Swiss Review 3/2019

Swiss Review / May 2019 / No.3 6 Focus Jürg Meister (left) and Peter Bochsler with their ‘old friend’, the Bernese solar sail, in a windowless laboratory on the basement floor of the University of Berne Physics Institute Photo: Adrian Moser DÖLF BARBEN As the rocket took off, television view- ers saw the three letters “U – S – A” slowly ascend. And on 21 July 1969, as- tronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted the American flag on the moon. Great PR for the United States. No wonder America is making the most of it 50 years on. But the University of Berne is also entitled to celebrate, given that its Physics Institute was responsible for an experimental device used during the Apollo 11 mission. Weighing 454 grams (equivalent to a pound), the in- strument was tiny compared to the nearly 3,000metric tons of spacecraft in which it flew. Yet of trifling impor- tance it was not. Astronaut Aldrin as- sembled the contraption – a simple sheet of foil along an upright, 30 cen- timetres wide, 140 centimetres long – even before unfurling the Stars and Stripes. Its purpose was to collect so- lar wind: particles such as protons and electrons which originate from the sun. After 77 minutes, Neil Arm- strong rolled up the foil and took it back with him to the lunar module. He left the supporting upright on the moon. The experiment was so suc- cessful that the US space agency NASA repeated it on four other missions, in- creasing the length of exposure each time. Johannes Geiss, the physics pro- fessor who had developed the sail – or Solar Wind Collector (SWC) – with the help of his team, became world-fa- mous. Jürg Meister, 80, and Peter Bochsler, 76, worked at the Physics In- stitute at the time. On a return visit, The beautiful lunar toy from Berne Man first walked on the moon 50 years ago. It was also one giant leap for the University of Berne whose Solar Wind Composition Experiment on the moon ultimately helped to clear up a misconception about the Big Bang.