Swiss universities don’t celebrate arithmetic alone. Geometry, another major branch of mathematics, was also in the spotlight during the Swiss Geometry Day held on November 3, 2025, at the University of Neuchâtel. “Organised in 2023 on the UniDistance Suisse campus in Brig, this event remains relatively significant at the national level. As its name suggests, it focuses exclusively on geometry and brings together representatives of the discipline from most Swiss academic institutions,” explains Prof. Dr David Loeffler, Professor of Mathematics at UniDistance Suisse.
When Switzerland Celebrates Geometry: A Look Back at the Swiss Geometry Day
Serving as a genuine platform for networking, collaboration, and exchange, the Swiss Geometry Day was aimed at an audience of experts recognised for their knowledge in the field. Among the invited speakers at this year’s edition was Prof. Dr Thomas Mettler, Professor of Mathematics at UniDistance Suisse, who presented on Finsler Geometry. Prof. Dr Loeffler explains this somewhat abstract concept as follows: “In mathematics, we set the rules of the game according to what we find interesting, and then we observe how it develops. In the case of Finsler geometry, Prof. Dr Mettler explained what space and geometry would look like if the rules were changed so that the concept of distance depended on the direction one looks.”
Très abstraite de prime abord, cette géométrie aléatoire possède des applications concrètes dans la vie de tous les jours. «Si vous voulez déterminer le chemin le plus rapide pour aller de A à B lorsque la vitesse varie d'un endroit à l'autre (par exemple, si vous devez faire face à de fortes rafales de vent), la géométrie de Finsler vous permet de résoudre le problème», conclut Prof. Dr. Loeffler.
