- Paul Klee
Paul Klee (December 18, 1879 to June 29, 1940) was a Swiss painter of German nationality. He was influenced by many different art styles in his work, including expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He and his friend, the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, were also famous for teaching at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture. - Mani Matter
Mani Matter (August 4, 1936 - November 24, 1972, officially Hans-Peter Matter) was a popular Swiss singer-songwriter. He grew up in Bern, and performed his own chansons in contemporary Bernese German at local venues and on the radio; he accompanied himself on the guitar. Mani Matter also performed together with the Berner Troubadours (Bernese troubadours). - Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher is a Swiss singer. His songs are sung in a variety of languages, including French, German, English, Italian, and Swiss-German, and sometimes he even uses different languages in the same piece. His success started in German-speaking countries into the 1980s with the single "Eisbär". With hit songs such as "Combien de Temps" and "Oh Ironie", his popularity spread Europe-wide with various albums, tours, and chart success in France and Switzerland. - Francine Jordi
Swiss singer Francine Jordi was born in 1977 as Francine Lehmann. As a young child she was already singing songs for the Japanese tourists in Interlaken. With this musical background she won the German Grand Prix der Volksmusik in 1998. From that moment on Francine became a real star in Switzerland with golden discs, successes in the charts and tours throughout the German speaking countries. She also hosted two tv-shows at the ARD. - Ferdinand Hodler
Ferdinand Hodler (March 14 1853 - May 19 1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the 19th century. Hodler was born in Berne but moved to Geneva at the age of 18 to start a career as a painter. Hodler's early work consisted of landscapes, figure compositions and portraits, treated with a vigorous realism. In the last decade of the 19th century his work evolved to combine influences from several genres including symbolism and art nouveau. - Jeremias Gotthelf
Albert Bitzius, Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf, was born at Murten, where his father was pastor. In 1804 the home was moved to Utzenstorf, a village in the Bernese Emmental. Here young Bitzius grew up, receiving his early education and consorting with the boys of the village, as well as helping his father to cultivate his glebe. In 1812 he went to complete his education at Bern, and in 1820 was received as a pastor. - Samuel Schmid
Samuel Schmid (born January 8, 1947) has been a member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2000. He is the head Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (the Swiss defense minister). He was elected to the Federal Council on December 6, 2000. He is a member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC). During his time in office he has held the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports. - Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller (October 16, 1708-December 12, 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist and poet - Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara (born March 18, 1981) is a Swiss Italian professional road bicycle racer. A time trial specialist, he is the current World Time Trial Champion. In 2006 he also became the only second Swiss winner of the Classic one-day race Paris-Roubaix, following Heiri Suter in 1923. - Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theater whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author gained fame largely due to his avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire. One of his leading sentences was: "A story is not finished, until it has taken the worst turn". Dürrenmatt was a member of the Gruppe Olten. - Christoph von Graffenried
Christoph von Graffenried (1661-1743) led a group of Swiss and Palatine Germans to North Carolina in 1710, and later authored "Relation of My American Project", an account of this unsuccessful attempt to settle in the New World. Graffenried was born November 15, 1661 in Bern, a German-speaking Canton of Switzerland, the eldest son of Anton von Graffenried (1639-1730) and Katharina Jenner (? -1669). - Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March, 1936) is a Golden Globe award winning Swiss actress and a major sex symbol of the 1960s. She is best known for her role as the first Bond girl. - Kurt Wüthrich
Kurt Wüthrich is a Swiss chemist and Nobel laureate. Born in Aarberg, Switzerland, Wüthrich was educated in chemistry, physics, and mathematics at the University of Berne before pursuing his Ph.D. under the direction of Silvio Fallab at the University of Basel, awarded in 1964. He continued post-doctoral work with Fallab for a short time before leaving to work at the University of California, Berkeley from 1965 to 1967 with Robert E. Connick. - Adolf Ogi
