''Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich'' (NGZH; Society of Natural Sciences Zurich) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

scientific society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership may ...

, founded in 1746 for the purposes of promoting the study of the

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

. Prior to that it was known as the ''Physikalische Gesellschaft'', originating in the sixteenth century, when

Conrad Gessner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...

and his colleagues first established it in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. As such, it is one of the oldest scientific societies in Switzerland. The society states it mission as "Accessing the 'exact knowledge of nature' through meticulous observations and experiments, and to foster public understanding of the natural sciences, fundamental and applied". To this end it organizes free lectures and excursions and awards an annual prize for high school science projects (''NGZH-Jugendpreis''). As of 2016, there were 350 members, and the president was

Fritz Gassmann Fritz Gassmann (1899–1990) was a Swiss mathematician and geophysicist. Life His Ph.D. advisors at ETH Zurich were George Pólya and Hermann Weyl. He was a geophysics professor at the ETH Zurich. Legacy Gassmann is the eponym for the Gas ...

. Within the

Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences The Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) is a Switzerland, Swiss national association founded in 1815.Mission

, the NGZH is a member organisation of the Natural Sciences Platform. The society maintains a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

based on

's original

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

and library and carries out experiments. It is associated with both the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

and the

Institute of Technology An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

(''Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich'')

Publications

Publications include a quarterly journal, the ''Vierteljahrsschrift der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich'' (established 1856) which promotes current research in Zurich. Previously it was known as the ''Verhandlungen'' (1826–1837) and the ''Mitteilungen'' (1847–1856). A more comprehensive annual publication is the ''Neujahrsblatt der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich'' (established 1799, published on December 31st, and which goes on sale at the Zentralbibliothek (Central Library) on January 2nd. There is also a youth-orientated publication, the ''Jugend-Neujahrsblatt''. In 1965, the ''Neujahrsblatt'' was devoted to the life and work of Conrad Gessner, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death.

References

Bibliography

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Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...