- Paul Bern
Paul Bern was a German-American film director, screenwriter and producer for MGM. Bern was born to a Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany, as Paul Levy and came to the United States when he was a child. The all-star film "Grand Hotel" won the Best Picture Academy Award for 1931–32. Bern and Irving Thalberg produced the film, although neither was credited (in the early 1930s MGM did not list their films' producers in their credits). - Ivar Bern
Ivar Bern (born January 20 1967) is a Norwegian chess player, most famous for being the seventeenth ICCF World Champion in correspondence chess. In over the board chess he holds an International Master title. Bern joined the Norwegian correspondence chess federation in 1986 and won the Norwegian correspondence chess championship in 1988. He became an International correspondence chess international master in 1991 and a correspondence chess Grandmaster in 1993. - Dan Bern
Dan Bern (aka Bernstein, a name which he sometimes performs under) is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, novelist, and painter. His music is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs and Elvis Costello. His song "Talkin' Woody, Bob, Bruce, and Dan Blues," from the album "Smartie Mine", offers a joking take on this influence, presented in the style of a Guthrie or Dylan talking blues song, … - Jake Bern
Jake Bern is an American actor who has had extensive work in primarily television and commercials. He has appeared as guest roles on such TV shows as CBS's "Cold Case", WB's "Gilmore Girls", and ABC's "LA Dragnet", as well as numerous commercials, including: Sprint, Domino's, and MTV. Also, he has acted in many theatrical productions world-wide, including the Apollo Theater in New York City, Theatro Nacional in Havana, Cuba, and Campus Jussieu in Paris, … - 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). - Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics. He grew up in Basel and belonged to the Parisian avantgarde in 1950s and 60s. He signed the manifest of the New Realism movement ("Nouveau réalisme") in 1960. His self-destroying "Homage to New York" (1960) failed to self-destruct at the Museum of Modern Art, … - 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, … - 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. - Thomas Hirschhorn
Thomas Hirschhorn (born in Bern, 1957) is a Swiss instalations artist. In the 1980's he worked in Paris as a graphic artist. He was part of the group of communist graphic designers called Grapus. These artists were concerned with politics and culture, displaying impromptu creations and posters on the street mostly using the language of advertisement. He left Grapus to create the hypersaturated installations he is known for today, using common materials such as cardboard, … - Harald Szeemann
Harald Szeemann (born June 11 1933 in Bern; died February 18 2005 in Tegna, Ticino) was a Swiss curator and art historian. - Niklaus Manuel
Niklaus Manuel (probably born in 1484 in Bern; died 28 April 1530 in Bern), was a Swiss dramaturg, painter, graphic artist and politician. - Elisabeth Kopp
Elisabeth Kopp is a Swiss politician and the first woman elected to the Swiss Federal Council (1984-1989). Elisabeth Kopp grew up in Bern. After finishing her law studies in 1960 she married Hans W. Kopp. In 1969 she was elected to the district council ("Gemeinderat") of Zumikon, and from 1972 she served on the education council ("Erziehungsrat") of the canton of Zürich. - 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. - Hugo Ball
Hugo Ball was a German author and poet. Hugo Ball was born in Pirmasens, Germany and was raised in a Catholic family. He studied sociology and philosophy at the universities of Munich and Heidelberg (1906–1907). In 1910, he moved to Berlin in order to become an actor and collaborated with Max Reinhardt. He was one of the leading Dada artists. - 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), … - Klaus Huber
Klaus Huber (born November 30, 1924 in Bern, Switzerland) is a Swiss composer. One of the leading figures of his generation in Europe, Huber has written extensively for chamber ensembles, choirs, soloists and the orchestra as well as the theater. Huber is a socially and politically conscious composer and his music often conveys a humanistic message. - Paul Morand
Paul Morand was a French diplomat, novelist, playwright and poet, considered an early Modernist. He was a member of the Académie française (there was only once a controversy about his candidature, which de Gaulle opposed in 1958. He was finally elected 10 years later). He was a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (better known as Sciences Po). During the pre-war period, he wrote many short books which are noted for their elegance of style, erudition, … - Paul Laciga
Paul Laciga (born November 24, 1970 in Bern) is a beach volleyball player from Switzerland, who won the silver medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Berlin, Germany, partnering Sascha Heyer. He represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 (Sydney, Australia). - Paul Nizon
Paul Nizon (born December 19 1929 in Bern) is a Swiss art historian and writer. The son of a Russian chemist and a Swiss mother, after leaving school he studied history of art, classical archaeology and German language and literature in the universities of Berne and Munich. He obtained his doctorate in 1957 with a thesis on Vincent van Gogh. Until 1959 he worked as a scientific assistant at the Historisches Museum in Berne. - Alpo Suhonen
Alpo Suhonen (born June 17, 1948 in Valkeakoski, Finland) was the first European-born NHL head coach in 50 years when he took over the Chicago Blackhawks on May 22, 2000. Along with Ivan Hlinka, they were the first European born head coaches since Johnny Gottselig. He would last less than a year as head coach of the Hawks, as he resigned next spring because of heart problems. - Liselotte Pulver
