List of personalities from the city of Biel

This list contains personalities born in Biel as well as those who had their sphere of activity in Biel without having been born there. Both sections are sorted chronologically according to the year of birth. The list does not claim to be complete.

Honorary citizen

• Harry Borer (1927-2017), PhD and long-standing patron of Manufacture des Montres Rolex SA Bienne, as well as a major sponsor of countless social, cultural and social initiatives in the city of Biel and its region (honorary citizenship awarded in 2012)
• Guillaume-Henri Dufour (1787–1875), humanist , general , politician, cartographer and engineer (honorary citizenship granted in 1848)
• Nicolas Hayek (1928–2010), entrepreneur and founder of the Swatch Group. (Honorary citizenship granted in 2005)
• Paul Kipfer (1905–1980), engineer and first person in the stratosphere (according to NASA, together with Auguste Piccard the first astronaut in the world) (honorary citizenship granted in 1931)

Personalities born in Biel

Georg Friedrich Heilmann
(around 1810)

Until 1850

• Thomas Wyttenbach (around 1472–1526), ​​reformer
• Nikolaus von Béguelin (1714–1789), naturalist and scholar
• Emanuel Witz (1717–1797), painter
• Rosa Dorothea Ritter (1759–1833), mistress of Landgrave Wilhelm IX./I. from Hessen-Kassel
• Susanna Ronus (1769–1835), writer
• Georg Friedrich Heilmann (1785–1862), Biel's envoy to the Congress of Vienna and officer
• Johann Siegmund Alioth (1788–1850), industrialist
• Johann Friedrich Boll (1801–1869), pastor
• Eduard Blösch (1807–1866), politician
• Jean Sessler (1822–1897), politician and entrepreneur
• Jules Beck (1825–1904), high mountain photographer
• Gustave Bridel (1827-1884), engineer

Robert Walser
(late 1890s)

1851 to 1900

• Gustav Müller (1860–1921), politician
• Alfred Moll (1869–1949), politician
• Eduard Bähler (1870–1925), theologian
• Hermann Walser (1870–1919), geographer
• Hermann Aegler (1874–1944), manufacturer
• Karl Walser (1877–1943), painter, set designer and illustrator
• Robert Walser (1878–1956), writer
• Paul Studer (1879–1927), Romanist
• Adrien Wettach (Loveresse 1880–1959), known as the music clown Grock
• Ernst Dubach (1881–1982), racing cyclist
• Hans Berger (1882–1977), painter
• Eduard Behrens (1884–1944), also Gottlieb Krähenbühl , journalist and writer
• Emil Dürr (1883–1934), historian and archivist born in the Bözingen district
• Max Ritter (1884–1946), civil engineer
• Hermann Hubacher (1885–1976), sculptor and sculptor
• Louis Rivier (1885–1963), glass painter and painter
• Eduard Lanz (1886–1972), architect
• Hans Mühlestein (1887–1969), author
• Heinrich Huttenlocher (1890–1954), Swiss geologist
• Gottfried Eduard Hofer (1891–1993), entrepreneur
• Ellen Widmann (1894–1985), actress and acting teacher
• Hedda Koppé (1896–1990), actress
• Hermann Kurz (1897–1980), accountant and politician

Moritz Leuenberger , Federal Council 1995–2010

1901 to 1950

• Eduard Fankhauser (1904–1998), naturist and publisher
• Alfred Bangerter (1909-2002), ophthalmologist
• Werner Kägi (1909–2005), lawyer
• Jean-Louis Jeanmaire (1910-1992), brigadier
• Gerhart Schürch (1910–1994), politician
• Robert Schneider (1912–1990), surgeon, co-founder of the working group for osteosynthesis issues
• Roland Kuhn (1912-2005), psychiatrist
• Laure Wyss (1913–2002), writer
• Maurice Edmond Müller (1918–2009), orthopedist and surgeon
• Konrad Müller (1920–2015), classical philologist
• Géo Voumard (1920–2008), composer, arranger, pianist and radio journalist
• Georges Grosjean (1921–2002), historian, geographer and museum director
• Felix Villars (1921–2002), physicist
• Peter Grünig (1923–1977), politician, forest engineer
• Jörg Steiner (1930–2013), writer
• Hans Scholl (* 1931), Protestant theologian
• René Felber (* 1933), politician, Federal Councilor
• Raymond Bruckert (* 1935), author
• Daniel Andres (* 1937), musician and composer
• Hans Ulrich Lehmann (1937–2013), composer
• Pierre Benoit (* 1939), architect at Tschumi and Benoit
• Ernst Thomke (* 1939), industrial manager
• Mario Cortesi (* 1940), journalist, publisher, non-fiction author and film director
• Hans Ulrich Jost (* 1940), historian
• Jean-Claude Thoenig (* 1940), sociologist
• Binjamin Wilkomirski (* 1941), cheater
• Franz Hohler (* 1943), writer, cabaret artist and songwriter
• Frank A. Meyer (* 1944), journalist
• Michel Delprete (born December 14, 1944) from Astano , painter, sculptor
• Hanspeter Gschwend (* 1945), writer and radio journalist
• Madeleine Amgwerd (* 1946), politician
• Moritz Leuenberger (* 1946), Federal Councilor
• Hans Koch (* 1948), woodwind
• Romano Della Chiesa (born November 17, 1948) from Bosco Gurin , painter, engraver

