100 Notable alumni of
University of Bern
Updated:
The University of Bern is 517th in the world, 193rd in Europe, and 6th in Switzerland by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Bern sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 1 individual affiliated with the University of Bern won Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine.
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John le Carré
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1948-1949
- Occupations
- actorscreenwriterwriternovelistfilm producer
- Biography
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David John Moore Cornwell, better known by his pen name John le Carré, was an Irish-British author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophisticated, morally ambiguous writer", he is considered one of the greatest novelists of the postwar era. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked for both the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Near the end of his life, le Carré became an Irish citizen.
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Walter Benjamin
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- literary historianliterary criticphilosopherwritertranslator
- Biography
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Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western Marxism, and post-Kantianism, he made contributions to the philosophy of history, metaphysics, historical materialism, criticism, aesthetics and had an oblique but overwhelmingly influential impact on the resurrection of the Kabbalah by virtue of his life-long epistolary relationship with Gershom Scholem.
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Grigory Zinoviev
- Occupations
- actorpolitician
- Biography
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Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to 1917 and a leading figure in the early Soviet government. He served as chairman of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1919 to 1926.
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Friedrich Dürrenmatt
- Occupations
- film directorwriterplaywrightfilm screenwriterfilm actor
- Biography
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Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophical crime novels, and macabre satire. Dürrenmatt was a member of the Gruppe Olten, a group of left-wing Swiss writers who convened regularly at a restaurant in the city of Olten.
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Liselotte Pulver
- Occupations
- film actorvoice actorstage actor
- Biography
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Liselotte Pulver, sometimes credited as Lilo Pulver, is a Swiss actress. She was one of the biggest stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, where she often was cast as a tomboy. She is known for her hearty and joyful laughter. Her films outside of German cinema include A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958), One, Two, Three (1961) and The Nun (1966).
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Hermann Rorschach
- Occupations
- psychiatristpsychoanalyst
- Biography
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Hermann Rorschach was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. His education in art helped to spur the development of a set of inkblots that were used experimentally to measure various unconscious parts of the subject's personality. His method has come to be referred to as the Rorschach test, iterations of which have continued to be used over the years to help identify personality, psychotic, and neurological disorders. Rorschach continued to refine the test until his premature death at age 37.
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Casimir Funk
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- In 1904 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- biochemistchemist
- Biography
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Casimir Funk was a Polish biochemist generally credited with being among the first to formulate the concept of vitamins (the first being the English chemist Frederick Gowland Hopkins) after publishing a landmark medical writing in 1912. He highlighted these "vital amines" (or "vitamines") as critical in fighting significant diseases such as pellagra and rickets, and his analysis influenced a major shift in scientific thinking. His scientific work involved research in Poland, France and the United Kingdom. In 1920, he became a citizen of the United States where he continued his work.
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Jean Ziegler
- Occupations
- non-fiction writeruniversity teachersociologistphilosopherdocent
- Biography
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Jean Ziegler is a Swiss former professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris, and former vice-president of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He was previously Member of the Swiss Parliament for the Social Democrats from 1981 to 1999. He has also held several positions with the United Nations, especially as Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008, and as a member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council from 2008 to 2012. Ziegler has authored numerous works, is a lecturer, and is well known for this sentence: "A child who dies from hunger is a murdered child."
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Carla Del Ponte
- Occupations
- politicianlawyerjudgejuristambassador
- Biography
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Carla Del Ponte is a Swiss former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations international criminal law tribunals. A former Swiss attorney general, she was appointed prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in August 1999, replacing Louise Arbour.
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Walter Thurnherr
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1987-1989
- Occupations
- diplomatcivil servantpolitician
- Biography
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Walter Thurnherr is a Swiss government official who served as Chancellor of Switzerland from 2016 to 2023. Although he holds a traditionally nonpartisan office, he was elected as a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC). When it merged with the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD) to form The Centre (DM/LC) in 2021, Thurnherr joined the new party.
