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Of cultivation battles and revolutionary women

For 150 years, ETH Zurich has been teaching and researching in agricultural sciences. Test your knowledge of agricultural history in this anniversary quiz!

by Peter Rüegg / Michael Keller

In our quiz series, we take you on journeys of discovery through research and teaching at ETH Zurich. This edition is dedicated to agricultural sciences, which are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year.

Quiz: Of cultivation battles and
revolutionary women

  1. Question 1 of 8
    LF building, ca. 1889

    1. In 1871, the first agricultural course started at ETH Zurich, or the Polytechnic Institute, as it was then known. How many students and professors were there for the first semester?

    • ✓ Correct When the first degree programme began in autumn 1871, five students (no women) took the subject. They were taught by the two professors Adolf Krämer and Anton Nowacki. A third professor, Ernst Schulze, was appointed a year later. Their studies covered the areas of farm management and animal production, crop production and arable farming, and agricultural chemistry and technology. The 'School of Agriculture' was allotted 12 percent of ETH’s total budget at the time, in 1871 this amounted to a mere 35,000 Swiss francs. Further information (Image: ETH Zurich, Image Archive Online)

    • ✘ False When the first degree programme began in autumn 1871, five students (no women) took the subject. They were taught by the two professors Adolf Krämer and Anton Nowacki. A third professor, Ernst Schulze, was appointed a year later. Their studies covered the areas of farm management and animal production, crop production and arable farming, and agricultural chemistry and technology. The 'School of Agriculture' was allotted 12 percent of ETH’s total budget at the time, in 1871 this amounted to a mere 35,000 Swiss francs. Further information (Image: ETH Zurich, Image Archive Online)

  2. Question 2 of 8

    2. In 1913, the first doctoral thesis in the field of Agricultural Sciences was written at ETH. What was its subject?

      • ✓ Correct The first doctoral thesis written at ETH in the field of Agricultural Sciences was by Charles Sautier, the son of a banking family. He studied at the Division of Agriculture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology from 1907 to 1909. In his doctoral thesis, he investigated 'the behaviour of horn material under forces that manifest themselves in the form of mechanically acting, damaging influences, such as bending, compression, torsional elasticity and wear.' This is why his doctoral thesis (Graphics: ETH Research Collection) bore the title 'Testing of certain physical properties of the equine hoof horn.' Further information

      • ✘ False The first doctoral thesis written at ETH in the field of Agricultural Sciences was by Charles Sautier, the son of a banking family. He studied at the Division of Agriculture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology from 1907 to 1909. In his doctoral thesis, he investigated 'the behaviour of horn material under forces that manifest themselves in the form of mechanically acting, damaging influences, such as bending, compression, torsional elasticity and wear.' This is why his doctoral thesis (Graphics: ETH Research Collection) bore the title 'Testing of certain physical properties of the equine hoof horn.' Further information

    • Question 3 of 8
      Cover sheet diploma thesis

      3. In 1877, the first woman completed her studies at ETH Zurich to graduate as an agricultural scientist. What happened to her after that?

        • ✓ Correct The first woman to receive a degree in Agricultural Sciences at ETH Zurich was Maria Filippovna Kovalik. Born in what is now Ukraine, she was the daughter of an officer and landowner. She was 30 when she arrived at the Polytechnic Institute. After seven semesters, she successfully completed her agricultural studies in 1877. After graduation, Kovalik travelled to Russia, where she was put under police surveillance. She was suspected of planning acts of terrorism. In 1878 she was arrested and exiled to Siberia, but managed to escape in 1887. She lived in Switzerland and France until 1906, but then returned to Russia after an amnesty. She died in Minsk in the 1920s. Further information (Copyright: ETH-Bibliothek, Hochschularchiv, Dipl-L 1)

        • ✘ False The first woman to receive a degree in Agricultural Sciences at ETH Zurich was Maria Filippovna Kovalik. Born in what is now Ukraine, she was the daughter of an officer and landowner. She was 30 when she arrived at the Polytechnic Institute. After seven semesters, she successfully completed her agricultural studies in 1877. After graduation, Kovalik travelled to Russia, where she was put under police surveillance. She was suspected of planning acts of terrorism. In 1878 she was arrested and exiled to Siberia, but managed to escape in 1887. She lived in Switzerland and France until 1906, but then returned to Russia after an amnesty. She died in Minsk in the 1920s. Further information (Copyright: ETH-Bibliothek, Hochschularchiv, Dipl-L 1)

      • Question 4 of 8

        4. It took a little longer for the first woman to receive a full professorship in Agricultural Sciences at ETH. How long did women have to wait before this happened?