Adolf Ogi (born July 18, 1942) is a Swiss politician. He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on December 9, 1987, as member of the Swiss People's Party from the Canton of Berne. He handed over office on December 31, 2000. During his time in office, he was in charge of the following departments: * Federal Department of Transport, Communications and Energy (1988 - 1995) * Federal Military Department (from 1996), later named Federal Department of Defence, … - Adrian Frutiger
Adrian Frutiger (born March 24, 1928) is one of the twentieth century's most prominent typeface designers and continues to influence the direction of digital typography into the twenty-first century. Frutiger is best known for his typefaces Univers and Frutiger. - Adolf Wölfli
Adolf Wölfli (occasionally spelt Adolf Woelfli or Adolf Wolfli) was a prolific Swiss artist who is regarded as one of the foremost artists in the Art Brut or outsider art traditions. Wölfli had a troubled childhood. He suffered abuse and molestation and was orphaned at the age of 10, thereafter growing up in a series of state-run foster homes. - Johann David Wyss
Johann David Wyss (Bern, March 4, 1743 - January 11, 1818) was a Swiss author, best remembered for his book "The Swiss Family Robinson" (1812), based on the "Robinson Crusoe" adventure by Daniel Defoe. The book was edited by his son, Johann Rudolf Wyss, a scholar who wrote the Swiss national anthem. Another son, Johann Emmanuel, illustrated the book. - Raphael Urweider
Raphael Bendicht Urweider was born in 1974 in Bern, Switzerland. He studied German literature and philosophy in Fribourg, and sees himself as a poet and a musician. He has performed with the Bernise Hip-Hop crew LDeeP and composed the music for a number of plays. In 1999, he received the Arbeitsstipendium des Deutschen Literaturfonds, as well as the Leonce-und-Lena-Preis. Other prizes include the Förderpreis des Bremer Literaturpreises (2001), … - Albert Anker
Albert Samuel Anker (April 1, 1831 - July 16, 1910) was a Swiss painter and illustrator noted for his portraits of children. After taking early drawing lessons with Louis Wallinger between 1845 and 1848, he studied theology beginning in 1851 in Berne and continuing at the university of Halle, Germany. But in Germany he was inspired by the great art collections, and in 1854 he convinced his father to consent to an artistic career, … - Emil Theodor Kocher
Emil Theodor Kocher (August 25, 1841 - July 27, 1917), Nobel Prize winner in 1909 for "his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid gland". He is considered as the Father of Thyroid Surgery. - Kuno Lauener
Kuno Lauener is the lead singer of Bernese rock band Züri West. - Hans Albert Einstein
Hans Albert Einstein was a Professor of hydraulic engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and the first son of renowned physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and his first wife Mileva Marić (1875-1948). - Johannes Itten
Johannes Itten (November 11, 1888 - May 27, 1967) was a Swiss painter, designer teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school. - Heinz Holliger
Heinz Holliger (born May 21, 1939) is a Swiss oboist and composer. He was born in Langenthal, Switzerland and began his musical education at the conservatories of Bern and Basel. He also studied composition with Pierre Boulez. He took first prize in the International Competition in Geneva in 1959. He has become one of the world's most celebrated oboists, and numerous works have been written for him. He began teaching at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau, … - Harald Szeemann
Harald Szeemann (born June 11 1933 in Bern; died February 18 2005 in Tegna, Ticino) was a Swiss curator and art historian. - Eduard von Steiger
Eduard von Steiger was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1940–1951). He was elected to the Federal Council on December 10, 1940 and handed over office on December 31, 1951. He was affiliated to the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB/PAI), now the Swiss People's Party. During his time in office he held the Department of Justice and Police and was President of the Confederation twice in 1945 and 1951. als:Eduard von Steiger - Johann Rudolf Wyss
Johann Rudolf Wyss was a Swiss author, writer, and folklorist who wrote the words to the former Swiss national anthem "Rufst Du, mein Vaterland" in 1811, and also edited the novel "The Swiss Family Robinson", written by his father Johann David Wyss in 1814. Wyss (pronounced Veese) was born in Bern, Switzerland, and studied theology in Göttingen and Halle. In 1805 he became Professor of Philosophy at Bern's academy, … - Adrian von Bubenberg
