Hayward Beywood
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
In the 1960s a white-haired, plump-cheeked gentleman could be seen riding round Geneva on his old bike puffing his pipe. This was Jean Piaget, now considered to be one of the greatest psychologists of the twentieth century. Throughout his life he opposed chauvinistic clich?s about the development of the human being and sought to find out exactly how the child constructs knowledge. He was (...)
The man who invented the Canton of Geneva - Charles Pictet de Rochement
Charles Pictet de Rochement (1755-1824)
If the city of Geneva owes its present structure to James Fazy, and the shape of la rade can be attributed to General Dufour, it can be stated that it was Charles Pictet-de-Rochemont who established the outline of the canton of Geneva. He was a statesman and diplomat who defended the status of Geneva and prepared the declaration of Switzerland’s (...)
Ernest Ansermet 1883-1969
If you listen to classical music on the radio, you will hear the name of Ansermet, the conductor, mentioned almost as many times as Stravinsky, the composer. The name of Ansermet is also inseparable from that of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
A modest, upright, uncompromising, and stubborn man, Ernest Ansermet hated celebrity. Nevertheless, he became one of the most famous conductors of (...)
The father of modern Geneva James Fazy (1794-1878)
The way Geneva looks and functions today is in part due to the actions of James Fazy in the twenty years between 1841 and 1861. Fazy was a statesman whose list of accomplishments is extraordinary: he founded the newspaper Journal de Gen?ve; he encouraged new industries and banks; he laid the foundations for the public health system; he introduced the primary education system. The grand (...)
The girl who wrote “Frankenstein” - Mary Shelley
First, it should be made clear (since nearly everyone gets it wrong)that “Frankenstein” is the name of the man who made the monster and not the name of the monster itself. In the book the monster is only ever referred to as “the monster”. It was audiences watching the 1931 film Frankenstein who thought that the title referred to the monster and people have been getting it wrong ever since. Even (...)
The woman whom Napoleon hated most... Madame de Sta?l (1766–1817)
The brilliant personality of Madame de Sta?l made her the most famous woman in Europe at the dawning of the nineteenth century. Although her parents were from Geneva, she was actually born in Paris on 22 April 1766 and her name was Germaine Necker. Her father was Jacques Necker, a wealthy Genevese banker, and hence she was brought up in elegant Parisian luxury. Although a foreigner and a (...)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the famous philosopher, was born in Geneva on 28 June 1712. His mother died shortly after giving birth. His father Isaac was a watchmaker and for a time Jean-Jacques lived with his father and brother Fran?ois in rue de Coutance (where the Manor shop is now located). However, in 1722, following a quarrel, his father fled to Nyon. Jean-Jacques continued his education at (...)
What exactly did Jean Calvin (1509–1564) do for Geneva?
JEAN CALVIN (1509–1564)
What exactly did Jean Calvin do for Geneva?
In 1509 Jean Cauvin (as the name was written at that time) was born in the town of Noyon in Picardy, Northern France, into a wealthy family. When he was 12 he was sent to school in Paris with the intention of becoming a priest, but his father later thought that he would earn his living better as a lawyer so he studied law (...)
Qu’est-ce que Jean Calvin a fait pour Gen?ve ?
JEAN CALVIN (1509–1564)
Qu’est-ce que Jean Calvin a fait pour Gen?ve ?
En 1509 Jean Cauvin (l’orthographe de son nom ? l’?poque) ?tait n? dans la ville de Noyon en Picardie dans une famille ais?e. A l’age de 12 ans il ?tait envoy? ? l’?cole ? Paris dans la perspective de devenir pr?tre, mais ult?rieurement son p?re fut de l’avis qu’il gagnera mieux sa vie en tant qu’avocat. Donc, il avait termin? (...)
Horace-B?n?dict de Saussure, 1740–1799
The young Horace-B?n?dict de Saussure visited Chamonix in 1760 and developed the ambition to stand on top of Mont Blanc or at least to be responsible for it being climbed. For this purpose he posted notices in all the surrounding villages offering a reward to the first person to reach the summit of the “Great White Mountain” at 4,807 metres, but it would be twenty-six years before anyone (...)
