 In 1912 Zoelly was awarded an honorary degree from the ETH Zurich, partly thanks to his work in turbine development.Since Zoelly was convinced of the superiority of the steam turbine to the steam piston engine, in 1913 Escher Wyss & Cie. abandoned the production of steam engines and concentrated fully on turbines.Zoelly's vision also extended to steam locomotives (which traditionally used piston engines) using steam turbines as drive.