The centenary of Spiez Laboratory
Spiez Laboratory was founded under the name Gas Laboratory in the town of Wimmis in 1925. Since then, the laboratory has developed into a cornerstone of Switzerland’s security architecture and an internationally recognised institution in the field of NBC protection.
100 years Spiez Laboratory: NBC protection in the context of global developments
The origins of today’s Spiez Laboratory go back to the experiences of the First World War. The world was horrified by the massive use of chemical weapons against which armies were compelled to develop protective measures. The Gas Laboratory in Wimmis was founded for this purpose in 1925. In the following decades, this institution repeatedly adapted to the changing global threat scenarios – the range of tasks changed and expanded continuously. Today, Spiez Laboratory is a globally recognised scientific institute for protection against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) threats. It supports its Swiss partners – both civilian and military – in the protection of the population and the international community in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
To study the new military threat posed by chemical weapons, a gas protection centre was set up at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich in 1923 by order of the Federal Council. In December 1925, it was relocated to the Swiss Federal Propellant Plant in Wimmis. This marked the beginning of today’s Spiez Laboratory.
The beginnings at the Gas Laboratory in Wimmis
In the beginning, the task was to test and develop protection systems against chemical weapons. The focus was on respiratory protection for humans; in particular, the Gas Laboratory in Wimmis developed the army gas mask 33. Since the 1920s, other applications have also been studied and developed, e.g. protective masks for horses or filter systems for fortifications.
In 1932, Switzerland ratified the Geneva Protocol banning chemical and biological weapons. In view of the political tensions in Europe and the increasing military threat, Switzerland launched its own chemical weapons programme in 1937. Beginning in 1939, the blister agent Yperit (mustard gas), known from the First World War, was produced in Monthey. The Gas Laboratory in Wimmis was involved in the scientific and technical support of the programme; a tank facility was built in Lattigen (Spiez) for storage. However, due to various reasons, the chemical weapons programme was ceased as early as 1943.
Transition to the AC Laboratory and relocation to Spiez
The nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 confronted Switzerland with a weapon with a completely new type of destructive potential. In response, the Gas Laboratory in Wimmis had to expand its field of activity: a new focus was placed on the establishment and development of the necessary expertise for the construction of military and civilian facilities for protection against nuclear and chemical weapons. Accordingly, new testing facilities for explosion effects were developed and launched in the 1960s. In 1963, the extended field of activity was given visibility in the changed name AC Laboratory (atomic and chemical Laboratory).
At the end of the 1960s, the Federal Council and Parliament decided to establish an AC centre in Spiez. First, in 1977, the military AC training centre took up operations, followed by the relocation of the AC Laboratory from Wimmis to the Spiez AC centre in 1981. The military and the civilian scientific expertise in NBC protection have been based at this joint location ever since.
International orientation and establishment of the Biology Division
In the following years, the AC Laboratory took on tasks at an international level for the first time. In 1984, it analysed samples on behalf of the UN Secretary-General and was able to prove that the chemical warfare agents Yperit and Tabun had been used in the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). After the end of the Cold War, support for international organisations came into focus. In the 1990s, several experts from Spiez were involved in United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) missions in Iraq to monitor the ceasefire agreement following the second Gulf War. The laboratory transitioned from an institution supporting the Swiss Armed Forces into a civilian scientific institute and increasingly took on tasks in the areas of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation of NBC weapons. Against this backdrop, the AC Laboratory was renamed Spiez Laboratory in 2000.
Due to new findings on the threat posed by biological weapons, the scope was expanded yet again to include biological protection. In particular, the anthrax attacks in the USA in 2001 made it clear that Switzerland was not nearly sufficiently prepared to deal with dangerous pathogens. Since the inauguration of its Biological Safety Laboratory of the highest level (Biosafety Level 4, BSL4) in 2010, Spiez Laboratory has had the necessary infrastructure to provide scientific expertise and laboratory capacity in the area of biological protection. Most recently, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shown that the comprehensive NBC expertise of Spiez Laboratory is indispensable for crisis management in Switzerland.
The vision: A world without weapons of mass destruction
In line with its vision, Spiez Laboratory has been providing increased and targeted support to the international community in the field of NBC arms control since the 1990s. For example, it played a key role in the investigation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria after 2013. With its expertise in environmental analysis, it also supports various international organisations in dealing with environmental damage and health risks for the population in crisis regions.
Being the Swiss Federal Institute for NBC Protection, Spiez Laboratory provides its services to the relevant international organisations in all three scientific fields. It has been the designated laboratory of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) since 1998. Since 2017, it has regularly supported the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a Collaborating Centre. And since 2021, it has been the first and so far only laboratory in the world to act as a WHO BioHub on behalf of the World Health Organisation (WHO). This system enables effective and internationally coordinated countermeasures to be taken quickly through the exchange of samples and information in the event of newly emerging dangerous pathogens. Receiving the OPCW The Hague Award in 2023 also underscored the importance and international reputation of Spiez Laboratory.
Planned replacement building in Spiez
The history of Spiez Laboratory reflects the global developments of the last hundred years in the field of NBC threats and their impact on Swiss security policy. In view of the current security policy challenges, the task is not getting any easier. Spiez Laboratory must continuously adapt to the changing threat landscape.
A planned replacement for the main building at the existing site in Spiez will provide the conditions for Spiez Laboratory to further develop its scientific expertise and continue to play a key role in national and international NBC protection in the future – for security and peace in Switzerland and around the world.
Celebration“The centenary of Spiez Laboratory”
To mark the anniversary, the celebration “The centenary of Spiez Laboratory” was held on 23 October 2025 at the Bernerhof, in attendance of invited guests.
Further information about the event can be found here: