"Switzerland had slept through it" - Part 2/3

Today, Switzerland plays a crucial role in the world of computer science and makes fundamental contributions to this scientific field. Forty years ago, the situation was very different: while the first workstations were being developed in the US and computerscience was already widespread as a study programme, Switzerland lagged far behind. Innovations that didn’t originate in America were downright ignored. This was also the case with Wirth's Lilith, which didn't get any interest from the industry until years later. In this continuing conversation, Niklaus Wirth tells of the early days of computer science and does not shy away from expressing criticism.

Owing to his visionary character, Niklaus Wirth managed to bring computer science innovations to Switzerland and establish them here. His research contributions are largely responsible for the fact that the study programme and the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich exist today.

Niklaus Wirth was a professor at ETH Zurich from 1968 to 1999. He was a leading force in establishing the department and the study programme of computer science. He received his diploma in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich, followed by a Master's degree from the Université Laval in Canada in 1960. In 1963, he received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked with Harry Huskey on the generalisation of the programming language Algol 60. After assistant professorships at Stanford University and the University of Zurich, he returned to ETH in 1968, initially as Professor of Computer Science, where he taught and conducted research until 1999. In the years 1976 to 1977 and 1984 to 1985, study visits were made to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

During 31 years at ETH Zurich, Niklaus Wirth developed new programming languages (Euler, PL360, Algol W, Pascal, Modula, Modula 2, Oberon, LoLa), built the first personal computers (PCs) in Switzerland, trained a first generation of Swiss computer scientists and wrote several standard works that have been translated worldwide. He received numerous honors, including the prestigious ACM Turing Award in 1984 as the first and so far only German-​speaking computer scientist and the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award in 1988.

Friedemann Mattern was full professor at the Department of Computer Science from 1999 to 2020. He led the Distributed Systems Group and established ubiquitous computing as a research area at ETH Zurich. From 2010 to 2013 he was head of the department. At the Department of Computer Science, Mattern taught courses on distributed systems and algorithms, networks, ubiquitous computing, and smart energy. His lecture Informatik II for electrical engineers was part of the initiative "Critical Thinking ETH", which promotes interdisciplinary exchange, critical thinking and responsible action.

Friedemann Mattern is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals and has published over 180 research articles. He is also a member of several scientific academies such as the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) and of acatech, the German Academy of Science and Engineering.