Vallemaggia (district)

Vallemaggia is a district of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It has a population of 5,871 (as of 31 December 2009). The capital of the district is Cevio.

In the district of Vallemaggia there was a total of 1,005 students (as of 2009). The Ticino education system provides up to three years of non-mandatory kindergarten and in the district of Vallemaggia there were 135 children in kindergarten. The primary school program lasts for five years and includes both a standard school and a special school. In the district, 302 students attended the standard primary schools and 7 students attended the special school. In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two year middle school followed by a two year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four year program to prepare for higher education. There were 267 students in the two year middle school and 2 in their pre-apprenticeship, while 86 students were in the four year advanced program.

Maggia, Switzerland

Maggia is a municipality in the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Maggia's municipal borders were created in 2004 when the previous municipalities of Maggia, Moghegno, Aurigeno, Giumaglio, Someo, and Lodano were united. The municipality contains roughly 2,400 inhabitants and its official language is Italian.

There were 369 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.0% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 440. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 26, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 172, of which 50 or (29.1%) were in manufacturing, 52 or (30.2%) were in mining and 71 (41.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 242. In the tertiary sector; 48 or 19.8% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 12 or 5.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 43 or 17.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 11 or 4.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 11 or 4.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 22 or 9.1% were in education and 69 or 28.5% were in health care.

Swiss Federal Council

Swiss Federal Council (German: Schweizerischer Bundesrat; French: Conseil fédéral suisse; Italian: Consiglio federale svizzero; Romansh: Cussegl federal svizzer). The Council's seven members constitute the federal government of Switzerland and serve as the country's head of state. Each of the seven Councillors heads a department of the Swiss federal administration.

The members of the Federal Council are elected for a term of four years by both chambers of the federal parliament sitting together as the Federal Assembly. Each Councillor is elected individually by secret ballot by an absolute majority of votes. A person elected to the Council by the Federal Assembly is considered a Federal Councillor even if he or she declines the election. Accordingly, the five persons who did so and never assumed office are listed in a separate table below. For the same reason, the principal table only records the date of election, and not the date on which the Councillors assumed their office.

Once elected for a four-year-term, Federal Councillors can neither be voted out of office by a motion of no confidence nor can they be impeached. Re-election is possible for an indefinite number of terms. Parliament has decided not to re-elect a sitting Councillor only four times, and only twice (in 2003 and 2007) since the beginning of the 20th century. In practice, therefore, Councillors serve until they decide to resign and retire to private life, usually after three to five terms of office.

Paul Scherrer

Paul Scherrer (3 February 1890 - 25 September 1969) was a Swiss physicist. Born in Herisau, Switzerland, he studied at Göttingen, Germany, before becoming a lecturer there. Later, Scherrer became head of the Department of Physics at ETH Zürich.

In the 1930s, Scherrer began to specialise in nuclear physics, becoming president of the Schweizerischen Studienkommission für Atomenergie in 1946 and taking part in the 1954 founding of CERN.

Beginning in late 1944, Scherrer became close to Moe Berg and, through Berg, gave the United States information about German science and German scientists, especially related to efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

Paul Scherrer Institute

Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) is a multi-disciplinary research institute which belongs to the Swiss ETH-Komplex covering also the ETH Zurich and EPFL. It was established in 1988 by merging in 1960 established EIR (Eidgenössisches Institut für Reaktorforschung = Federal Institute for Reactor Research) and in 1968 established SIN (Schweizerisches Institut für Nuklearphysik = Swiss Institute for Nuclear Physics).

The PSI is a multi-disciplinary research centre for natural sciences and technology. In national and international collaboration with universities, other research institutes and industry, PSI is active in solid state physics, materials sciences, elementary particle physics, life sciences, nuclear and non-nuclear energy research, and energy-related ecology.

It is the largest Swiss national research institute with about 1,250 (year 2006) members of staff, and is the only one of its kind in Switzerland.

PSI is a User Laboratory and runs several particle accelerators. The 590MeV cyclotron, with its 72MeV companion pre-accelerator, is one of them. As of 2006, it delivers up to 2mA proton beam, which is the world record for such proton cyclotrons. It drives the spallation neutron source complex. The latest accelerator built (in 2001) is the Swiss Light Source (SLS), a synchrotron light source with a 2.4GeV electron storage ring. It is one of the world's best with respect to electron beam brilliance and stability.

Swiss National Science Foundation

Swiss National Science Foundation is a science research support organization mandated by the Swiss Federal Government. The SNSF was established in 1952 as a foundation under private law. Its secretariat is based in Bern.

The SNSF promotes research through evaluating projects and granting funds. Its grants go to research projects mainly by supporting individuals.