Théodore Turrettini was trained as an engineer at the Polytechnic School of Lausanne, where he graduated in 1867.

He then left Switzerland to train in a workshop in Frankfurt, and at the Siemens & Halske factory in Berlin.

He also attempted to collaborate with Raoul Pictet in order to develop machines for producing cold.

After a two-month internship at Thomas Edison's workshop in New York, he even launched himself into electric lighting.

Paquier, Serge, "Turrettini, Théodore", in Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse (in French).