Welcome to PSI, the largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences in Switzerland.
Recent highlights from our research
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Big heart, acute senses key to explosive radiation of early fishes
X-rays of a 400-million-year-old fossil illuminate a key moment in our deep evolutionary past.
POLIZERO: PSI project shows paths to climate neutrality
The net-zero target is achievable – if Switzerland sets the right political course now.
Merlin-7: New model for high-performance computing
An innovative computing cluster is ushering in a new era of computer-aided research at PSI.
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Current upgrade projects and research initiatives
Together with industry to innovation
Advancing nuclear technologies
NUKEM and Paul Scherrer Institute Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Advance Nuclear Research and Collaboration.
Zinc detected in clogged syringes
With the help of researchers at PSI, ANAXAM has been investigating, on behalf of the pharmaceutical company MSD, whether zinc may contribute to clogging of pre-filled syringes.
ESA Centre of Excellence opens in Switzerland
The opening ceremony of the “European Space Deep-Tech Innovation Centre” ESDI brought together distinguished guests.
The people at PSI
PSI’s cement whisperer
John Provis has dedicated his research career to a building material that is far more exciting than you might think.
Creating circuit diagrams of the brain
Adrian Wanner aims to map the brain’s architecture. Doing this will allow us to better understand neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
With pad, pencil, and algorithms
Physicist Dominik Sidler is developing fundamental theories for previously inexplicable phenomena.
PSI on social media
⚛️ Qubits are sensitive. 🫠 The fundamental units of quantum computers react to even the smallest disturbances. PSI researchers are developing new ways to make them more stable and longer-lasting.
💎…
How do quantum materials really respond to light? 🤔 The answer is complex – and a new study from SwissFEL reveals it’s even more so than previously thought. 💡
Researchers from Aarhus University used…
Materials Science, Data and Software vs Radiation Protection and Safety
Draw your PhD, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
We paired researchers from totally different fields, swapped their…
How do we foster a team culture where everyone feels safe to openly share their ideas? Prof. Dr. Heidi Möller explored this question in her webinar about psychological safety held on October 28th…
Computational Fluid Dynamics vs Proton Therapy
Draw your PhD, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
We paired researchers from totally different fields, swapped their doodles, and let the guessing…
⏱️ Slowing down time – in the quantum simulator
PSI researcher Cornelius Hempel uses quanta to perform calculations on quantum phenomena. Together with his team, he has developed a quantum…
🎃💡 Power off… Power on!
Vom müden Kürbis zur hellen Nacht – am PSI wird’s energiegeladen!
Begleite uns auf einer Führung durch die Energieforschung und entdecke unsere Energiespiele rund um die…
Nuclear Systems Simulation vs Condensed Matter Theory
Draw your PhD, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
We paired researchers from totally different fields, swapped their doodles, and let the…
🔬✨ Forschen wie die Grossen – schon in der Kita Nanolino! ✨🔬
In unserer institutseigenen Kita Nanolino entdecken die Kinder spielerisch die Welt der Wissenschaft. Gemeinsam mit unseren Fachpersonen…
🏅 Head of the PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences, Professor Marc Janoschek, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) – one of the most highly regarded honours in physics…
Accelerator Model Simulation vs Computational Physics
Draw your PhD, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
We paired researchers from totally different fields, swapped their doodles, and let the…
#5232, the magazine of the Paul Scherrer Institute, is out! ✨
This issue is all about the art of quantum physics – A mysterious world that researchers are trying to understand so that they can use…
💥 Breaking isn’t the end! Sometimes the best way to understand a material is to push it until it breaks and then study the scars it leaves behind.
In this #SciencePic, two images — one from an…
This year’s #NobelPrize 🏆 in Physics recognises quantum mechanics on a new scale: “the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”⚡.
Our…
Condensed Matter Theory vs Quantum Computing
Draw your PhD, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
We paired researchers from totally different fields, swapped their doodles, and let the guessing…
Dynamic database for the vanadium industry - Vanadium is a crucial raw material for the #energy #transition. It can be used to make vanadium redox flow batteries, which can store electricity for…
At the Swiss Light Source SLS, X-ray tomographic microscopy of a 400-million-year-old fossilised fish 🐟, no bigger than a fingernail, has shed light on our own evolutionary past.
Researchers from…
✨Tatendrang, Teamgeist ✨ – und ein ganz besonderer Gast! Mitte September reisten die Lernenden nach Visperterminen ins Wallis ⛰️, wo sie in einem grossen Lagerhaus logierten 🛏️.
Direktionsmitglied…
For our German speakers with English below: ✨ Jung, talentiert und bereit, zu glänzen! ✨ Wir sind sehr stolz auf unsere Lernenden — Dominik Geissberger, Elia-Luca Feltrin, Nicolas Stöckli, Elina…
Kleine Türen 🚪, große Einblicke…
Unser Tag der offenen Tür am 13.09.2025 war ein voller Erfolg!
Ein herzliches Dankeschön an alle Familien, Fachpersonen und Interessierten, die uns besucht,…
Another door opens, another beam shines! 🚪🔦 ✨ With the upgraded SLS now officially inaugurated and beamlines reopening for experiments, even more groups are welcoming their first X-ray light. 🚀💡
We…
Event alert for German Speakers: Öffentliche Führung Protonentherapie
📅 Mittwoch, 24. September 2025, 16:00–18:30 Uhr
🌍 Paul Scherrer Institut PSI
🔍 Die Protonentherapie ist eine hochpräzise…
🧲 Here’s something you might not realise is happening at SwissFEL: scientists are building a test source for CERN’s next big collider.
In this #SciencePic, we look up close at the 15-Tesla capture…
Concrete may seem unspectacular – but that isn’t true of the science behind it. For John Provis at PSI Paul Scherrer Institut, concrete is a fascinating high-tech material full of secrets waiting to…
Auf der Suche nach deiner Traumlehre? 🎯
Besuch uns 2.–7. September an der Berufsschau in Wettingen an Stand 304 in Halle 3!
Entdecke 17 spannende Lehrberufe am PSI – von Physiklaborant*in,…
PSI in numbers
2300
Employees at PSI are working on the world of tomorrow.
5
PSI operates five particle accelerator-based large research facilities.
64
In a total of 64 centres, labs and groups, we conduct research into pressing societal issues.
3000
Every year, around 3000 researchers from all over the world carry out experiments at our facilities.