Prof. em. Dr. Roland Ris

Roland Ris was Full Professor of German and Literature at the ETH Zurich, beginning in 1976. He retired on 30 September 2004.

Roland Ris, citiyen of Lyss, canton Berne, was born on 29 September 1939. After graduating from the Gymnasium in Biel he studied German philology, general and Indo-Germanic philology, and Latin and Romance languages at the universities of Berne, FU Berlin und Marburg. He obtained his PhD in 1966, worked as head assistant at the University of Berne and held an appointment as lecturer at the University of Freiburg. In 1972 Ris was appointed Full Professor of German Linguistics and Dialectics at the University of Berne. He accepted many invitations as guest professor of German philology, general philology and modern German literature at the universities of Basle, Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne and Geneva.

The main focus of his research lied in the area of linguistic language history and Swiss German dialectology, philology of Swiss German literature (including dialects), the works of Rainer Maria Rilkes and mystical literature from various cultures.