Public servants, the military and the church •
Conrad Justinger (–1438) – chronicler, magistrate and notary public of the city of Bern •
Johann Jakob Grynaeus (1540–1617) – Protestant divine, a theologian of the school of
Huldrych Zwingli •
Robert Scipio, Freiherr von Lentulus (1714–1786) – military officer, in Austrian and later, Prussian service •
Emmanuel Han (1801–1867) – military officer and
philhellene, fought in the
Greek War of Independence •
Walter Breisky (1871–1944) – Austrian jurist, civil servant and politician •
Rosalie Dreyer (1895–1987) – naturalized British nurse, pioneer in Britain's public-funded nursing service •
August R. Lindt (1905–2000) – lawyer and diplomat, Chairman of
UNICEF 1953–1954 and
UN High Commissioner for Refugees 1956–1960 •
Marc Hodler (1918–2006) – lawyer, President of the International Ski Federation 1951–1998, exposed the
2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal •
Hans Urwyler (1925–1994) – Christian minister of the
New Apostolic Church •
Kofi Annan (1938–2018 in Bern) – UN Secretary-General 1997–2006 •
Algirdas Paleckis (born 1971) – Lithuanian diplomat, politician and columnist
Politicians and the landed gentry •
Adrian von Bubenberg (–1479) – Bernese knight, military commander and 3-time mayor (Schultheiss) of Bern, hero of the
Battle of Murten •
Niklaus Dachselhofer (1595–1670) – Bernese politician, Schultheiss (mayor) of Bern 1636–1667 •
Christoph von Graffenried, 1st Baron of Bernberg (1661–1743) – founder of
New Bern, North Carolina •
Susanna Julie von Bondeli (1731–1778) – famous salonist and lady of letters, the salon became the center of intellectual life in Bern. •
Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia (1781 – Elfenau, near Bern 1860) – German princess of the ducal house of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld •
Mikhail Bakunin (1814– 1876 in Bern) – Russian revolutionary anarchist. •
Karl Schenk (1823–1895) – pastor, politician; served on the Swiss Federal Council 1863–1895 •
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) – lived in Bern 1914–1917 •
Louise Elisabeth de Meuron (1882–1980) – aristocrat and eccentric personality in Bern • Dom
Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (born 1945) – claimant to the defunct Portuguese throne, as the head of the
House of Braganza •
Regula Rytz (born 1962) – politician, sociologist and historian •
Ursula Wyss (born 1973) – economist and politician •
Min Li Marti (born 1974) – politician, publisher, sociologist and historian
Science and academia •
Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777) – anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, bibliographer and poet •
Carl Adolf Otth (1803–1839) –
naturalist •
Gustav Heinrich Otth (1806–1874) –
mycologist •
Carl Brunner von Wattenwyl (1823–1914) – entomologist who specialised in
Orthoptera •
Ludwig Fischer (1828–1907) – botanist, researched
phanerogams and
cryptogams •
Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier (1840–1914) – American archaeologist. •
Emil Theodor Kocher (1841–1917) – physician and medical researcher, received the 1909
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on the thyroid •
Arnold Klebs (1870–1943) – physician who specialized in the study of
tuberculosis •
Anna Tumarkin (1875–1951) – Russian-born, naturalized Swiss academic, the first woman to become a professor of philosophy at the
University of Bern •
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) – worked out his
theory of relativity while living in Bern, employed as a
patent examiner at the
patent office •
Ida Hoff (1880–1952) – pioneering doctor, feminist activist, early regular female motorist •
Aimé Félix Tschiffely (1895–1954) – Swiss-born, Argentine professor, writer and equestrian adventurer •
Hans Albert Einstein (1904–1973) – Swiss-American engineer and educator, the second child and first son of
Albert Einstein •
Friedrich Tinner (born 1937) – nuclear engineer connected with the proliferation of nuclear materials in Iran, Libya, and North Korea •
Claudia Rosiny (born 1960) – German-Swiss academic in Dance and Media studies, a festival director and cultural manager •
Daniel Mojon (born 1963) – ophthalmologist and ophthalmic surgeon, invented minimally-invasive
strabismus surgery •
Peter Jüni (born ) – scientific director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, works at
St. Michael's Hospital (Toronto) Writing and acting •
Ulrich Boner or Bonerius (early 14th century) – German-speaking Swiss writer of fable •
Hans von Rüte (died 1558) – Bernese dramatist and chronicler of the Swiss Reformation •
Johann David Wyss (1743–1818) – author, best remembered for
The Swiss Family Robinson •
Charles Victor de Bonstetten (1745–1832) – liberal writer •
Daniel Albert Wyttenbach (1746–1820) – German Swiss classical scholar •
Johann Rudolf Wyss (1782–1830) – author, writer, and folklorist who wrote the words to the former Swiss national anthem •
Charles Monnard (1790–1865) – historian and member of the
Helvetic Society •
