From a learned society to a 21st-century science broker: the Swiss Academy of Sciences as a partner in the dialogue with society

This paper presents the evolution in the tasks and functions of the Swiss Academy of Sciences over a period of two centuries. What was a learned society in the 19th century has become a broad umbrella organisation, which has repeatedly adapted its structure and the range of services. Now, in the early years of the 21st century, thanks to its broad basis in science and society the Academy increasingly sees itself as a science broker working both within and between the sciences, politics and the public. It has developed special interfaces for its dialogue with society.