We’re constantly surrounded by waves everywhere, even if we’re only able to sense a few of them, such as water waves, sound waves, earthquake waves, and light waves. Waves are not only omnipresent in our lives, but are also used for a wide range of applications – in medicine, communication, when looking into the earth, and in navigation.
Listen, feel and experiment
With its large-format, colourful illustrations, and multiple hands-on exhibits, the focusTerra exhibition invites visitors to playfully discover the meaning, beauty, and power of waves with all their senses.
Listen to the waves, feel their energy, and experiment with them. Make earthquake wave dance in our fountain, experience what it’s like to listen like a dolphin, and measure the radiation of your mobile phone.
Find out, investigate, and discover
Discover how waves with the same properties can be used for all different kinds of applications. Measuring the thickness of a glacier and performing an ultrasound scan of an unborn baby, for instance, have more in common than one might at first suspect. And the way we use our ears to determine where a sound is coming from is similar to how we determine our location using GPS.
Admission charges
Admission charges
Special exhibition:
Adults 7 euros
Discount 5 euros
Family ticket 14 euros
Groups of 10 or more adults 5 euros
Groups of 10 or more discount 4 euros
Combination ticket with permanent exhibition:
Adults 12 euros
Discount 8 euros
Family ticket 24 euros
Groups of 10 or more adults 8 euros
Groups of 10 or more discount 6 euros
Return ticket: All admission tickets (except for group tickets) authorise the holder to visit the permanet exhibition a second time within twelve months of the original visit.
Groups from general-educational and training schools, universities and universities of applied sciences as well as groups of kindergarten and day-care children will be admitted free of charge by prior arrangement.
Guided tours
Guided Tours may be booked for school classes in Year 5 and above, as well as for private groups.
On Sundays at 1:30 PM, the HNF will offer a free, one-hour tour of the special exhibition. Participants have to pay the price of admission to the museum only. No advance registration is necessary.
This exhibition has been made possible by private individuals and
Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich | Department of Physics, ETH Zurich | Eckardt Natursteine AG | Electrosuisse | ETH Library | ETH Zurich Foundation | First Advisory Group | GVZ Gebäudeversicherung Kanton Zürich | IT'IS Foundation and Schmid & Partner Engineering AG | No-Touch Robotics GmbH | Swiss Seismological Service SED | SNF Agora | City of Zurich | The Tomalla Foundation
An exhibition by focusTerra, ETH Zürich