Liselotte Pulver (born October 11, 1929), sometimes credited as Lilo Pulver, is a Swiss actress. Born in Bern, Pulver was one of the stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 60s. - Michele Besso
Michele Angelo Besso (May 25 1873 Riesbach - March 15 1955 Genova) was a Swiss/Italian engineer, and a close friend of Albert Einstein during his years at the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, today the ETH Zurich, and then at the patent office in Bern. Besso is credited with introducing Einstein to the works of Ernst Mach, the skeptical critic of physics who influenced Einstein's approach to the discipline. - Markus Ryffel
Markus Ryffel (born 5 February 1955 in Bern) is a Swiss long-distance runner who won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic 5000 metres final in Los Angeles. He set the Swiss record at 13:07.54 min. He also won a silver medal at the 1978 European Championships in Athletics. - 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). - Gottfried von Einem
Gottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He was born in Bern, Switzerland, into an Austrian diplomat family. After his school days he went to Berlin, where he studied with Boris Blacher and became a répétiteur for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Through Blacher, von Einem met his first wife, Lianne von Bismarck, whom he married in 1946. - Stephan Schmidt
Stephan Schmidt is a German-born classical guitarist now resident in Switzerland. He studied in Trossingen, Paris and New York. In 1994 he was awarded the "Grand Prix du Disque of the L'Académie Charles Cros" for his recording of Maurice Ohana's complete works for guitar (on the ten-string guitar). Schmidt taught at the Hochschüle für Musik und Theater in Bern from 1998 to 2001. - Yevgeny Adamov
Evgeny Adamov (Yevgeny Adamov or Yevgeniy Adamov;) was the head of the Russian atomic energy ministry, MinAtom. He was appointed by President Boris Yeltsin in 1998 and ousted by President Vladimir Putin in 2001. Adamov, a nuclear physicist, then joined the Dollezhal Institute. In 2005, he was arrested in Bern, Switzerland, on fraud charges. The arrest was made at the request of the United States. - Max Rostal
Max Rostal was a violinist. He was Austrian-born, but later took British citizenship. He was born in Cieszyn and studied with Carl Flesch. From 1930-33 he taught at the Berlin Hochschule, from 1944 to 1958 at the Guildhall School of Music, and then at the conservatory in Bern. His pupils included members of the Amadeus Quartet. He died in Bern. - Heinrich von Stephan
Heinrich von Stephan (January 7, 1831 - April 8, 1897) was a general post director for the German Empire who reorganized the German postal service. He was integral in the founding of the Universal Postal Union in 1874, and in 1877 introduced the telephone to Germany. Stephan began his career as a local postal worker. - 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. - Adolf Dassler
Adolf "Adi" Dassler (November 3, 1900 in Herzogenaurach (Germany) - September 6, 1978 in Herzogenaurach), mainly known as Adi Dassler, is the founder of the German sportswear company adidas. Trained as a baker, Adi Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen after his return from World War I. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe-factory, and the brothers Zehlein, … - Manuela Kormann
Manuela Kormann (born 7 December 1976 in Bern) is a Swiss curler. Kormann started playing curling in 1986. She plays in third position or as a skip and is right handed. - David Frankfurter
David Frankfurter is best known for assassinating Swiss Nazi leader Wilhelm Gustloff in 1936. Born in Daruvar, former Austria-Hungary, today's Croatia, Frankfurter was the son of the town's rabbi "Moshe (Moritz) Frankfurter" and the mother "Rebekka, (née Pagel)". He was a sickly child and suffered an incurable periostitis for which he underwent seven operations between the ages of six and twenty-three, … - Élie Ducommun
Élie Ducommun was a Swiss journalist and peace activist. He was a winner of the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Charles Albert Gobat. Born in Geneva, he worked as a tutor, language teacher, journalist, and editor, as well as a translator for the Swiss federal Chancellery (1869-1873). In 1867 he helped to found the Ligue de la paix et de la liberté (League for Peace and Liberty), though he continued working at other positions, … - Matthias Ziegler
Swiss flautist Matthias Ziegler (b. Bern, Switzerland, February 13, 1955) specializes in contemporary music for various sizes of flute (including flute, alto flute, bass flute, and contrabass flute). His original works for these instruments feature numerous extended techniques. In order to allow for the production of a buzzing timbre, … - Hans Gieng
Hans Gieng was a Swiss Renaissance sculptor best known for his public fountain figures in Bern and Fribourg. - Günter Wand
Günter Wand (born January 7, 1912 in Elberfeld, Germany; died February 14, 2002 in Ulmiz near Bern, Switzerland) was a German orchestra conductor He was also a composer. Wand was born in Elberfeld and studied in Wupertal, Allenstein and Detmold. He studied composition with Philipp Jarnach and piano with Paul Baumgartner, but was largely self-taught as a conductor. - 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. - Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin , Michel Bakunin on the grave in Bern), (May 18 (30 N.S.), 1814 - June 19 (July 1 N.S.), 1876) was a well-known Russian revolutionary, and often considered one of the “fathers of modern anarchism". Born in the Russian Empire to a family of Russian nobles, Bakunin spent his youth as a Junior Officer in the Russian army but resigned his commission in 1835. - 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, …
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