X-Nico

17 unusual facts about Geneva


Anatoly Pavlovich Demidov, 4th Prince of San Donato

Princess and Countess Evgenia Anatolyevna Demidova (Saint Petersburg, 25 September OS: 12 September 1902 - Cazouls-lès-Béziers, 25 April 1955), married in Nice on 29 September 1927 Jean Gerber (Sevastopol, 2 February 1905 - Geneva, 9 September 1981)

Bergner's

Maus Frères SA, based in Geneva, Switzerland, acquired the company at that point and gave the store its unique red logo of six hexagons, an emblem Bergner's now shares with five corporate siblings as well as two current Maus subsidiaries.

Besançon Hugues

Following the attainment of independence in 1526, supported the holding of fair trial proceedings to the supporters of the Savoy dynasty within Geneva.

Charles C. Rich

The communities of Paris and Geneva, Idaho, as well as some other neighboring towns, were under his direction.

Felix Morley

He obtained a Guggenheim Fellowship to study the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, which resulted in his book The Society of Nations (1933) and a Ph.D. from the Brookings Institution.

James W. Owens

Owens was named chief economist of Caterpillar Overseas S.A. in Geneva, Switzerland in 1975.

Jean Trembley

Jean Trembley (1749 - September 18, 1811), born at Geneva, contributed to the development of differential equations, finite differences, and the calculus of probabilities.

Keppel Craven

In 1814 he accepted the post of one of the Chamberlains to Princess Caroline of Wales, without receiving any emolument; but this occupation lasted for a short time only, until the princess departed for Geneva.

Kola Adedoyin

Disaster again struck a couple of weeks later when he ruptured ankle ligaments in Geneva, Switzerland 6 weeks before the World Junior Championships.

Laugh a Little Louder Please

It is Summer 1921, and Georgina, James, Diana Newbury and Captain Robin Eliott, decide to hold a fancy dress "Freedom Party" while Richard and Virginia are away in Geneva on League of Nations business.

Lucienne Bloch

Bloch was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the youngest child of composer and photographer Ernest Bloch.

Mapping Festival

Held annually in Geneva, Switzerland, it features audiovisual and VJ performances in nightclubs and installations in gallery spaces.

Mohammad Vali Mirza Farman Farmaian

After the 1979 revolution he left Iran for Geneva, Switzerland with his family and not to return to Iran until he died at the age of 92.

Richard H. Bassett

In the Spring of 1911, Bassett moved with his mother, Jessie Lewellin Bassett, to Vevey, Switzerland where he was enrolled in private school and began studies with the Swiss painter, Henri Edouard Bercher, a graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva and a frequent exhibitor of landscapes at the Suisse Salon des Beaux-Arts.

Robert O. Fink

Robert Orwill Fink (4 November 1905, Geneva, Indiana – 17 December 1988, Mount Vernon, Ohio) was a papyrologist with a special interest in Roman military papyri.

Wacław Micuta

Wacław Micuta, also known as Wacek (December 6, 1915, Petrograd - September 21, 2008, Geneva) was a Polish economist, functionary of the United Nations and a World War II veteran.

He was also a pioneer in and a tireless supporter of renewable energy and the founder of Renewable Energies Development Institute in Geneva.


Adolf Portmann

Born in Basel, Switzerland, he studied zoology at the University of Basel and worked later in Geneva, Munich, Paris and Berlin, but mainly in marine biology laboratories in France (Banyuls-sur-Mer, Roscoff, Villefranche-sur-Mer) and Helgoland.

Anne Casimir Pyrame de Candolle

Anne Casimir Pyrame de Candolle (20 February 1836, Geneva – 3 October 1918, Chêne-Bougeries) was a Swiss botanist, the son of Alphonse Pyrame de Candolle.

Anne Evans

Evans made her debut as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto 1967 in Geneva and went on to make her debut in a leading role in 1968 as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the then Sadler's Wells, later English National Opera in 1968 to critical acclaim.

Article 12

In 1999 Daisy Thomas and David Joseph Henry took part in 10th commemorative meeting of the UNCRC in Geneva.

Besançon Hugues

Besançon Hugues (b. 1487 - d. 1532) was a member of the Grand Council of Geneva and participated in the rebellion against the rule of the Savoy dynasty, which led to the independence of Geneva in 1526.

