The globes found in 2004 in the EPFL’s Cubotron building probably had not been there very long. Was it possible to retrace their transfers and, by doing so, solve the riddle of their origin ?

The first indication of the globes’ itinerary was given by Prof. Bernard Hauck, a former director of the Geneva Observatory. He remembered noticing them at the observatory’s old premises on Chemin des Grandes-Roches in Lausanne. When he was appointed professor of astronomy in Lausanne in 1976, it was he who moved them to the Collège propédeutique in Dorigny (today the Amphipôle building) and then to the Sauverny Observatory. One of the globes subsequently found a home in his office at Unicentre (UNIL’s Rectorate building) when he served as vice-rector from 1987 to 1991. At the time, Hauck was not really aware of the globes’ historical value.