Humanitarian
Although Zwicky had difficulties in personal relationships with his peers and had few formal students, he was a generous humanitarian with a great concern for wider society. These two sides of his nature came together in the aftermath of the second World War, when Zwicky worked hard to collect tons of books on astronomy and other topics, and shipped them to war-ravaged scientific libraries in Europe and Asia.
He also had a longstanding involvement with the charitable Pestalozzi Foundation of America, supporting orphanages. Zwicky received their gold medal in 1955, in recognition of his services.
Zwicky loved the mountains, and was an accomplished alpine climber.
He was a strong critic of organized religion but not individual faith, and of nationalism, and was critical of political posturing by all sides in the Middle East, and of the use of nuclear weapons in World War II. He considered that hope for the world lay with free people of good will who work together as needed, without institutions or permanent organizations.
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