Louis Agassiz (Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz), 1807 - 1873

Armand Borel, 1923-2003, mathematician. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, studied mathematics at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Spent 1949-50 in Paris where he came into contact with leading French mathematicians who exercised an important influence on this thinking. In 1952 he went to Princeton, having been invited to the Institute for Advanced Study there. In 1954 he moved on to Chicago, returning to Switzerland to take up an appointment as professor of Mathematics at the Federal Institute of Techology in Zurich. Princeton then offered him a prestigious permanent professorship which he took up in 1957, where he remained until 1993. For three years 1983-6 he held concurrently a professorship in Zurich. He divided the last years of his life between the US, the Far East and Switzerland, and died in Princeton. He received a number of honors, including the Balzan Prize in 1992.

Karl Brunner, 1916-1989, economist. Born in Zurich, studied at the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, at at the London School of Economics. Went to the US in 1943, took up teaching positions first at Harvard then at Chicago State University. In 1951 was appointed professor at UCLA. Later moved to Ohio State University and subsequently to the University of Rochester in New York. From 1974 to 1986 he taught at the University of Bern, but moved back to the US and died in Rochester. His main interest in economics lay with the nature of the money supply process. He opposed government interference. Along with Milton Friedman he was one of the chief proponents of neoliberal monetarism. 

Siegfried Giedion, 1888-1968, architectural historian and author, born in Prague, but a citizen of Lengnau, Canton Aargau.  Supporter of avant-garde architecture in the first half of the 20th century. Visiting professor at Harvard in 1938-39 and again 1954-57. He also taught at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (1947-58).

Arnold (Henry) Guyot, 1807 - 1884

William Nicholas (W. N.) Hailmann, 1836-1920

Jean Hoerni, 1924-1997, silicon transistor pioneer. Born in Switzerland. Obtained physics doctorates at Cambridge University and the University of Geneva. Moved to the US in 1952 to work at the California Institute of Technology, where he met William Shockley, founder of Silicon Valley. After working for Shockley for about a year, he and seven colleagues left to create the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. It was here that Hoerni invented the planar process, a means of fusing an insulating layer of silicon dioxide onto a chip before applying the conducting metal circuitry. This revolutionary discovery led to the creation of the silicon chip. Hoerni later left Fairchild and founded several other companies, including Intersil, which used the technology to pioneer digital watches. Hoerni was also a keen mountainer, and even partially scaled Mount Everest. He was moved by the plight of the Balti people of the Karakorams in northern Pakistan, and created a million dollar foundation to help provide health care and education for them. 

Ernst Levy, 1895-1981, pianist. Born in Basel. Moved to Paris in 1920, where he promoted choral music and founded the Choeur Philharmoniquenin 1928. Moved to the US in 1941 as a result of the worsening situation for Jews in Europe, and held professorships at a number prestigious institutions including the New England Conservatory, Bennington College, the University of Chicago,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brooklyn College. He taught piano and composition, as well as conducting, performing and composing. On retirement in 1966 he returned to Switzerland where he remained for the rest of his life.

Adolf Meyer, 1866-1950, psychiatrist. Born in Niederweningen, Canton Zurich. Graduated from the University of Zurich with a medical degree. Moved to the US in 1892. Took up positions as a psychiatrist at various universities and hospitals before being appointed to a professorship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1908 and psychiatrist-in-chief at the hospital there in 1909. He trained two generations of psychiatrists and was very influential in American psychiatry in the first half of the 20th century, although his ideas were later disputed.

Johann Ulrich Nef, 1862 - 1915

Jürg Niehans, 1919-, economist. Born in Bern, taught in the economic faculty of the University of Zurich. In 1966 moved to the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he held the Abraham G. Hutzler chair of political economy, remaining there until 1977. He then took up a post at the University of Bern teaching theoretical political economy until his retirement in 1988. His period in Bern overlapped with that of Karl Brunner. He then moved to Palo Alto. His research has centered on economic growth, monetary theory and international monetary economics. He has also written on the history of economic theory. 

Philip Schaff, 1819-1893, theologian, born in Chur. Educated in Germany, including theology studies. Arrived in the US in 1844 to take up an appointment as Professor of Church History at the German Reformed Theological Seminar of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, the church's only seminary in the US at the time. Moved to New York in 1863 when the seminary was temporarily closed as a result of the Civil War. He held various chairs at the city's Union Theological Seminary until his death. He was regarded as a controversial figure, stressing the historical evolution of the church and the Catholic roots of modern Protestantism. He was twice tried for heresy by his own church, and twice acquitted, He is best remembered for his 8-volume "History of the Christian Church" (1882-92).

Hans Ulrich Zellweger, 1909-1990, paediatrician. Born in Lugano, studied medicine at the University of Zurich, graduating in 1934. After further training in Lucerne, he worked for two years (1937-39) with Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene in what is now the West African state of Gabon. He returned to Switzerland and from 1939 worked at the Children's Hospital in Zurich. In 1951 he became professor of paediatrics at the American University Beirut. He immigrated to the US in 1959, to take up a post at the University of Iowa. In 1977 he became head of the regional genetic service of the state of Iowa. He gave his name to Zellweger's syndrome, a rare hereditary disorder which leads to death in the first weeks or months of life.

Fritz Zwicky, 1898 - 1974