          • ✓ CorrectSilvia Dorn In 1992, 121 years after the founding of Agricultural Sciences, Silvia Dorn was elected Full Professor of Applied Entomology at ETH Zurich. She was Chair of the Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences and Director of Studies for both programmes from 2002 to 2004. She became professor emerita in 2013. However, another woman had become an adjunct professor already (or only) two years earlier: the phytopathologist Geneviève Défago was awarded the title of 'Professor' in 1990. Further information (Photograph: SVIAL)

          • ✘ FalseSilvia Dorn In 1992, 121 years after the founding of Agricultural Sciences, Silvia Dorn was elected Full Professor of Applied Entomology at ETH Zurich. She was Chair of the Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences and Director of Studies for both programmes from 2002 to 2004. She became professor emerita in 2013. However, another woman had become an adjunct professor already (or only) two years earlier: the phytopathologist Geneviève Défago was awarded the title of 'Professor' in 1990. Further information (Photograph: SVIAL)

        • Question 5 of 8
          haystacks in Zurich during WW2

          5. The former ETH Professor of Agriculture and later Federal Councillor Friedrich Traugott Wahlen devised the Wahlen Plan as a way to promote domestic food production in order to massively expand Switzerland’s degree of self-sufficiency during World War II. What was another name for the Wahlen Plan?

            • ✓ Correct The Wahlen Plan was known as the Cultivation Battle (in German: Anbauschlacht). Before World War II, Switzerland imported about half of its food. To avoid a food shortage in the event of an impending embargo by the Axis powers, on 15 November 1940 Friedrich Traugott Wahlen published the cultivation plan that he had been preparing since 1937. Further information (Photograph: City of Zurich Construction History Archive)

            • ✘ False The Wahlen Plan was known as the Cultivation Battle (in German: Anbauschlacht). Before World War II, Switzerland imported about half of its food. To avoid a food shortage in the event of an impending embargo by the Axis powers, on 15 November 1940 Friedrich Traugott Wahlen published the cultivation plan that he had been preparing since 1937. Further information (Photograph: City of Zurich Construction History Archive)

          • Question 6 of 8

            6. Anyone looking for an autonomous Agricultural Sciences department at ETH Zurich today will be disappointed. What happened?

              • ✓ Correct ETH history was made on 1 January 2012: The Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences was dissolved. The Institute of Agricultural Sciences merged with the Department of Environmental Sciences (D-UWIS) under the name Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS). Food Sciences became part of the newly created Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST). Further information (Image: caption text)

              • ✘ False ETH history was made on 1 January 2012: The Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences was dissolved. The Institute of Agricultural Sciences merged with the Department of Environmental Sciences (D-UWIS) under the name Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS). Food Sciences became part of the newly created Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST). Further information (Image: caption text)

            • Question 7 of 8
              fieldtrip to Alp Weissenstein in the 1980s

              7. ETH Zurich has been operating its highest-altitude agricultural research station on Alp Weissenstein on the Albula Pass (Canton of Graubünden) since 1967. What was the alp’s function before that?

                • ✓ Correct Until the opening of the Albula rail tunnel in 1903, Alp Weissenstein was a horse changing station and an inn. The Albula Pass was an important passage into the Engadin. The first mention of Alp Weissenstein dates from 1645. During World War II, in 1942, the future owner Christian Caflisch took the alp under the plough as part of the drive for self-sufficiency (Cultivation Battle). In 1967, ETH acquired the site and has since used it as an alpine research station. Further information (Photograph: Archive ETH Zurich)

                • ✘ False Until the opening of the Albula rail tunnel in 1903, Alp Weissenstein was a horse changing station and an inn. The Albula Pass was an important passage into the Engadin. The first mention of Alp Weissenstein dates from 1645. During World War II, in 1942, the future owner Christian Caflisch took the alp under the plough as part of the drive for self-sufficiency (Cultivation Battle). In 1967, ETH acquired the site and has since used it as an alpine research station. Further information (Photograph: Archive ETH Zurich)

              • Question 8 of 8
                Agrovet Strickhof Lindau ZH

                8. To equip themselves for the future, universities must establish new research directions. This is usually done by filling new professorships. Which is the newest professorship in the Institute of Agricultural Sciences?

                  • Correctly answered questions:

                  Rank:

                  The anniversary of the Agricultural Sciences

                  The Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-​USYS) starts their anniversary year with an online event on 4 May 2021, kicked off by a video featuring Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation, together with ETH President Joël Mesot and representatives of the Department.

                  Following the premiere of this anniversary film, various webinars on the important topics in agricultural sciences will be held in different languages on the virtual stages. Afterwards, the Institute of Agricultural Sciences invites you to a very special virtual aperitif. Participation in the conference is free of charge, no registration needed.

                  On the anniversary website you can already find a timeline with historical facts and selected stories from the past 150 years.

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                  Agriculture – highly topical yesterday, today and tomorrow (ETH News 23.04.2021)

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