Beyond
lightning.
High voltage shaped far more than the power grid.
From the first moments of a particle’s journey to medical experiments and instruments that hear the invisible, discover the unlikely stories behind a century of engineering.
Stories at the edge
of possibility.
It begins with an electrical problem. It ends in a much wider world — from nuclear physics to cancer treatment and the finer details of measuring insulation.
Before a proton became a physics experiment
Long before the spectacular collisions, a precise high-voltage source had to set the beam in motion.
When high voltage entered the treatment room
The same engineering expertise that tests insulation also supported experimental neutron therapy.
The textiles hidden inside a precision-instrument name
“Technische Artikel und Textilien” turned out to be a lasting name in electrical measurement.
A Swiss name in an American accelerator manual
For decades, a −750 kV source carried a recognisable name inside Fermilab’s injector system.
Engineering for a continental-scale power system
A 6.4 MV impulse generator helped give CEPEL the scale to test ultra-high-voltage infrastructure.
Four ways to hear a microscopic spark
Robinson, TETTEX, HAEFELY and HIPOTRONICS brought different experience to detecting tiny insulation defects.
Follow your curiosity.
Control lightning ↗
Big, meticulously engineered impulses reveal whether tomorrow’s grid will survive the extremes.
Make science possible ↗
Before beams become discoveries, power must be made stable, precise and repeatable.
From physics to life ↗
Specialised neutron systems connected high-voltage engineering with experimental cancer treatment and fusion studies.
Measure the invisible ↗
Tiny discharges, loss factors and microsecond transients demand a different kind of high-voltage expertise.
A changing Swiss company ↗
Family, managers, global partners and researchers all reshaped the name on the equipment.
Listening to
what the eye
cannot see.
Impulse analysers, dielectric-loss bridges and partial-discharge detectors tell three parallel stories of improving resolution and repeatability. Their product lines cross from TETTEX and Robinson to modern HAEFELY instruments.
Explore three lineages ↗One name.
Many chapters.
The changing ownership of HAEFELY is not a simple rise-and-fall curve. Transactions involved different businesses, employees and currencies — and deserve more careful treatment than a single dramatic chart.
Follow the corporate story ↗Curiosity is good.
Proof is better.
Not every rumored rooftop megavolt test is documented. We keep those stories as leads, not facts — alongside archives still waiting to be opened.
Our evidence standards ↗