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Nikolaj Velimirović
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- In 1908 graduated with doctorate in theology
- Occupations
- poetwriterEastern Orthodox priesttheologianhagiographer
- Biography
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Nikolaj Velimirović was a Serbian Orthodox prelate who served as Bishop of Ohrid and Žiča from 1920 to 1956. An influential theological writer and a gifted orator, he was often referred to as the "new John Chrysostom". According to a number of historians he is one of the most influential bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the twentieth century.
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Jeremias Gotthelf
- Occupations
- writernovelistparsontheologian
- Biography
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Albert Bitzius was a Swiss novelist, best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf.
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Emil Theodor Kocher
- Occupations
- physicianphysiologistuniversity teachersurgeon
- Biography
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Emil Theodor Kocher was a Swiss physician and medical researcher who received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid. Among his many accomplishments are the introduction and promotion of aseptic surgery and scientific methods in surgery, specifically reducing the mortality of thyroidectomies below 1% in his operations.
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Albert Anker
- Occupations
- painterexlibristdraftspersonwatercoloristillustrator
- Biography
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Albert Anker was a Swiss painter and illustrator who has been called the "national painter" of Switzerland because of his enduringly popular depictions of 19th-century Swiss rural life.
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Thomas Zurbuchen
- Occupations
- astrophysicist
- Biography
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Thomas Hansueli Zurbuchen is a Swiss-American astrophysicist. From October 2016 until the end of 2022, he was the longest continually running Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. Prior to this, he was Professor of Space Science and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he helped found the Center for Entrepreneurship.
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Dan Vasella
- Occupations
- businesspersonphysician
- Biography
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Daniel Lucius Vasella is a Swiss medical doctor, author, and executive who was CEO and chairman of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG, the world's fifth largest drug company. During his tenure Novartis shares fell 10%, compared to the industry average. In February 2013 Vasella was awarded close to $78 million in a "golden handshake"
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Helene Stöcker
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1900
- Occupations
- journalistabortion rights activistphilosopherwritereditor
- Biography
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Helene Stöcker was a German feminist, pacifist and gender activist. She successfully campaigned to keep same sex relationships between women legal, but she was unsuccessful in her campaign to legalise abortion. She was a pacifist in Germany and joined the Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft. As war emerged, she fled to Norway. As Norway was invaded, she moved to Japan and emigrated to America in 1942.
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Georg von Békésy
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1921
- Occupations
- physicistneuroscientistchemistuniversity teacherbiophysicist
- Biography
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Georg von Békésy was a Hungarian-American biophysicist.
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Kurt Wüthrich
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1957-1962
- Occupations
- university teacherbiophysicistchemist
- Biography
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Kurt Wüthrich is a Swiss chemist/biophysicist and Nobel Chemistry laureate, known for developing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for studying biological macromolecules.
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René Fasel
- Occupations
- sports officialdentistice hockey playerphysicianice hockey official
- Biography
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René Fasel is a Swiss-Russian retired ice hockey administrator. He served as president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) from 1994 to 2021. He started his ice hockey career as a player for HC Fribourg-Gottéron, in 1960, and became a referee in 1972. He became president of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation in 1985, then was elected president of the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1994. He also became an International Olympic Committee member and was elected to its executive board. Fasel was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2021.
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Majid Takht-Ravanchi
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Majid Takht-Ravanchi is an Iranian diplomat who is currently political deputy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran since September 2024. He served as the Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations from 2019 to 2022.
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Eugen Gomringer
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied history of literature
- Occupations
- literary criticart theoristuniversity teacherwriteraesthetician
- Biography
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Eugen Gomringer was a Bolivian-born Swiss concrete poet. He was head of the Institut für Konstruktive Kunst und Konkrete Poesie (IKKP) in Rehau, Germany. Between 1977 and 1990, he was a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf. Gomringer wrote in German, Spanish, French, and English.
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Viktor Rossi
- Occupations
- politicianofficial
- Biography
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Viktor Rossi is a Swiss politician and civil servant. A member of the Green Liberal Party, he became Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland on 1 May 2019. On 13 December 2023, he was elected Federal Chancellor of Switzerland, succeeding Walter Thurnherr, and took office on 1 January 2024.
