47.5606° N, 7.5906° E

BASEL

Most Famous People Born in Basel, Switzerland

Notable people
1,646
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1922
Most distinctive
Art Historian 8.0×

A Rhine city whose distinctive professions are art historians, philologists, theologians, historians, and mathematicians — the trades of a humanist university town that published Erasmus, Holbein, and the first printed Greek New Testament. Euler was born here, so were both Bernoulli brothers, and Jacob Burckhardt more or less invented art history at the university. The 15th- and 16th-century bench is one of the heaviest in Switzerland, and Roger Federer is the most recent addition.

Through the Centuries

One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Basel during each.

What Basel Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Basel's biggest profession — 10% of all notables (157).

Basel over-indexes on art historian8.0× the global rate.

Basel under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Politician157
  2. Actor100
  3. Painter83
  4. Football70
  5. Writer70
  6. Historian69
  7. Author46
  8. Academic42
  1. Art Historian258.0×
  2. Philologist167.4×
  3. Theologian274.5×
  4. Historian694.0×
  5. Mathematician293.5×
  6. Author463.2×
  7. Entrepreneur162.9×
  8. Botanist172.6×
  1. Football700.4×
  2. Singer210.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Basel's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1500155016001650170017501800185019001950
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Art & Design
  • Film & TV
  • Sports
  • Other
All1,646
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Showing 23 of 1,646 notable people

0133 CONDUCTOR

Friedrich Hegar

1841 - 1927

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0143 PROFESSOR

Albert Socin

1844 - 1899

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0234 SURGEON

Ludwig Georg Courvoisier

1843 - 1918

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0444 POLITICIAN

Paul Speiser

1846 - 1935

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0538 PAINTER

Jenny Burckhardt

1849 - 1935

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0831 ARCHITECT

Ernst Georg Jung

1841 - 1912

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1032 MATHEMATICIAN

Karl von der Mühll

1841 - 1912

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1193 ENTREPRENEUR

Emil Bürgin

1848 - 1933

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1236 HISTORIAN

Rudolf Stähelin-Stockmeyer

1841 - 1900

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1295 PAINTER

Theophil Preiswerk

1846 - 1919

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1371 POLITICIAN

Johann Emil Müry

1843 - 1923

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1372 TEACHER

Adolf Glatz

1841 - 1926

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1374 LAWYER

Emil Burckhardt

1846 - 1926

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1400 PHYSICIST

Rudolf Brefin

1847 - 1892

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1411 POLITICIAN

Emil Bischoff

1847 - 1921

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1439 PHARMACOLOGIST

Rudolf Massini der Ältere

1845 - 1902

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1442 POLITICIAN

Eduard Eckenstein

1847 - 1915

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1515 BANK

Edouard Noetzlin

1848 - 1935

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1575 HISTORIAN

Henri Vuilleumier

1846 - 1925

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1581 POLITICIAN

Wilhelm Bachofen

1841 - 1922

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1594 POLITICIAN

Fritz Lotz

1842 - 1894

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1604 BUSINESS

Hans Franz Passavant (Unternehmer)

1845 - 1909

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1605 POLITICIAN

Emanuel Wackernagel

1846 - 1902

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