Waves
Dive in!

Welcome to the online exhibition by FocusTerra Logo

The online exhibition accompanies the exhibition shown from 24 August 2021 to 5 March 2023 in focusTerra at ETH Zurich. There you can discover the waves on large illuminated illustrations and explore them yourself in many experiments. We look forward to your visit.

Dive In!

What do all waves have in common and how do they differ? What properties do they have and how do we use them in our lives – naturally and technologically? And what challenges and opportunities arise when we use waves?

Types of Waves

When we see the sunlight glitter on the ocean waves and hear the crash of the breakers, we perceive three examples of physical waves: water waves, sound and light. Each of these is a different type of wave.

Wave Physics

All waves, be they water waves, sound or light, have certain characteristics in common: they propagate, can lose energy and be reflected, etc. These characteristics are the reason why waves can be used for a wide variety of purposes, such as locating, imaging, mapping and much more.

With Waves Through Time

Sometimes sought and found deliberately, sometimes discovered by chance: the search for explanations of phenomena we observe around us often leads to waves. Here is a small selection of important discoveries.

Credits & Acknowl­edge­ments

The focusTerra team thanks all contributors and donors.

Exhibition development, realisation and text focusTerra

Project lead Dr. Ulrike Kastrup, Director focusTerra

Project coordinator Dr. Silke Ballmer, focusTerra

Scientific staff Kerstin Fankhauser, focusTerra, Dr. Gillian Grün, focusTerra

Scientific project adviser Dr. Dirk-Jan van Manen, Exploration and Environmental Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich

Illustrations Oculus Illustration GmbH

Graphic design lötscher visuelle kommunikation; Dr. Gillian Grün, focusTerra

Exhibition architecture and design Klauser Lienhard Design Studio

Display furniture Klauser Lienhard Design Studio, Makro Art AG, Schneebeli AG

English translation focusTerra

Editing English Lilian Dutoit

Educational materials Kerstin Fankhauser, focusTerra; MINT-Lernzentrum: Dr. Herbert Rubin, Dr. Ralph Schumacher, Tanja Frei

Online exhibition Nicolas Schmid, Marion Deichmann

Print Makro Art AG, Neidhart + Schön Print AG, Nolina applica GmbH

Exhibits
Akitoshi Honda, Art-Science-IT, Germany
Andres Bosshard, sound artist
Atelier Schwabe: Cyrus Schwabe
BAD NEWS B.V., The Netherlands
Brigham Young University, USA: Prof. Dr. Brian E. Anderson, Lucas Barnes
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich: Dr. Henrik Rasmus Thomsen
Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich: Dr. Dirk-Jan van Manen, Thomas Haag
focusTerra
Department of Physics, ETH Zurich: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Huber, Pascal Engeler, Sara Hartmann, Oliver Schwager and Mechanical Workshop: Ivan Ruedi Lüscher, Fabian Thaler
Eckardt Natursteine AG
HES-SO Valais-Wallis, Institute of Systems Engineering: Prof. UAS Dr. Anne Sauron
IMAGINARY gGmbH, Germany
Exhibits
IT'IS Foundation and Schmid & Partner Engineering AG: Prof. Dr. Niels Kuster, Dr. Mark Douglas, Beyhan Kochali
IT Services, ETH Zurich
Klauser Lienhard Design Studio
KU Leuven, Flemish Supercomputer Center (VSC), Belgium: Ingrid Barcena Roig, Jan Ooghe
Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA: Dr. Pierre-Yves Le Bas
Metallatelier GmbH, Germany
No-Touch Robotics GmbH: Dr. Marcel Schuck
Paula Camara Berlin, Germany
Swiss Seismological Service (SED): Dr. John Clinton, Dr. Michèle Marti, Roman Racine
University of Basel, Department of Biomedical Engineering: Dr. Reinhard Wendler
University of Zurich: Physik-Institut: Prof. Dr. Prasenjit Saha; Physik Werkstatt: Reto Maier; Science Lab UZH: Dr. Silvia Garbari

We thank the following national and international experts and organisations for their cooperation.

EMPA - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Urs Pachale, Dr. Armin Zemp

ETH Zurich
Department of Architecture: Dr. Ammar Mirjan
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering: Dr. Andrea Colombi, Prof. Dr. Konrad Schindler, Prof. Dr. Andreas Wieser
Department of Earth Sciences: Prof. Dr. Olivier Bachmann, Dr. Theodor Simon Becker, Prof. Dr. Whitney Behr, Prof. Dr. Gretchen Bernasconi-Green, Dr. Christian Böhm, Dr. Luigi Ferraioli, Prof. Dr. Andreas Fichtner, Prof. Dr. Domenico Giardini, Dr. Alexander Grayver, Prof. Dr. Andrew Jackson, Dr. Neda Meshksar, Dr. Jérõme Noir, Prof. Dr. Johan Robertsson, Dr. Marc Serra Garcia, Prof. Dr. Derek Vance and department office ‘Stab’: Friederike Brütsch, Sonja Christine Roos
focusTerra: Léon Frey, Dr. Friedrich Hawemann, Andreas Henz
Department of Environmental Systems Science: Prof. Dr. Heini Wernli
Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences: Prof. Dr. Lutz Wingert
Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering: Dr. Andrea Censi
Department of Physics: Dr. Yves Marc Acremann, Chiara Decaroli, Prof. Dr. Jonathan Home
Facility Management
Financial Services
Legal Office
IT Services
Office of the President
Real Estate Management
Safety, Security, Health, Environment (SGU)
Services department

ETH Zurich Foundation

Federal Office for the Environment FOEN Blaise Duvernay

FSM: Swiss Research Foundation for Electricity and Mobile Communication Dr. Gregor Dürrenberger

ilu Ingenieure, Landschaftsarchitekten, Umweltfachleute Iwan Vitins

Kantonspolizei Zürich Dr. Signe Maria Ghelfi and Flughafenpolizei-Kontrollabteilung

Museum of Communication Dr. Juri Jaquemet

Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen Mogens Trolle

Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Germany Michael Sagner

Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRF Fabian Jeitziner

Swiss Science Center Technorama Dr. Marco Miranda, Jörg Moor, Charlotte Rummel

Swiss Seismological Service (SED) Dr. Maren Böse, Dr. Florian Haslinger, Prof. Dr. Stefan Wiemer and Electronics Laboratory: Lukas Heiniger, Franz Weber

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) Prof. Dr. Martin Röösli

University Hospital Zurich Prof. Dr. med. Hatem Alkadhi

Universiy of Zurich
Department of Geography: Dr. Felix Morsdorf, Dr. Claudia Röösli, Dr. Giulia Ghielmetti
Science Lab UZH: Dr. Reik Leiterer
Zoological Museum: Dr. Dennis Hansen

Visioneers / World Access For The Blind Daniel Kish

Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

Dr. Nicolas Deichmann

Martina Fankhauser & Yannic Kälin

Damiano Jaeger

Tariq Leinen

Thomas Leveritt

We thank all individuals as well as the following companies, foundations, organisations and ETH units for their generous donations and support.

Eckardt Natursteine AG, Electrosuisse, First Advisory Group, GVZ Gebäudeversicherung Kanton Zürich, IT'IS Foundation and Schmid & Partner Engineering AG, No-Touch Robotics GmbH, Swiss National Science Foundation SNF, Stadt Zürich / City of Zurich, The Tomalla Foundation

ETH-Department of Earth Sciences as well as Professors Domenico Giardini and Johan Robertsson, ETH-Department of Physics: Professor Sebastian Huber, ETH Library, ETH Zurich Foundation, Swiss Seismological Service (SED)