In-depth stories: 2021
"You can't invent everything perfectly from the start" - Part 3/3
In the last part of this video series, Niklaus Wirth tells us what doors the Turing Award opened for him and how he got one step closer to perfection with each programming language.
Flavio Pfaffhauser: “It was the perfect moment to take a leap”
Flavio Pfaffhauser completed his Master's degree in computer science at ETH Zurich in 2010. Today, as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and co-founder of the ETH spin-off Beekeeper, it is his mission to take the rising software provider to the top of the world.
"Switzerland had slept through it" - Part 2/3
In this continuing conversation, Niklaus Wirth talks about the hurdles he had to overcome when introducing computer science to Switzerland and why the label "made in the USA" was absolutely necessary at the time.
Remo Gisi: “Paragliding is very algorithmic”
Remo Gisi studied computer science at ETH Zurich from 2005 to 2012. A few years later, he founded the spin-off Tastelab, which operates at the intersection of food, science and sustainability. His knowledge of computer science also helps him with tasks and hobbies that have nothing to do with programming.
A critical view of the engine room
When algorithms reinforce biases: doctoral student Afra Amini is studying automated human language processing and its pitfalls.
The world is watching: youth and artificial intelligence combat climate change
David Dao, a doctoral student in the DS3Lab at the Department of Computer Science, visited the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference and explains what computer science can do to help.
"I always saw myself as an engineer" - Part 1/3
1970, Prof. em. Niklaus Wirth developed the programming language Pascal and became world famous with it. In this conversation with Prof. em. Friedemann Mattern, Wirth talks about the beginnings of computer science and how he influenced them significantly.
Cornelia Haldemann: “We were a mixed bunch”
As one of the first computer science students at ETH Zurich, Cornelia Haldemann began her studies in 1981 and graduated in 1987. Today, she heads the product data management of an internationally active Swiss company and, after many years of work, meets change with serenity.
"There was an unwritten rule that no first-year student was allowed on the board"
Alexandre de Spindler was an active VIS member from 2001-2003 and is the founder of the Snowdayz. Visionen editor Ricardo Heinzmann asks him in an interview about his time in VIS 20 years ago.
Christian Plattner: “I wrote my Matura paper on polymorphic computer viruses”
Christian Plattner completed his diploma in computer science at ETH Zurich in 2002. Already a coder while at secondary school, he worked in industry while studying at ETH and founded his own company while still a doctoral student.