this ambitious goal of supplying the city of Zurich exclusively with renewable energy by 2040? 40 participants from the chapter Zurich Alumni received an insight into the strategy and a concrete project to achieve this goal.

During a guided tour on 31 May 2022, members of Chapter Zurich Alumni were able to gain interesting insights into the functioning and processing of Switzerland’s largest shunting yard.

On the first day of ice saints on 11 May 2022, alumnae and alumni of Chapter Zurich Alumni were pleased with a cultural treat. Despite all folk saying, the outside temperatures hovered around 30 degrees, but that did not stop our members from participating.

On 7 December 2021, Chapter Zurich had the opportunity to gain insights into the architectural culture of the new century. In small groups, the participants experienced a guided tour through the premises of the offices @theBranch.

What a pleasure! Finally, the alumnae and alumni of Chapter Zurich were able to meet physically in a larger group. The participants paid a visit to the Zurich Zoo and learned a lot about the zoo animals.

In this BAG compliant and special city tour, we walked through two Zurich districts – and found ourselves caught somewhere between vandalism and art.

In this webinar, we traveled back to the roots of visual representation and communication, traced its evolution to the present, and we attempted to glimpse its future.

Heinz Mäder studied and received his doctorate in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich. He's been involved with the ETH Alumni for around 50 years. For a number of years, he was the president of Zurich Chapter so shouldered particular responsibility given the city's large number of former students. In November 2019, the delegates honoured his work and made him an honorary member of the ETH Alumni. He speaks here about what his work in general and the ETH Alumni in particular mean to him.

Both on 9 June and 2 July, the Chapter Zurich Alumni conducted an online seminar, each of which was attended by around 30 alumni. Both online seminars were held by Verena Tschudi, coach for career and leadership.

Despite the ongoing pandemic and the protection measures associated with, the Alumni Chapter Zurich strives for staying in contact with its members. For this reason, the Chapter organised a webinar on the subject of Swiss high-tech community protective masks on 24 June, 2020.

The tradition continued in 2020. Chapter Zurich Alumni was once again able to support an interesting concert as part of "Music at ETH and UZH". On January 21, 2020, we enjoyed a concert performed by the extraordinary cellist Lev Sivkov under the title "The beautiful voice of the cello...". Lev Sivkov won several prizes at international competitions.

On December 4, 2019, the Alumni Chapter Zurich visited a Zurich start-up company that successfully produces different sorts of bags. These bags stand out due to their innovative design and sustainable production.

As part of the 150-year anniversary of the ETH Alumni, the Alumni Chapter Zurich invited researchers and developers of rehabilitation technologies to present their latest inventions to the public. In the ETH main building, the courtyard was transformed into a parkour where people with disabilities could show how these technologies help them in everyday life. The teams from ETH, University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil and two spin-offs from ETH exhibited and demonstrated their technologies.

On August 23, 26 ETH Alumni was offered the opportunity to gain an insight into the construction and operation of the storage power station Linth-Limmern. This facility is considered the „prestige object“ of Axpo Power AG (Axpo). It hit the headlines all over the world. The venture was initiated with courage and commitment in the beginning of the noughties. Following a very detailed planning phase between 2007 and 2009, the implementation of this enterprise only took a record-braking seven years.

The Alumni Chapter Zurich enjoyed to great success the second guided tour of the tower at St. Peter’s Church on June 26, 2019. Due to the limited number of participants (20 people), the guided tour was conducted twice.The excellent guide, ETH Alumnus Dr. Rudolf Röttinger, understood to captivate the participants during the whole time. The civil engineer with a PhD knew how to fascinate with historical details of the building.

Jürg Werner is CEO of Metall Zug AG since 2012. Between 1976 and 1981, he studied Electrical Engineering at ETH in Zurich. Thereafter, he worked as a research assistant there and in 1987, he gained his PhD. He spoke with ETH Alumni about the importance of a solid basic education and an interlocking of the university and industry.  

40 Members of the Alumni Chapter Zurich met for a guided tour at the airport Zurich-Kloten on April 24, 2019. The focus lied on the topic of logistics and processes at the airport. We learned more about the giant operation behind the process starting at the “check-in” until the reunion with the baggage and the exit through the customs clearance. It was remarkable how much manual labour is necessary despite barcodes and automatic processes!

On March 26, 2019, the Alumni Chapter Zurich was searching for forensic tracks at the museum of criminology of the cantonal police of Zurich. Among other exhibits of police clothing and firearms, the 12 participants also came across true criminal cases, which the cantonal police of Zurich had to solve during the last 50 years.

Under the auspices of the Alumni Chapter Zurich once again, a special concert took place, which was part of the series “Music at ETH and UZH”. On February 5, 2019, the Melisma Quartet performed with the violinist Gwendolyn Masin melodies out of West Side Story in front of 400 guests in honour of Leonhard Bernstein’s 100th Birthday.

On November 7, 2018 26 members of the Zurich Chapter Alumni met in order to listen to four students of ESOP. The attendees learned how multifaceted and interdisciplinary the research is at ETH Zurich and of course the Alumni were happy to come back into the old halls.

