Zürich, University of

the largest university in Switzerland, founded in 1833. Its nucleus was a school established by H. Zwingli in 1523.

The university has (1976) a theology faculty, a faculty of law, politics, and economics, faculties of medicine (with a dental institute) and veterinary medicine, and two philosophy faculties, the first emphasizing the humanities (art. history, archaeology, philosophy, literature, linguistics, sociology, pedagogy, and psychology) and the second oriented toward the natural sciences and mathematics (astronomy, biology, genetics, geology, mineralogy, geography, crystallography, mathematics, physics, and chemistry). Attached to the university are a botanical garden and museum (founded 1836), a zoological museum (1837), and a paleontological museum (1956). The university library, consisting of a central library and faculty libraries, contains more than 1.4 million volumes. During the 1976–77 academic year the university had an enrollment of about 11,800 students and a teaching staff of more than 1,200.