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Harald Szeemann
- Occupations
- art historianexhibition curatorart critic
- Biography
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Harald Szeemann was a Swiss curator, artist, and art historian. Having curated more than 200 exhibitions, many of which have been characterized as groundbreaking, Szeemann is said to have helped redefine the role of an art curator. It is believed that Szeemann elevated curating to a legitimate art form itself.
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Petra Gössi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Petra Christina Antonella Gössi known as Petra Gössi is a Swiss politician. She was a member of the National Council from 2011 to 2023 for The Liberals and was elected to the Council of States in 2023. Previously she served on the Cantonal Council of Schwyz between 2004 and 2011. Since 2006, she has been a member of the management of The Liberals and between 2012 and 2016 was president of her political party.
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Peter Maurer
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Peter Maurer is a Swiss diplomat who was the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 1 July 2012 until October 2022 and is currently President of the Basel Institute on Governance.
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Christa Rigozzi
- Occupations
- television presenterbeauty pageant contestantmodel
- Biography
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Christa Rigozzi is a Swiss beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Switzerland 2006 and represented her country at Miss Universe 2007.
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Tamara Funiciello
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied history
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Tamara Funiciello is a Swiss politician who currently serves as member of the National Council since 2019 for the Social Democratic Party.
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Samuel Schmid
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Samuel Schmid is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2000 to 2008. He was the head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (notably acting as a defense minister for Switzerland).
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Christa Markwalder
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Christa Markwalder is a Swiss politician and former President of the National Council.
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Adolpho Lutz
- Occupations
- epidemiologistherpetologistbotanical collectornaturalistzoological collector
- Biography
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Adolfo Lutz was a Brazilian physician, father of tropical medicine and medical zoology in Brazil, and a pioneer epidemiologist and researcher in infectious diseases.
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Regula Rytz
- Occupations
- schoolmistresssociologistchairpersonpolitician
- Biography
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Regula Rytz is a Swiss historian and politician who served on the National Council (Switzerland) for the Green Party from 2011 to 2022. She concurrently served as co-president of the Green Party of Switzerland from 2012 to 2016 and as president from 2016 to 2020.
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Xavier Mertz
- Occupations
- alpine skiermountaineerexplorer
- Biography
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Xavier Guillaume Mertz was a Swiss polar explorer, mountaineer, and skier who took part in the Far Eastern Party, a 1912–1913 component of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, on which he died. Mertz Glacier on the George V Coast in East Antarctica is named after him.
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Pedro Lenz
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Pedro Lenz is a Swiss writer.
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Annemarie Huber-Hotz
- Occupations
- sociologistethnologistpolitician
- Biography
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Annemarie Huber-Hotz was a Swiss politician who served as the Federal Chancellor of Switzerland between 2000 and 2007. She was nominated by the FDP for the office, and elected to it on 15 December 1999. In 2011, she became President of the Swiss Red Cross and ex officio vice-president of the IFRC.
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Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas
- Occupations
- communistopinion journalistrevolutionarypolitician
- Biography
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Vincas Mickevičius, known under his pen name Kapsukas, was a Lithuanian communist political activist, publicist, and revolutionary.
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Roberto Alemann
- Occupations
- economistlawyerwriteruniversity teacherpublisher
- Biography
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Roberto Alemann was an Argentine lawyer, economist, publisher, and academic.
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Simone Niggli-Luder
- Occupations
- orienteerathletics competitor
- Biography
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Simone Niggli-Luder is a Swiss orienteering athlete who has twice won (in 2003 and 2005) all four women's competitions at the world championships. She is widely seen as one of the greatest orienteers of all time.
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Isala Van Diest
- Occupations
- women's rights activistphysician
- Biography
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Isala Van Diest was the first female medical doctor and the first female university graduate in Belgium.
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Ludwig Schläfli
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1831-1836
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Ludwig Schläfli was a Swiss mathematician, specialising in geometry and complex analysis (at the time called function theory) who was one of the key figures in developing the notion of higher-dimensional spaces.