Vincent O. Carter (1924–1983) – American writer, author of
The Bern Book •
Selma Urfer (1928–2013) – author, translator and actress •
Liselotte Pulver (born 1929) – actress, well known for her hearty and joyful laughter •
Bigna Francis-von Wyttenbach (1930–2021) – Swiss writer •
Yves Rénier (1942–2021) – French actor, director, screenwriter and voice actor •
Lukas Hartmann (born 1944) – children's writer, Switzerland's "first husband" in 2015 •
Yang Lian (born 1955) – Swiss-Chinese poet associated with the
Misty Poets •
Sibylle Canonica (born 1957) – actress, has appeared in more than forty films since 1981 •
Georges Delnon (born 1958) – theatre director, artistic director and professor •
Sabine Timoteo (born 1975) – actress •
Yangzom Brauen (born 1980) – actress, activist and writer •
Cleo von Adelsheim (born 1987) – German-Chilean actress
Artists, painters and musicians •
Niklaus Manuel Deutsch (–1530) – artist, writer, mercenary and Reformed politician •
Albrecht Kauw (1621–1681) – still-life painter, cartographer and a painter of
vedute •
Gabriel Lory the Elder (1763–1840) – Bernese landscape painter and illustrator •
Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) – painter of portraits, landscapes and genre paintings •
Lisa Wenger (1858–1941) – painter and author of children's books •
Adolf Wölfli (1864–1930) – artist associated with
Art brut •
Bertha Züricher (1869–1949) – author, painter and engraver •
Volkmar Andreae (1879–1962) – conductor and composer •
Eric Blom CBE (1888–1959) – British-naturalised music lexicographer, musicologist, music critic and music
biographer •
Klaus Huber (1924–2017) – composer and academic •
Margrit Zimmermann (1927–2020) – pianist, composer, conductor and music educator •
Mani Matter (1936–1972) – singer-songwriter •
Roland Zoss (born 1951) – songwriter and novelist, lives on the
Aeolian Islands •
Christine Lauterburg (born 1956) – singer, yodeler and actress •
Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born 1977) – Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist •
Zora Slokar, (born 1980) horn player with
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana •
Giuseppe Bausilio (born 1997) – actor, dancer, and singer
Business •
Johann Rudolf Tschiffeli (1716–1780) – agronomist, a wealthy merchant, economist, and lawyer •
Franz Rudolf Frisching (1733–1807) – Bernese patrician, officer, politician, founded the
Frisching Faience Manufactory •
Rodolphe Lindt (1855–1909) – chocolate manufacturer, founded the
Lindt chocolate factory •
Marianne Alvoni (born 1964) – fashion designer
Sport •
Elia Alessandrini (1997–2022), footballer, prospect player for the
Switzerland national football team, died from drowning in Oman •
Philippe Marie Eugène, Count d'Ursel (1920–2017), was a Swiss-born Belgian alpine skier and a member of the
Ursel family, competed at the
1948 Winter Olympics •
Tanja Frieden (born 1976), snowboarder and gold medallist at the
2006 Winter Olympics •
Guerino Gottardi (born 1970), a retired Swiss-Italian footballer, almost 250 club caps •
Otto Hess (1878–1926), pitcher for the
Cleveland Bronchos 1902 and 1904–08 and
Boston Braves 1912–15 •
Maurizio Jacobacci (born 1963), Italian-Swiss football manager and former player •
Roman Josi (born 1990), professional ice hockey player, selected to play for Switzerland at the
2010 Winter Olympics •
Arnold Käch (1914–1998), military officer, skier, ski official and writer •
Christian Kauter (born 1947), fencer, silver medallist in the team épée at the
1972 Summer Olympics and bronze medallist at the
1976 Summer Olympics •
Dominik Märki (born 1990), Swiss curler, living in
Fayetteville, Arkansas, bronze medallist in the
2018 Winter Olympics •
Jürg Marmet (1927–2013), mountaineer, part of the first two-man Swiss team which climbed
Mount Everest in 1956 •
Benoît Musy (1917–1956), racing driver and motorcycle racer •
Maja Neuenschwander (born 1980), long-distance runner who competes in marathon races •
Jennifer Oehrli (born 1989), football goalkeeper, member of the
Switzerland women's national football team •
Mirjam Ott (born 1972), retired curler, captain of the Swiss Olympic Curling Team •
Kris Richard (born 1994), racing driver •
Markus Ryffel (born 1955), former long-distance runner, silver medallist in the 5000 metres at the
1984 Summer Olympics •
Akira Schmid (born 2000), professional ice hockey goaltender with the
New Jersey Devils of the
National Hockey League •
Ernst Schmied (1924–2002), mountaineer, the second successful summiteer of
Mount Everest in 1956 •
Esther Staubli (born 1979), football referee, on the FIFA International Referees List since 2006 •
Willi Steffen (1925–2005), former fighter pilot and international footballer, won 28 caps for his country •
Christine Stückelberger (born 1947), retired equestrian, gold medallist in dressage at the
1976 Summer Olympics compete at six Olympics: 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988, 1996 and 2000. •
Alain Sutter (born 1968), footballer, 351 club caps, 58 national team caps == See also ==