The Geneva bus in Bern

Prof. Michel Mayor will hold a lecture at the University of Bern on Monday, April 20th 2015, 7.00 pm

Michel Mayor, discoverer of the first exoplanet, will have a lecture at the University of Bern on April 20th. (Credit: G. Schwarz)

200 years ago, Geneva, which just had found again its independence after a period of French domination, was aware of the need to ally with a larger state. At that time, the period of the city-states was over and isolation was no longer seen as a viable option. Geneva was turning to the Swiss Confederation, with which it had long established close links, and May 19, 1815, the canton of Geneva joined Confederation and became the 22nd Swiss canton.

To celebrate this event, the Foundation for Geneva has created a traveling exhibition entitled «Geneva at the encounter of the Swiss.» In spring 2015, a bus-exhibition will travel through our 26 cantons and will stop in 45 cities as well as in Liechtenstein and neighboring France to present exhibitions and events about international Geneva and its impact on the daily life of every Swiss. The bus will stop in Bern on April 20, the same day choosen by the Geneva state council in corpore to visit its Bernese counterpart.

The bus will park on the federal place in front of the federal parliament. At the bus’ side, and only for that day, a tent will be erected to house a presentation of the NCCR PlanetS. The presentation will be made up of a model of 51Peg b and the Earth, a mock-up of CHEOPS, and a planetary system formation simulation. The day will end with a public lecture by Michel Mayor in the Auditorium Maximum of the Bern University.