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Carl Hahn
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- In 1952 graduated with Doctor of Economics
- Occupations
- university teacherentrepreneurmanagerbusinesspersoneconomist
- Biography
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Carl Horst Hahn was a German businessman and head of the Volkswagen Group from 1982 to 1993. He served as the chairman of the board of management of the parent company, Volkswagen AG (formerly Volkswagenwerk AG). During his tenure, the group's car production increased from two million units in 1982 to 3.5 million a decade later.
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Fritz de Quervain
- Occupations
- university teachersurgeonphysician writer
- Biography
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Fritz de Quervain was a Swiss surgeon born in Sion. He was a leading authority on thyroid disease.
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Yehezkel Kaufmann
- Occupations
- historianphilosopherbiblical scholar
- Biography
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Yehezkel Kaufmann was an Israeli philosopher and Biblical scholar associated with the Hebrew University. His main contribution to the study of biblical religion was his thesis that Israel's monotheism was not a gradual development from paganism but entirely new.
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Maksym Yefimov
- Occupations
- entrepreneurpolitician
- Biography
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Maxim Viktorovich Efimov is a Ukrainian politician and former People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 48th electoral district from 2014 to December 2023. Formerly an independent and member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, and following this co-chair of Restoration of Ukraine alongside Igor Abramovych.
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Nina Christen
- Occupations
- sport shooter
- Biography
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Nina Christen is a Swiss sports shooter. She has won European and Olympic titles. Christen competed at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympic Games. At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she became the first Swiss woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the shooting events when the won the 50 metre 3-position rifle. She also won bronze in the 10 metre air rifle.
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Esther Friedli
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Esther Barbara Friedli is a Swiss politician who currently serves on the Council of States (Switzerland) on 30 April 2023 and assumed office on 30 May 2023. She previously served on the National Council (Switzerland) for the Swiss People's Party since 2019. She is the domestic partner of Toni Brunner, former president of the Swiss People's Party and also a member of the National Council. Between 2008 and 2014, Friedli served as the secretary general of the Department of Education of the Canton of St. Gallen.
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Ben-Zion Dinur
- Occupations
- pedagoguehistorianuniversity teacheractivistrabbi
- Biography
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Ben-Zion Dinur was a Ukrainian-born Israeli historian, educator, and politician. He held the position of professor of Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and represented Mapai in the first Knesset, serving as Minister of Education. Dinur was one of the founders of Yad Vashem and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences.
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Roger Nordmann
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- 1991-1996 graduated with licentiate
- Occupations
- consultantpolitician
- Biography
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Roger Nicolas Nordmann is a Swiss politician who currently serves on the National Council for the Social Democratic Party since 2004. He has also been the president of the Social Democratic group.
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Alexander Schlichter
- Occupations
- politicianeconomist
- Biography
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Alexander Grigorievich Schlichter was a Ukrainian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician and academician.
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Franz Blei
- Occupations
- linguistliterary criticwritertranslatorpublisher
- Biography
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Franz Blei was an essayist, playwright and translator. He was also noted as a bibliophile, a critic, an editor in chief and publisher. He was a friend and collaborator of Franz Kafka.
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Rudolf Gnägi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Rudolf Gnägi was a Swiss politician who was President of the Swiss Confederation in 1971 and 1976 and a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1966 to 1979.
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Hugo Schiff
- Occupations
- university teacherchemist
- Biography
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Hugo Schiff (26 April 1834 – 8 September 1915) was an Italian naturalized chemist. The son of a Jewish businessman and brother of the physiologist Moritz Schiff, Hugo Schiff was German by nationality. He discovered Schiff bases and other imines, and was responsible for research into aldehydes; leading to his development of the Schiff test. He also worked in the field of amino acids and the Biuret reagent.
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Werner Munzinger
- Occupations
- explorer
- Biography
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Werner Munzinger was a Swiss adventurer and administrator under the service of the Khedivate of Egypt.
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Günther Friedländer
- Occupations
- industrialistchemist
- Biography
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Günther Friedländer was a German and Israeli pharmacist, botanist, pharmacognosist, food chemist, an industrialist of medical products, and the founder of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
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Semyon Nakhimson
- Occupations
- revolutionarypolitician
- Biography
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Semyon Mikhailovich Nakhimson was a member of the revolutionary movement in Russia and military commissar of the Yaroslavl District.
