Anniversary celebration: 10 years e-rara

Philipp Blom (*1970) grew up in Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia and studied Philosophy, History and Jewish Studies in Vienna and Oxford. After acquiring his DPhil, he started working in London as a lecturer, author and freelance overseas correspondent in 1997, moving to Paris in 2001 to focus on his writing. Since 2007, Philipp Blom has lived with his wife Veronica Buckley in Vienna and writes regularly for European and American newspapers and magazines. He also moderates a radio programme and is an exhibition curator and film maker. He received a grant to study at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles from 2010 to 2011.
In his books, Philipp Blom combines historical research, philosophical exploration and fictional narratives. In his 2017 book, Was auf dem Spiel steht, he turns his attention to the past and the future against the backdrop of current global upheaval including climate change and digitisation, and in Das grosse Welttheater (2020) he explores the master narratives of the future.
Philipp Blom’s works have been translated into 16 languages and won multiple awards. Several of his books have become bestsellers. In 2018, he gave the keynote speech at the Salzburg Festival, titled “Wir Kinder der Aufklärung”.
 

Rafael Ball has been the Director of the ETH Library since 1 March 2015. He holds a PhD in Biology and History of Science and studied Biology, Slavic studies and Philosophy at the universities of Mainz, Warsaw and Moscow. From 1994 to 1996, he completed postgraduate training in science librarianship. Between 1996 and 1998, he was the Director of User Services at the Central Library of the Jülich Research Centre, and from 1998 was Director of the Central Library. From 2008 to 2015, Rafael Ball was the Director of the University Library Regensburg. He is the author and editor of many publications, a dedicated speaker and lecturer at universities and colleges. His work and research focuses on the library of the future, scientific communication in the digital age and the fate of printed books.

Ulrich Weidmann leads the Infrastructure university management area in the function of a COO.
After completing his Civil Engineering degree at ETH Zurich, he went on to study for a doctorate at the Institute for Traffic Planning and Transport Systems (IVT) until 1994. Between 1994 and 2004, he worked at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), where he was initially responsible for the S-Bahn and regional transport network services, before becoming Engineering Manager in the Infrastructure division, responsible for railway technology, architecture, diagnostic technology and innovation management. In 2004, Ulrich Weidmann was appointed full Professor at ETH Zurich, where he was in charge of the Construction, Environment and Geomatics department from 2013 until the end of 2015. As the Vice-President Infrastructure, Ulrich Weidmann’s responsibilities include the management of knowledge resources (ETH Library, collections, archives).

Ladina Spiess has a theological background. In 1995 she got her first journalistic job and from 2003, she worked at Radio SRF 1 as a presenter and producer. For eight years, she was the voice of the non-profit organisation Swiss Solidarity (Glückskette). Since 2018, she has been a freelance copywriter, presenter and training manager.