Technical Society Zurich

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The Technical Society of Zurich (TGZ for short) is concerned with promoting technical progress.

history

The Zurich Society was founded by a group of “friends of technology” at the beginning of the industrialization of Switzerland . The aim was to create an independent forum for technology, to find out about the latest rapid developments in technology and to benefit from the experiences of colleagues. The aim was to catch up with foreign countries (e.g. England ) in technical fields as quickly as possible. In particular, they wanted to achieve this by improving training opportunities . So it is not surprising that the main concern initially in the creation of training centers for vocational training in mathematics andscientific subjects and the promotion of general education . To this end, one year after the TGZ was founded (1826), the “Technical Institute” was founded, which later became the cantonal “ Industrial School ”. It should "give those young people the opportunity to receive higher education after completing the classes of the art school or corresponding classes of the school of learning before entering professional life". The rector of this industrial school, Prof. Joseph Wolfgang von Deschwanden (1819–1866), who has been in office since 1847, was a member of the TGZ and is considered the actual organizer of the Polytechnic (founded in 1855, ETH since 1912 ).

aims

Historical

At the time the TGZ was founded, the educated people informed each other more or less through correspondence about discoveries and developments, which were then made public and discussed in a circle of specialist colleagues. This oral form of transmission was institutionalized in the TGZ. In the early days, giving lectures was a condition for full membership. The lectures were later collected and published. Speakers included personalities such as Arnold Escher von der Linth , city engineer Arnold Bürkli and later also Culmann . The topics of the lecture reflect the technical interests of the respective epoch. In the beginning it was topics from the textile industry and travel reports with technical descriptions, today it is topics from telecommunications , data processing , modern manufacturing techniques of industrial productions and environmental science .

In the beginning the society was a closed association, which served the own information of its members, then it opened up to the outside through the publications and notifications. The objective also changed: with information about the benefits and dangers of technical developments that was neither ideologically nor politically tinted, efforts were made to reduce public fears and prejudices in favor of an objective discussion.

Current

Even today, the company and ETH Zurich are closely linked (see above). The Society's lecture events have recently been held at ETH again, and the archive is managed by the ETH Library. The objective has not changed significantly, but the issues and complexity have changed. Every semester around 8 lectures from the most diverse areas of technology are offered, which are now held by proven specialists, whereby care is taken that the explanations are also understandable for non-specialists. Of course, society benefits from the proximity to the ETH through a large number of members from the professorial body . Members also come from industry and the service sector ; Doctors , lawyers and private individuals have also found their way to the TGZ.

Thanks to the Internet, there is also a good way to go public with the outside world . The TGZ publishes its lecture events on its homepage, where you can get brief information on every occasion. Of course, one also likes to see guests at the lectures. Since there are always - as in the past - current technical problems to which the TGZ can express itself competently thanks to the accumulated expert knowledge of its members, various theses have recently been posted on the TGZ website. This technology forum is open to those interested who want to find out more about the topic in question and who may ask further questions or make comments.

literature

  • Editor (ed.): Technology and the public. 175 years of the Technical Society of Zurich . ETH Library, Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-9521386-3-0 .

Web links