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Ursula Wyss
- Occupations
- politicianeconomist
- Biography
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Ursula Wyss is a Swiss politician, economist and urban planner. She represented the Canton of Bern in the Swiss National Council as member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) from 6 December 1999 to 3 March 2013. From January 2013 to December 2020 she was an executive member (Gemeinderätin) of the city of Bern.
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César Roux
- Occupations
- surgeonphysician
- Biography
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César Roux was a Swiss surgeon, who described the Roux-en-Y procedure.
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Anna Christmann
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- 2008-2013 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- politicianscientist
- Biography
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Anna Christmann is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who served as a member of the Bundestag, the German parliament, from 2017 to 2025.
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Johann Samuel König
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1729
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Johann Samuel König was a German mathematician.
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Anna Tumarkin
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1895
- Occupations
- philosopherprofessorsuffragettepsychologist
- Biography
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Anna Tumarkin was a Russian-born, naturalized Swiss academic, who was the first woman to become a professor of philosophy at the University of Bern. She was the first woman in Europe to be allowed to examine doctoral and professorial candidates and the first woman to sit as a member of a University Senate anywhere in Europe.
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Rosa Schapire
- Occupations
- art historianwritertranslator
- Biography
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Rosa Schapire was an Austro-Hungarian-born art historian who lived in Germany and England. She was a model and art owner who gave early recognition to the Die Brücke group of artists.
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Gustav Wiederkehr
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Gustav Max Wiederkehr was a Swiss football administrator. He served as the president of UEFA from 1962 to 1972.
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Jakob Stämpfli
- Occupations
- lawyerjudgepolitician
- Biography
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Jakob Stämpfli was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1854–1863).
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Lyubov Axelrod
- Years
- 1868-1946 (aged 78)
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- In 1900 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- non-fiction writeruniversity teacherliterary scholarphilosopherpolitician
- Biography
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Lyubov Isaakovna Axelrod was a Russian revolutionary, Marxist philosopher, literary critic and an art theoretician.
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Jurgis Šaulys
- Occupations
- diplomateconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Jurgis Šaulys was a Lithuanian economist, diplomat, and politician, and one of the twenty signatories to the 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania.
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Hermann Sahli
- Occupations
- hematologistinternistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hermann Sahli was a Swiss internist who was a native of Bern.
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Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner
- Occupations
- biologistmycologistphysician
- Biography
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Lydia Rabinowitsch-Kempner was a Jewish bacteriologist, suffragette, and physician, known for her research on the pathogenesis of tuberculosis. In 1904, she identified the bacterium tubercle bacilli in raw milk. Her work was crucial to the development of Freund adjuvant. In 1912, she became the first woman to be granted professorship in Berlin. Eventually, Rabinowitsch became the director of the Moabit Hospital.
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Chaim Zhitlowsky
- Occupations
- writerphilosopheropinion journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Chaim Zhitlowsky was a Jewish socialist, philosopher, social and political thinker, writer and literary critic born in Ushachy, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Usachy Raion, Vitebsk Region, Belarus).
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Fulvio Pelli
- Occupations
- notarylawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Fulvio Pelli is a Swiss politician. He was the last president of the Free Democratic Party prior to its merger with the Liberal Party of Switzerland. After the merger of the two parties, he served as the first president of FDP and the Liberals from 2009 to 2012. Pelli was a member of the Swiss National Council from 1995 to 2014. He served in the communal legislature of Lugano from 1980 to 1990 and in the Grand Council of Ticino from 1983 to 1995.
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Kurt Fluri
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kurt Fluri is a Swiss politician of FDP.The Liberals (FDP), and a member of the National Council of Switzerland.
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Dej Snidvongs
- Occupations
- civil servant
- Biography
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Mom Luang Dej Snidvongs was a Thai honorary academic. He was the President of the Privy Council of Thailand to King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Governor of the Bank of Thailand in 1949 to 1952. He was given the title of Luang Dejsahakorn.
