I begin by presenting some key facts about the early history of mathematics in Switzerland, e.g., mathematical teaching at the monasteries of Einsiedeln and St. Gall (9-11th century), the founding of Basel’s university (following the ecumenical council 1431–1449) and its important printed editions of Euclid, Archimedes, and Diophantus, the Bernoulli family in Basel, the first chairs in mathematics in Geneva (1742) and Bern (1749), and the intensification of mathematical research during the 19th century after the foundation of the ETH (1855) and the University of Zurich (1833).

The first regular countrywide meetings of mathematicians took place in the annual congresses of the Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft (Swiss Society for Naturalists), which was founded in 1815 in Mornex near Geneva at the invitation of Henri-Albert Gosse. At the beginning of the 20th century most of the scientific sections of these congresses were upgraded to scientific societies, which gave rise to the foundation of the Swiss Mathematical Society (SMS) in 1910. The SMS normally held two meetings per year, where Swiss mathematicians presented their work to their colleagues. In the spring sessions from 1914 to 1935 the society regularly invited leading mathematicians from abroad as a way of maintaining contact with the worldwide development of mathematics; these included W. Blaschke, C. Carathéodory, E. Cartan, F. Enriques, M. Fréchet, J. Hadamard, E. Hecke, P. Montel, C. de La Vallée Poussin and H. Weyl. This pattern of individual lectures was replaced in later years by the so-called "Journées" devoted to a specialised field of mathematics, in which several invited speakers presented the newest developments in the area concerned.

In 1928 the SMS launched its own journal, the Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici (CMH), made possible by a subsidy from the Swiss government. The CMH attracted many important mathematical papers and created a measure of independence that allowed Swiss mathematicians to publish their work in their own country during World War II. In 1976 the SMS also took over the editorship of the more generally oriented Elemente der Mathematik, a journal founded in 1946 by the SMS member Louis Locher-Ernst. Switzerland also hosted three International Mathematical Congresses, in 1897, 1932, and 1994. They attracted, respectively, 208, 667, and 2,536 mathematicians from all over the world. The SMS was highly influential in organizing these congresses, and has also always administered the Swiss National Committee representing our country in the General Assembly of the International Mathematical Union (IMU). From 1955 to 1986 the SMS and the Swiss Universities often provided the president or secretary of the IMU (H. Hopf, R. Nevanlinna, G. de Rham, B. Eckmann, K. Chandrasekharan, J. Moser). For further information see E. Neuenschwander, 100 Jahre Schweizerische Mathematische Gesellschaft, in: B. Colbois, Ch. Riedtmann, V. Schroeder (eds.), math.ch/100, EMS Publishing House 2010, p. 23-105 (www.math.ch) and the article “Mathematik” in the Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (www.hls.ch).