Rüschlikon

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Rüschlikon
Canton	Zürich
District	Horgen
Coordinates	47°17′N 8°33′E
Population	4919 (2004)
Area	2.94 km²
Elevation	406 m
Postal code	8803
SFOS number	0139
Mayor	Dr. Bernhard Elsener
Website	www.rueschlikon.ch
Rüschlikon

Rüschlikon is a municipality on the west shore of Lake Zurich, in the district of Horgen. Rüschlikon is located in the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Its coat of arms features a white shield with a seerose, a red flower with a yellow center.

Rüschlikon is home to the IBM Zurich research laboratory, part of IBM Research, which has brought to Rüschlikon the Nobel prize in Physics awarded to Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig in 1986 and to Karl Alexander Müller and Johannes Georg Bednorz in 1987. The park im Grüene was donated by Adele Duttweiler, widow of Gottlieb Duttweiler, the founder of the Migros chain of grocery stores.

The name of Rüschlikon is Alemannic and first appears in documents in the middle of the 12th century. A row of grave mounds from approximately the same period has been found on the Zimmerberg.

Rüschlikon is bordered on the north by Kilchberg, on the east by lake Zurich, on the south by Thalwil, and on the west by Adliswil and Langnau am Albis. A steep slope rises from lake Zurich towards the Zimmerberg and, at its peak, the hill called Chopf, then slopes down towards the river Sihl. Although mostly a bedroom community for Zurich, Rüschlikon has a very small but characteristic town center, parks by the lake and considerable wooded areas and farms, mostly in the hills. The farms include cattle, horses, sheep, and a few exotic animals, as well as areas under cultivation.

The old part of Rüschlikon

In the early 1980s, Rüschlikon blocked off many of the smaller side streets from Thalwil so that traffic between Zurich and Thalwil would be unable to use them.

The town is served by frequent rail connections (4 an hour to Zurich in 2005) provided by the SBB-CFF-FFS, bus service with the 165 bus to Zurich Bürkliplatz, and (in the summer) boat service to the other lakeside communities. A one-way ticket to or from Zurich in 2005 costs CHF 5.80, and tickets must generally be purchased before boarding the train or bus. The town is also well-linked by regular roads and the A3 highway.