The pioneer days of scientific computing in Switzerland
Martin H. Gutknecht · 1987
Scientific computing was established in Switzerland by E. Stiefel, assisted by H. Rutishauser, A.P. Speiser, and others. We cover the years from the foundation of the Institute for Applied Mathematics at the ETH in 1948 to the completion of the ERMETH, the electronic computer built in this institute, in 1956/57. In this period, Stiefel's team also solved a large number of real-world computational problems on another computer, Zuse's Z4, rented by the institute. Along with this work went major contributions to numerical analysis by Rutishauser and Stiefel, and Rutishauser's seminal work on compiling programs, which was later followed by his strong commitment in ALGOL.