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Vladimir Medem
- Occupations
- journalisttrade unionist
- Biography
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Vladimir Davidovich Medem, né Grinberg, was a Russian Jewish politician and ideologue of the Jewish Labour Bund. The Medem Library in Paris, the largest European Yiddish institution, bears his name.
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Halil Ethem Eldem
- Occupations
- archaeologistpoliticianart historian
- Biography
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Halil Edhem Eldem, also known as Halil Edhem Bey was an Ottoman conservative politician, archaeologist and writer during the Second Constitutional Era. He was the son of Ibrahim Edhem Pasha and brother of Osman Hamdi Bey.
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Achille Casanova
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Achille Casanova was a Swiss journalist and politician. He held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland between 1981 and 2005, and during this time became the first official spokesman for the Swiss Federal Council when that role was created on 1 September 2000.
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Pirmin Bischof
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Pirmin Bischof is a Swiss politician who is a member of the Council of States of Switzerland.
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Sophia Getzowa
- Occupations
- pathologistscientist
- Biography
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Sophia Getzowa was a Belarusian-born pathologist and scientist in Mandatory Palestine. She grew up in a Jewish shtetl in Belarus and during her medical studies at the University of Bern, she became engaged to Chaim Weizmann, who would become the first president of Israel. Together they worked in the Zionist movement. After a four-year romance, Weizmann broke off their engagement and Getzowa returned to her medical studies, graduating in 1904. She carried out widely cited research on the thyroid, identifying solid cell nests (SCN) in 1907.
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Heidi Z'graggen
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Adelheid Franziska Z’graggen commonly known as Heidi Z’graggen is a Swiss political scientist and politician who currently serves on the Council of States (Switzerland) for The Centre (previously Christian Democratic People's Party) since 2019. She previously served on the Executive Council of Uri between 2004 and 2020. In 2018, she was briefly a candidate for Federal Council (Switzerland) to succeed Doris Leuthard.
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Paul Charles Dubois
- Occupations
- psychotherapistneurologist
- Biography
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Paul Charles Dubois was a Swiss neuropathologist who was a native of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
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Ivande Kaija
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
-
Ivande Kaija was the pen name of Antonija Lūkina, Latvian writer and feminist, who fought for the independence of Latvia. Through public works and writing, Kaija advocated Latvians to donate assets to the "Gold Fund" which became the gold reserve of the country in 1920. Her public service was honored when she was bestowed the Order of the Three Stars in 1926. Though many of her works were destroyed during the Soviet period, they have seen a resurgence in recent years.
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József Marek
- Enrolled in the University of Bern
- Studied in 1898
- Occupations
- pathologistscientistveterinarianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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József Marek was a Hungarian veterinarian and scientist. Marek is best known for his discovery of the poultry disease that would eventually bear his name, Marek's disease. In his lifetime, Marek was known for his studies into various veterinary diseases, and particularly for his co-authorship of a textbook of veterinary internal medicine, which was translated into multiple languages and remained in print for over fifty years.
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Eduard Müller
- Occupations
- politicianlawyerjudgejournalistjurist
- Biography
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Eduard Müller was a Swiss politician who was Mayor of Bern (1888–1895), President of the Swiss National Council (1890/1891) and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1895–1919). He was a member of the Free Democratic Party.
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Hugo Hadwiger
- Occupations
- cryptographermathematician
- Biography
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Hugo Hadwiger was a Swiss mathematician, known for his work in geometry, combinatorics, and cryptography.
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Corinne Schmidhauser
- Occupations
- alpine skierlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Corinne Schmidhauser is a Swiss former alpine skier. In 1987, she won the World Cup in slalom. She also competed in the alpine skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
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Farhad Hafezi
- Occupations
- ophthalmologistresearchersurgeon
- Biography
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Farhad Hafezi is a Swiss eye surgeon and researcher. Hafezi first gained recognition as a leading retina researcher in 1994, having been the first to discover a gene responsible for light-induced retinal degeneration. However, he changed his research focus to the cornea in 2003, and it is this work, particularly on corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL), which he helped pioneer, and advanced laser refractive surgery that he is internationally known for today. Hafezi's current clinical and laboratory research is focused on gaining a better understanding of the cornea. His research group at the University of Zurich has three main research foci:
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Lev Khinchuk
- Occupations
- diplomatcivil servantpolitician
- Biography
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Lev Mikhailovich Khinchuk was a Soviet politician, statesman and diplomat.