From 1951

• Enzo Calderari (* 1952), entrepreneur and automobile racing driver
• Christine Beerli (* 1953), politician
• Andreas Hofmann (* 1955), motorcycle racing driver
• Philippe Perrenoud (* 1955), politician
• Catherine Rollier (* 1955), artist and graphic designer
• Gisèle Ory (* 1956), politician
• Heidi Specogna (* 1959), filmmaker
• Hugo Zigerli (* 1960), ice hockey player
• Marie José Burki (* 1961), artist
• Silvia Fürst (* 1961), cyclist and mountain bike world champion
• Armand Baeriswyl (* 1962), archaeologist and historian
• Stefan Brotbeck (* 1962), philosopher
• Thomas Jordan (* 1963), economist, President of the Swiss National Bank
• Armin Senser (* 1964), poet
• Hannah Külling (* 1965), stage designer and artist
• Jean-Jacques Aeschlimann (* 1967), ice hockey player
• Christoph Zürcher (* 1967), political scientist
• Eva Lüdi Kong (* 1968), sinologist and translator
• Karim Patwa (* 1968), film director and screenwriter
• Andreas Rickenbacher (* 1968), politician
• Karin Bachmann (* 1969), writer
• Nico Brina (* 1969), boogie woogie, blues and rock'n'roll pianist and singer
• Patrick Glanzmann (* 1969), ice hockey player
• Toni Caradonna (* 1972), comedian and street artist
• Martin Steinegger (* 1972), ice hockey player
• Sven Christ (* 1973), football player and coach
• Martina Hofmann (* 1975), opera singer and singing teacher
• Yannick Pelletier (* 1976), chess player
• Michael Sauter (* 1976), musician and composer
• Pascal Renfer (* 1977), football player
• Marcel Fischer (* 1978), epee fencer, winner of epee fencing at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
• Christine Wiederkehr (* 1978), film director
• Andréa Zimmermann (* 1978), ski mountaineer
• Luke J. Wilkins (born 1979), actor
• Karin Maurer (* 1980), paraglider pilot
• Gregor Thommen (* 1980), ice hockey player
• Nicolas Blancho (* 1983), President of the Sunni Islamic Central Council Switzerland
• Raphaël Nuzzolo (born 1983), football player
• Simon Rytz (* 1983), ice hockey player
• Laura Ruhnke (* 1983), Swiss-Canadian ice hockey player
• Vincent Kauter (* 1984), politician and sword fencer
• Mathieu Tschantré (* 1984), ice hockey player
• Philipp Rytz (* 1984), ice hockey player
• Patrick von Gunten (* 1985), ice hockey player
• Martina Kocher (* 1985), luge and track and field athlete
• Claudia Lenzi (* 1985), actress
• Denis Simonet (* 1985), politician
• Mathias Joggi (* 1986), ice hockey player
• Noah Veraguth (* 1987), pop-rock singer and musician
• Dan Weisskopf (* 1989), ice hockey player
• Manuel Zigerli (* 1989), ice hockey player
• François Affolter (* 1991), football player
• Jan Gnägi (* 1991), politician
• Jaza Knecht-Costa (* 1991), musician (rapper)
• Silvan Wyss (* 1993), ice hockey player
• Nemo Mettler (* 1999), musician (rapper)

Personalities who have worked on site

• Ambrosius Blarer (1492–1564), reformer and hymn poet, Protestant pastor in Biel 1551–1559
• Jakob Rosius (1598–1676), astronomer, mathematician, teacher and theologian, lived in Biel from 1622
• Karl Neuhaus (1796–1849), politician and founder of the University of Bern
• Friedrich Wilhelm Knoebel (1802–1871), educator and publicist, editor of the Bieler Kurier
• Élie Ducommun (1833–1906), journalist, businessman, pioneer of the peace movement, 1902 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize , lived in Biel from June 10, 1872 to April 28, 1877.
• Franz Eugen Schlachter (1859–1911), Bible translator of the Schlachter Bible , preacher, writer and book author, publisher of the newspaper Brosamen von des Herr Tisch , builder of the Evangelical Chapel in Biel, lived in Biel since 1889
• Elisabeth Baumann-Schlachter (1887–1941), was a Christian Swiss writer and the daughter of Franz Eugen Schlachter . She spent her youth in Biel from 1889.
• Ferdinando Della Chiesa (born February 24, 1909 in Bisuschio, † April 27, 1964 in Biel), glass painter and sculptor
• Harry Borer (1927–2017), long-time patron of the Manufacture des Montres Rolex SA Bienne, as well as a major sponsor of countless social, cultural and social initiatives in the city of Biel and its region; Honorary citizen of the city of Biel
• Nicolas Hayek (1928–2010), entrepreneur and founder of the Swatch Group, honorary citizen of the city of Biel
• Beat Wyrsch (* 1946), director, director of the Biel Solothurn theater

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harry Borer: On the sales situation of Swiss watch manufacturers. Dissertation Bern / Solothurn 1963.
2. ↑ swatchgroup.com/ehrenbuergerfeier . Retrieved February 22, 2014.
3. ↑ Michel Delprete. In: Sikart
4. ^ Romano Della Chiesa. In: Sikart
5. ↑ Ferdinando Della Chiesa. In: Sikart