Woodrow Wilson
In Geneva, on one side of the lake you have the Quai Gustave Ador and on the other side the Quai Wilson. Most people know that the Quai Wilson is named after Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth President of the United States of America. But did you know that there is link between the naming of these two roads. So who was Gustave Ador? More about him later. After a distinguished academic (...)
Voltaire at Ferney
When Voltaire sought refuge at Ferney in 1758, he had already led a tumultuous existence. He had been in or out of favour at various royal courts, writing successful plays or writing flops, jotting slanderous verses or penning philosophical works. His first 66 years had been marked by fame and fortune—indeed, he was very wealthy—but also by scandal, grief, imprisonment and flight.
Voltaire (...)
Sissy —the unconventional empress
Although she became Empress of Austria, Elizabeth of Wittelsbach (known by her nickname Sissy) was known throughout Europe for not behaving in the way a conventional empress should. Her life came to a tragic end when she was murdered in Geneva in 1898.
She was born on Christmas Eve 1837 in Munich, the daughter of the Duke Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria and his wife Ludovika. Her father was a (...)
Julius Caesar in Geneva
Julius Caesar came to Geneva in 58 B.C., when, at the age of 42, he became governor of the Roman provinces on both sides of the Alps—known as Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul. Since 125 B.C., the northern limit of the Roman Empire had been marked by the Alps and the left bank of the River Rhone. There was a bridge in Geneva to the north of which lay the “uncivilized” world.
Having, over the (...)
The legend of William Tell
William Tell is one of the universal symbols of the victory of the oppressed over the oppressor. Is it possible that William Tell, the very symbol of Swiss independence, never existed?
It is 1291 and the story begins at a time when Austria—a foreign power—ruled the cantons of Uri, Schwytz and Unterwald, now forming part of central Switzerland. The local population was obliged to show (...)
Myths — the Swiss Lake Dwellers
When I was at school we were taught that early civilizations in Switzerland had built villages on raised wooden platforms standing in shallow water on the lake shores. When I came to live in Switzerland I learned that this was untrue. What a pity! Where did this rather attractive and romantic idea come from and why did it turn out to be false?
The winter of 1853/1854 was exceptionally dry (...)
La M?re Royaume (1540?-1605?)
At the origin of the famous marmites full of chocolate vegetables sold during the Escalade each December in Geneva is La M?re Royaume. The Escalade celebrates the events of the night of 11/12 December 1602 when the citizens of Geneva repulsed the attempt by the soldiers of Charles-Emmanuel I, the Duke of Savoy, to seize the city. The story as it is now told states that, from her window above (...)
Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918)
Ferdinand Hodler is one of Switzerland’s greatest painters; to many - the greatest. He placed on canvas the legendary history of his country and its humble, hard-working, honest, pious people. In his poetic landscapes one can perceive the cosmic rhythms of the universe and the structure of the Earth.
In his childhood he knew poverty, sickness and death. He was born at G?rzelen in the canton (...)
Geneva, 1536
There is an invisible line running North-South across Switzerland. Up until 1536, this was the firm frontier between two completely different cultures. To the east lay the German-speaking Swiss cantons, to the west the French-speaking territory of the Duke of Savoy. In the middle of the Duke’s territory could be found the city of Geneva.
In Mediaeval times, there was a continuous dispute as (...)
HENRY DUNANT
Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross, born in Geneva on 8 May 1828, was the first child of a wealthy, religious, humanitarian and privileged household. (Note that although he was baptised Jean-Henri, the most common way that he wrote his name was "Henry".) He seemed destined to become a priest, but he was so hopeless at French, mathematics and particularly Latin that this idea had to be (...)
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In a chronology of Irish history, the first accurate census of Ireland in 1841 records a population of 8,175,124. It coincides with the gigantic goodbye signed by 160,000 people and presented to the popular Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Morpeth, when he left Dublin in 1841. On the first sheet the testimonial contains the names of nobility, first being that of the Duke of Leinster and the rest of the organising committee. Most of the signatories were from the aristocracy, gentry and professional and merchant classes. Further research may show that other socio-economic groups were also (...)
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