The Physical Tourist. Geneva: From the Science of the Enlightenment to CERN

John Calvin (1509–1564) founded a College and Academy in Geneva in 1559, the latter of which, through the efforts of many of its scholars, was finally declared to be a genuine university, the University of Geneva, in 1872. Meanwhile, thanks to the outstanding achievements of the rich, patrician Genevan scientists, in particular during the 18th century, Geneva secured a prominent place in European learned society. With the appointment of Charles-Eugène Guye (1866–1942) to the University of Geneva in 1900, Genevan research entered resolutely into 20th-century physics, particularly relativity, and continued to gain momentum before and after the Second World War when, in 1953, Geneva was chosen as the site of one of the most prestigious scientific laboratories in the world, CERN. I sketch these developments, pointing out many of the locations where they occurred in Geneva