Adrian von Bubenberg (born 1434 in Bern; died August 1479 in Bern) was a Bernese knight, general and mayor ("Schultheiss") of Bern in 1468-69, 1473-74 and 1477-79. In Switzerland, he is remembered as the hero of the Battle of Murten. Adrian von Bubenberg was born as the son of Heinrich IV. von Bubenberg, Schultheiss of Bern and lord of Spiez, whom he succeeded in 1465. He was knighted in 1466 during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the Holy Sepulchre. - Christian Menn
Christian Menn (born March 3, 1927) is a respected bridge designer from Bern, Switzerland. He owned his own Engineering Company in Chur, Switzerland from 1957-1971. From 1971 until his retirement in 1992 he became a professor of Structural Engineering at ETH Zurich specializing in Bridge design. In his retirement years, he continues to be a consulting engineer in private practice. - Robert Walser
Robert Walser (April 15 1878 near Biel/Bienne, Switzerland - December 25 1956 near Herisau, Switzerland), was a German-speaking Swiss writer. - Jakob Ammann
Jakob Ammann (also Jacob Amman), (1644?-before 1730) was an Anabaptist leader and namesake of the Amish religious movement. - Marc Hodler
Marc Hodler was a Swiss lawyer, President of the International Ski Federation (1951-1998), and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Hodler is best known for having exposed the Olympic bid scandal for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter games in December 1998. Born in Berne, Hodler had been president of the International Ski Federation from 1951 to 1998 and had been an IOC member since 1963. - Rudolf Minger
Rudolf Minger (November 13, 1881 - August 23, 1955) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1929-1940). He also was a Farmer all his life. He was elected to the Federal Council on December 12, 1929 and handed over office on December 31, 1940. He was the first councillor from the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB/PAI), now the Swiss People's Party. - Michel Kratochvil
Michel Frank Kratochvil is a tennis player from Switzerland, who turned professional in 1997. The righthander hasn't won a single title yet. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on July 8, 2002, when he became the number 35 of the world. Kratochvil began playing tennis with his parents, Frantisek and Eva, who are both from the former Czechoslovakia, leaving the country during Soviet invasion in 1968. They own a tennis center in their hometown of Ostermündigen. - Markus Feldmann
Markus Feldmann (May 21, 1897 - November 3, 1958) was a Swiss politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1951-1958). He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1951 and died in office on November 3, 1958. He was affiliated to the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB/PAI), now the Swiss People's Party. During his office time he held the Department of Justice and Police and was President of the Confederation in 1956. - Charles Albert Gobat
Charles Albert Gobat was a Swiss lawyer, educational administrator, and politician who jointly received the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize with Élie Ducommun for their leadership of the Permanent International Peace Bureau. - Albert Samuel Gatschet
Albert Samuel Gatschet (October 3, 1832 - March 16, 1907) was an ethnologist. Born in Switzerland, he trained as a linguist in universities of Bern and Berlin. After his arrival in the United States, he was a pioneer in the study of Native American Languages. In 1877 he became an ethnologist of the US Geological Survey. In 1879 he became a member of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Gatschet published his observations of the Karankawa people of Texas. - Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg
Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg (27 June 1771 - 21 November 1844) was a Swiss educationist. He was born at Bern. His father was of patrician family, and a man of importance in his canton, and his mother was a granddaughter of the Dutch admiral Van Tromp. From his mother and from Pfeffel, the blind poet of Colmar, he received a better education than falls to the lot of most boys, … - Jakob Steiner
Jakob Steiner (18 March, 1796 - April 1, 1863) was a Swiss mathematician. He was born in the village of Utzenstorf, Canton of Bern. At eighteen he became a pupil of Heinrich Pestalozzi, and afterwards studied at Heidelberg. Thence he went to Berlin, earning a livelihood there, as in Heidelberg, by tutoring. Here he became acquainted with A. L. Crelle, who, encouraged by his ability and by that of N. H. Abel, then also staying at Berlin, … - Samuel Gobat
Samuel Gobat, bishop of Jerusalem, was born at Crémines, Bern, Switzerland. After serving in the mission house at Basel from 1823 to 1826, he went to Paris and London, whence, having acquired some knowledge of Arabic and Ge'ez, he went out to Ethiopia under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. He visited Ethiopia twice, the first time from the beginning of 1830 to the end of 1832; returning to Europe, he took his wife Maria May, 1834.
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