Jakob Nüesch

Professor emeritus ETH Zurich

Honorary doctorate of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne

Jakob Nüesch was born in 1932 in Balgach, St. Gallen. After studying Agronomy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETHZ) and completing a thesis on microbiology and phytopathology, he started his scientific career in pharmaceutical research in the areas of microbiology and biotechnology in Basel, interspersed with stays in Canada, the USA and Germany

In 1972 he qualified as university lecturer at the University of Basel and for many years was Head of Pharma Research Basel with Ciba-Geigy.

In 1990, he was elected President of the ETH Zürich. After stepping down in 1997, he was active in numerous committees, e.g. as member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federal Ethics Commission for Gene Technology in the non-human field, member of the university council of the University of Zürich. Various functions in the field of science policy. Interested in questions relating to ethics and the safety of science in general and of botechnology in particular. Many activities aimed at fostering the sustainable development of human society.