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 31 of 1,646 notable people

0081 LINGUIST

Rudolf Thurneysen

1857 - 1940

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0094 LINGUIST

Jacob Wackernagel

1853 - 1938

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0111 NATURALIST

Paul Sarasin

1856 - 1929

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0136 POLITICIAN

Ernst Brenner

1856 - 1911

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0178 NATURALIST

Fritz Sarasin

1859 - 1942

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0196 PAINTER

Hans Sandreuter

1850 - 1901

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0303 CONDUCTOR

Albert Fuchs (Komponist)

1858 - 1910

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0426 ENTREPRENEUR

Édouard Constant Sandoz

1853 - 1928

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0490 HISTORIAN

Rudolf Wackernagel

1855 - 1925

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0573 HISTORIAN

Fritz Barth (Theologe)

1856 - 1912

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0641 POLITICIAN

Carl Koechlin (homme politique, 1856-1914)

1856 - 1914

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0887 MAN OF LETTERS

Olympe Gevin-Cassal

1859 - 1945

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0926 ARCHAEOLOGIST

Karl Stehlin

1859 - 1934

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1000 METEOROLOGIST

Albert Riggenbach

1854 - 1921

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1054 PHOTOGRAPHER

Carl Passavant

1854 - 1887

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1128 POLITICIAN

Isaak Iselin-Sarasin

1851 - 1930

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1164 BOTANIST

Teodoro Juan Vicente Stuckert

1852 - 1932

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1165 UROLOGIST

Emil Burckhardt-De Bary

1853 - 1905

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1169 HISTORIAN

Albert Burckhardt

1854 - 1911

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1174 GEOLOGIST

Hans Schardt

1858 - 1931

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1244 ARCHITECT

Wilhelm Bubeck

1850 - 1891

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1265 KAUFMAN

Louis Baur

1858 - 1915

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1271 HISTORIAN

Traugott Geering

1859 - 1932

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1282 PHYSICIAN

Wilhelm von Speyr

1852 - 1939

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1298 POLITICIAN

Alfred Brüstlein

1853 - 1924

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1325 ENGINEER

William Marriott (engineer)

1857 - 1943

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1337 PHYSICIAN

Leopold Rütimeyer

1856 - 1932

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1373 PHYSICIAN

Karl Bohny

1856 - 1928

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1478 SCULPTOR

Achilles Schlöth

1858 - 1904

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1479 POLITICIAN

Jules Settelen

1857 - 1907

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1629 ACTOR

Albert Brüngger

1850 - 1902

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