Carlos Alexander

Alexander has sung with companies in Buenos Aires, Vienna, Brussels, Canada, Copenhagen, Paris, Athens, Bayreuth (Beckmesser in Wieland Wagner's Die Meistersinger, 1963), Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Florence, Mexico City, Basel, Geneva, Zurich, Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Fort Worth, Hartford, etc.

Catalan Talgo

Instead of Grenoble the electrified tracks via Lyon were used, allowing the entire Geneva – Narbonne route section to be worked by an SNCF BB 9300 class locomotive.

César Malan

Malan was part of the Société des Amis, a group of conservative evangelicals at Geneva, which included Merle D'Aubigne, Louis Gaussen, the Monod brothers and others.

CEVA rail

The project is to build the remaining section of an outer ring link connecting Geneva, (Cornavin station) with Annemasse running through Geneva's west, south and south eastern suburbs.

CIAT group

The headquarter and main industrial site is located in France, in Culoz department of Ain, between Lyon and Geneva.

David M. Thomas Jr.

Carol Rosenberg, reporting in the Miami Herald, wrote that Thomas "brushed aside" concerns that by allowing civilians to view the captives he was violating the clause in the Geneva Conventions that protect captives from the humiliation of public display.

David Nowakowsky

In 1939 Sophia's husband, Boris, was able to obtain Romanian passports for the family, and they moved to the French village of Collonges-sous-Salève on the Swiss border just outside of Geneva, taking Nowakowsky's papers with them.

Eleonore Schoenfeld

Her students have also become top prizewinners in competitions such as Geneva, the Casals Competition (Budapest), Tchaikovsky (Russia), Markneukirchen (Germany) and the Concert Artist Guild (U.S.).

Éric Caritoux

A promise he had forgotten about but the organisers had not, de Gribaldy was threatened with a £50,000 fine if the team did not ride, he had to scrape together a squad for the Vuelta at the last minute, this included the holidaying Caritoux, who was told to get to Geneva and then fly to Jerez de la Frontera in the south of Spain where the Vuelta was starting.

Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks

In April 2013, French Minister Jérôme Cahuzac was forced to resign when the Geneva public prosecutor, acting quickly on a French request related to tax fraud, found evidence of undeclared Swiss accounts.

François Gény

Nine universities conferred him the title of Doctorate Honoris Causa: Groningen (1914), Leuven (1927), Warsaw (1929), Brussels (1929), Geneva (1930), Jassy (1934), Lausanne (1935), Basel (1936) and Athens (1937).

Gábor Takács-Nagy

In 2005, he formed the string orchestra Camerata Bellerive, as a resident ensemble at the Festival de Bellerive in Geneva, where he has served as co-artistic director.

Geneva Association

The Chairman of The Geneva Association is currently Mike McGavick, CEO of XL Group.

Geneva drive

The Geneva drive is also commonly called a Maltese cross mechanism due to the visual resemblance when the driven wheel has four spokes.

Hamadoun Touré

The Memorandum of Agreement was officially signed by Dr. Hamadoun Touré and Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of IMPACT at the ITU’s head office in Geneva.

Institut de Droit International

Since the election of Professor Joe Verhoeven as Secretary General in September 2003, the institute is headquartered in Grez-Doiceau, Belgium, with offices also at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

International Federation for Human Rights

The International Secretariat is based in Paris, with delegations to the United Nations in Geneva and New York, to the European Union in Brussels, to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to the African Union in Nairobi and to the Asean in Bangkok.

Izabela Sadoveanu-Evan

Beginning 1912, Sadoveanu-Evan furthered her education in Geneva, Switzerland, where she attended the Rousseau Institute and graduated among its first-ever alumni.

Jean Cavalier

Threatened with prosecution for his religious opinions he went to Geneva, where he spent the year 1701; he returned to the Cévennes on the eve of the rebellion of the Camisards, who by the murder of the Abbé du Chayla at Pont-de-Monvert on the night of July 24, 1702 raised the standard of revolt.

Jean-Marie Londeix

Some famous saxophone players that have studied with him include Richard Dirlam, Perry Rask, Russell Peterson, Ryo Noda, James Umble, Robert Black, Ross Ingstrup, Juan Carlos Mazás, William Street, Christian Lauba and Jack Kripl - Winner of the prize for Saxophone at the International Competition for Musical Performers in Geneva Switzerland, 1970.