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Edith Pechey
- Occupations
- physicianwritersuffragette
- Biography
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Mary Edith Pechey was one of the first women medical doctors in the United Kingdom and a campaigner for women's rights. She spent more than 20 years in India as a senior doctor at a women's hospital and was involved in a range of social causes.
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Peter Lampe
- Occupations
- archaeologisttheologianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Peter Lampe is a German Protestant theologian and chaired Senior Professor of New Testament Studies/History of Early Christianity at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
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Peter Jenni
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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Peter Jenni, is an experimental particle physicist working at CERN. He is best known as one of the "founding fathers" of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider together with a few other colleagues. He acted as spokesperson (project leader) of the ATLAS Collaboration until 2009. ATLAS is a world-wide collaboration which started in 1992 involving roughly 3,000 physicists at 183 institutions in 38 countries. Jenni was directly involved in the experimental work leading to the discoveries of the W and Z bosons in the 1980s and the Higgs boson in 2012. He is (co-)author of about 1000 publications in scientific journals.
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Haim Boger
- Occupations
- educatorpolitician
- Biography
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Haim Boger was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the General Zionists between 1951 and 1955.
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Johannes Fabry
- Occupations
- dermatologistphysician
- Biography
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Johannes Fabry was a German dermatologist.
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Karl Scheurer
- Occupations
- lawyerjudgepolitician
- Biography
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Karl Scheurer was a Swiss politician.
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Christian Pfister
- Occupations
- historianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Christian Pfister is a Swiss historian.
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Andrzej Gontarek
- Occupations
- theologian
- Biography
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Andrzej Gontarek is a Polish Old Catholic clergyman and theologian, serving as the bishop of the Warsaw diocese and the primate of the Polish-Catholic Church in the Republic of Poland since 2023.
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Rosa Welt-Straus
- Occupations
- ophthalmologistsuffragette
- Biography
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Rosa Welt-Straus was a suffragist and feminist. Born in the Austrian Empire, she was the first girl in that country to graduate from high school, and the first Austrian woman to earn a medical degree, as well as the first female eye doctor in Europe.
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August R. Lindt
- Occupations
- bankerjuristjournalistdiplomat
- Biography
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Dr. August Rudolf Lindt, also known as Auguste R. Lindt, was a Swiss lawyer and diplomat. He served as Chairman of UNICEF in 1953 and as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1956 to 1960.
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Ludwig Ruetimeyer
- Occupations
- geologistuniversity teacheranatomistpaleontologistzoologist
- Biography
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(Karl) Ludwig Rütimeyer (26 February 1825 in Biglen, Canton of Bern – 25 November 1895 in Basel) was a Swiss zoologist, anatomist and paleontologist, who is considered one of the fathers of zooarchaeology.
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Chava Shapiro
- Occupations
- writerliterary critic
- Biography
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Chava Shapiro, known also by the pen name Em Kol Chai (Hebrew: אֵם כָּל חָי, lit. 'Mother of All Living'), was a Russian Jewish writer, critic, and journalist. A pioneer of Hebrew women's literature and feminist literary criticism, Shapiro was among the most prolific of the diasporic women writers of Hebrew in the early twentieth century.
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Marc Lauenstein
- Occupations
- orienteer
- Biography
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Marc Lauenstein is a Swiss orienteering competitor and runner. He received a silver medal on the long distance at the 2005 World Orienteering Championships in Aichi, and again in Aarhus in 2006. He earned a bronze medal in 2005 as a member of the Swiss relay team.
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Hansruedi von Gunten
- Occupations
- university teacherchemist
- Biography
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Hansruedi von Gunten was a Swiss chemist and mountaineer. Together with Dolf Reist he succeeded on May 24, 1956, the third ascent of Mount Everest.
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Auguste Rollier
- Occupations
- physicianclimatologistsurgeon
- Biography
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Auguste Rollier was a Swiss physician best known for his research on heliotherapy.