40 members of the Alumni Chapter Zurich did not want to miss out on the opportunity to visit MAN energy solutions in Zurich on October 24, 2018. An interesting introduction provided the most important information about the company, followed by a fascinating presentation on the most recent innovative product and last but not least the actual visitation elated the attendees.

On August 22, 2018 20 members of the OG Zurich Alumni visited the railway operation lab at the Institute of Trafficplanning and Transportsystems at ETH Hönggerberg. This lab serves the training of skilled employees in the railway system.The contingent was booked out fast. The fascination of railways is still widespread.  

Roughly 28 members of the OG Zürich Alumni took part in a unique tour through the pumping plant and reservoir Limmern close to Linthal on September 14, 2018.

Roughly forty Alumni of the Ortsgruppe Zürich met on 23 May 2018 in front of the impressive building of the Opera house which adorns the Sechselätenplatz for a guided tour of the Zürich Opera house.

On Thursday June 14, 2018, about 30 alumni of the Ortsgruppe Zürich as well as Zürichsee and their partners took part in a guided tour through the main building of the ETH Zürich.

Roughly 50 members of the Ortsgruppe Zürich Alumni took part in an insightful and interesting tour of the waste incineration plant Hagenholz in Zürich on 25 April 2018.

On 8 February 2018, the 75 members of the OG Zürich Alumni met at the Alumni Pavillon for their annual meeting. Following the official part, they enjoyed a lecture by Prof. Dr. Anton Gunzinger on the topic of opportunities of the Swiss energy revolution.

On 30 January 2018, a large group of interested members from the Ortsgruppe Zürich attended the concert of the Giraud Ensemble, which is under their patronage, in the Auditorium Maximum at the ETH Zürich and enjoyed two musical highlights.

«Ich erzähle es Euch, um es mir selbst zu sagen» – Unter diesem Motto fesselte der Komponist und Pianist Werner Bärtschi am 22. November die rund 50 Teilnehmer am letzten Anlass der Ortsgruppe Zürich Alumni in diesem Jahr. In seinem spannenden Referat widmete sich Werner Bärtschi zwei Themen: Lesen von Noten und wie er komponiere.

Am 9. Oktober 2017 besuchten neunzehn Mitglieder der Ortsgruppe Zürich Alumni und sechs Begleitpersonen das Weinbaumuseum am Fusse des Rebberges auf der Halbinsel Au am Zürichsee. Nach einem Rundgang durch den Rebberg und einer Führung durch das Museum genossen die Alumni einen ausgezeichneten Apéro aus Museumswein, Fleisch, Käse und Brot.

Am 26. September 2017 erhielten die Mitglieder der Ortsgruppe Zürich Alumni die Gelegenheit, sich eine Übersicht über das NEST-Projekt zu verschaffen. Dabei wurde ihnen ein Einblick in drei ausgewählte Themen – Vision Wood, Meet2Create und ehub – gewährt.

Am Wochenende vom 14. und 15. Juli 2017 trafen sich die Alumni der Ortsgruppe Zürich und der Ortsgruppe Basel zu einer gemeinsamen Exkursion ins Wallis. Das Interesse galt den Umbauarbeiten der Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB) mit neuem Geschäftssitz in Brig und der Weltsensation der im Bau stehenden 3S-Bahn auf das Kleine Matterhorn.

Mit drei Anlässen am Nachmittag und einem anschliessenden Jubiläums-Essen im Zunfthaus zur Meisen feierte die Ortsgruppe Zürich Alumni am 30. Juni ihr 100-jähriges Bestehen. Damit gehört sie zu einer der ältesten Mitgliederorganisationen der ETH Alumni Vereinigung. Begonnen hatte alles am 11. Juli 1917 mit der Gründung der „Maschineningenieur-Gruppe Zürich der GEP“.

Am 11. Mai besuchte die Ortgruppe Zürich Alumni das Staatsarchiv in Zürich. Neben spannenden Plänen und alten ETH-Dokumenten durften die Alumni auch das älteste Pergament des Archivs genauer unter die Lupe nehmen.

Wie muss man sich die Arbeit bei Google vorstellen? Wer arbeitet da und was machen die Leute hier in Zürich genau? Mit achtzig Teilnehmern durften wir von der Ortsgruppe Zürich Alumni einen Blick hinter die Kulissen werfen; direkt auf die Tastaturen der Programmierer.

„Kielflügel und Federkiel“ – unter diesem Motto lud die Ortsgruppe Zürich Alumni am 17. Januar 2017 zum Konzert an der ETH. Denn seit vielen Jahren unterstützt die Ortsgruppe jeweils ein Konzert aus der Reihe „Musik an der ETH“. Die Zuhörer in der Aula im Hauptgebäude kamen mit gespannter Erwartungshaltung. Was ist unter diesem Titel zu hören? Das gedruckte Programm brachte Klärung: „Galante Cembalomusik, höfische Tänze und weibliche Korrespondenz in Versailles“.