Lira Baysetova

Reporters Without Borders reported that, during the previous week, the editor had been the subject of specific threats following an interview she had conducted with Geneva general prosecutor, Bernard Bertossa (on 10 May 2002) concerning the Swiss bank accounts of several top Kazakh officials, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Louis Pierre Aimé Chastel

Louis Pierre Aimé Chastel (29 April 1774, Veigy, near Carouge, Savoy - 26 September 1826, Geneva) was a French officer in the Napoleonic Wars, who rose to lieutenant general of cavalry.

Marc Monnier

His father was French, and his mother a Genevese; he received his early education in Naples, he then studied in Paris and Geneva, and he completed his education at Heidelberg and Berlin.

Marcelo Branco

Among other successes, he was the winner of World Team Olympiad in Monte Carlo 1976, Bermuda Bowl in Perth 1989, and World Open pairs Championship in New Orleans 1978 and Geneva 1990.

McDonnell Douglas MD-11

On September 2, 1998 Swissair Flight 111, HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while en route from New York City to Geneva, Switzerland.

Mexico and the United Nations

Mexico maintains permanent representation to the United Nations headquarters in New York City and to the other main UN agencies based in Geneva, Nairobi, Paris and Vienna.

Permanent Observer of Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva

The Permanent Observer of Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva is the representative of the Pope and the Catholic Church to the European office of the United Nations — in Geneva, Switzerland.

Philippe Bourguignon

Philippe sits the Boards of Zipcar, a car sharing company (USA); Vinfolio, serving wine-enthusiasts and collectors worldwide (USA) Informed Judgment (Geneva, Switzerland) and Palais de Tokyo, a center for Contemporary Art in Paris, France.

Port-Noir

Marina like harbor situated at the end of Quai Gustave-Ador and the begin of the Quai de Cologny in Geneva.

Redwood Cottage

The Land that the house was built on was originally given to Charles Minton Baker, (Robert's father), in 1838 by the City of Lake Geneva as part of a "compensation package" for becoming the first District Attorney of Walworth County, Wisconsin.

Roger Tubby

He later became Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs; and for the last seven and one half years he was Representative of the United States to the European Office of the United Nations in Geneva, 1962–69.

Rudolf Louis

He studied in Geneva, where he was a pupil of Friedrich Klose, and continued his studies in Vienna and then Karlsruhe under Felix Mottl before becoming conductor of the theatre orchestras in Landshut and Lübeck.

Secret files scandal

According to Rémy Pagani, Bernard Ziegler, state counsellor in Geneva, had ensured after the files scandal that only those files containing information on crimes for which the citizen had been convicted would be kept.

Stefan Lux

Stefan Lux (November 11, 1888 Malacky – July 3, 1936 Geneva) was a Slovak Jewish journalist, and a Czechoslovak citizen, who committed suicide in the general assembly of the League of Nations during its session on July 3, 1936.

Swiss Party of Labour

Holding two seats in the Swiss National Council (lower or first chamber of the Swiss parliament), going into the 2007 elections, the party stood candidates in the cantons of Zürich, Vaud, Geneva and the Ticino on their own, and in Neuchâtel the candidate was on a joint list with Solidarity.

Swiss Socialist Federation

It supported electoral candidatures of politicians wanting to repeal the ban on the party (such as Florian Delhorbe in Vaud in July 1942 and Professor William Rappard in Geneva in September 1941), and sought an alliance with the German-speaking Landesring of Gottlieb Duttweiler.

Wacker von Wackenfels

He was born in Konstanz (Constance) in 1550 in a Lutheran Protestant family and studied in Strasbourg, Geneva and Padua.

Warren W. Tichenor

Warren W. Tichenor (born in Harlingen, Texas in 1960) served as the nation's 17th United States Ambassador to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, serving under President George W. Bush, having been sworn in on 12 June 2006 after being confirmed by a unanimous vote of the United States Senate on 26 May 2006.

Wolfgang F. Danspeckgruber

Danspeckgruber was educated at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz and the University of Vienna, Austria, (D.Laws); and at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland (Ph.D) where he studied under the supervision of Curt Gasteyger, and worked closely with Dusan Sidjanski at the University of Geneva.