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
Sort By

Showing 111 of 1,646 notable people

0020 PHYSICIST

K. Alex Müller

Born 1927

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0037 FILM

Arthur Cohn

Born 1927

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0044 WRITER

Armin Mohler

1920 - 2003

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0052 POLITICIAN

Otto Stich

1927 - 2012

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0055 WRITER

Lojze Kovačič

1928 - 2004

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0057 THERAPIST

Max Lüscher

1923 - 2017

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0078 PHYSICIST

Martin Gutzwiller

1925 - 2014

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0089 BACTERIOLOGIST

Willy Burgdorfer

1925 - 2014

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0092 ORNITHOLOGIST

Luc Hoffmann

1923 - 2016

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0113 COLLECTOR

Ernst Beyeler

1921 - 2010

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0123 MATHEMATICIAN

Peter Henrici (mathematician)

1923 - 1987

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0159 PAINTER

René Acht

1920 - 1998

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0161 ENVIRONMENTALIST

Franz Weber (activist)

1927 - 2019

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0168 ACTOR

Elisabeth Müller

1926 - 2006

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0169 ARTIST

César Keiser

1925 - 2007

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0188 WRITER

Lore Berger

1921 - 1943

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0216 MATHEMATICIAN

Walter Gautschi

Born 1927

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0224 WRITER

Isabelle Holland

1920 - 2002

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0228 LINGUIST

Max Mangold

1922 - 2015

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0236 FOOTBALL

Rudolf Gyger

Born 1920

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0245 ENGINEER

Ambros Speiser

1922 - 2003

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0265 BOBSLED

Felix Endrich

1921 - 1953

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0275 FENCER

Paul Meister

1926 - 2018

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0295 COMPOSER

Serge Gut

1927 - 2014

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0299 COLLECTOR

Eberhard W. Kornfeld

Born 1923

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0305 PRESENTER

Heidi Abel

1929 - 1986

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0308 THEOLOGIAN

Lukas Vischer (theologian)

1926 - 2008

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0321 ACADEMIC

Ambros Uchtenhagen

Born 1928

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0323 SOCIOLOGIST

Albert Meister

1927 - 1982

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0331 FENCER

Claude Nigon

1928 - 1994

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0380 CHESS

Martin Christoffel

1922 - 2001

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0388 ARCHAEOLOGIST

Ernst Berger

1928 - 2006

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0396 JOURNALIST

Arnold Hottinger

1926 - 2019

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0418 WRITER

Alice Ceresa

1923 - 2001

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0422 HOCKEY

Emil Handschin

1928 - 1990

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0517 POLITICIAN

Paul Wyss

Born 1928

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0519 ACADEMIC

Adrian Scheidegger

1925 - 2014

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0546 ARCHITECT

Werner Blaser

1924 - 2019

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0547 POLITICIAN

Andreas Gerwig

1928 - 2014

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0554 FENCER

Carl Schwende

1920 - 2002

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0558 ACTOR

Regine Lutz

Born 1928

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0559 ACTOR

Paul Bösiger

1929 - 1977

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0566 BANK

Alfred Emanuel Sarasin

1922 - 2005

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0580 LINGUIST

Emily Gerstner-Hirzel

1923 - 2003

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0593 ACTOR

Hans Wyprächtiger

1929 - 2006

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0610 THEOLOGIAN

Dietrich Ritschl

1929 - 2018

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0616 ARTIST

Nelly Rudin

1928 - 2013

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0624 PHILOLOGIST

Fritz Senn

Born 1928

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0633 PHYSICIST

Felix Boehm (Physiker)

Born 1924

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0640 ACTOR

Otto Stern (Schauspieler)

1921 - 1996

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0647 DESIGNER

Hans Theo Baumann

1924 - 2016

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0651 POLITICIAN

Carl Miville-Seiler

Born 1921

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0654 AUTHOR

Peter Noll

1926 - 1982

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0677 ARCHITECT

Benedikt Huber

1928 - 2019

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0681 THEOLOGIAN

Heinrich Ott (Theologe)

1929 - 2013

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0709 ARTIST

Sibylle Neff

1929 - 2010

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0733 PSYCHIATRIST

Aron Ronald Bodenheimer

1923 - 2011

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0737 SPORT

Hans Zoller

Born 1922

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0743 CHEMIST

Max Thürkauf

1925 - 1993

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0748 COMPOSER

Fred Strittmatter

1923 - 1985

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0751 POLITICIAN

Felix Auer

1925 - 2016

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0783 POLITICIAN

Lukas Burckhardt

1924 - 2018

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0791 PRODUCER

Walter Guertler

1925 - 2004

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0800 HISTORIAN

Susanna Woodtli

1920 - 2019

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0843 POLITICIAN

Martin Burckhardt (Architekt)

1921 - 2007

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0848 SCULPTOR

Giuliano Pedretti

1924 - 2012

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0857 ART HISTORIAN

Hans H. Hofstätter

1928 - 2016

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0862 ARCHAEOLOGIST

Rudolf Fellmann

1925 - 2013

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0883 COMPOSER

Jacques Wildberger

1922 - 2006

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0898 HISTORIAN

Markus Mattmüller

1928 - 2003

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0910 PHILOLOGIST

Thomas Gelzer

1926 - 2010

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0915 HISTORIAN

Emil Fellmann

1927 - 2012

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0917 ART DEALER

Hildy Beyeler

1921 - 2008

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0935 PHILOSOPHER

Gerhard Huber (Philosoph)

1923 - 2007

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0943 AUTHOR

Heini Bornstein

1920 - 2016

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1005 COMPOSER

Jim Grimm

1928 - 2006

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1006 ZOOLOGIST

Robert F. Schloeth

1927 - 2012

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1008 HISTORIAN

Hans-Rudolf Hagemann

1927 - 2018

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1030 SCULPTOR

Hans Geissberger

1921 - 1999

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1039 FILM

Max Dora

1921 - 1995

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1052 BIOCHEMIST

Marcel H. Bickel

1927 - 2017

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1061 ACTOR

Marianne Hediger

Born 1921

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1072 PSYCHIATRIST

Fritz Meerwein

1922 - 1989

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1095 ARCHITECT

Fritz Stucky

Born 1929

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1118 DESIGNER

Valery Heussler

1920 - 2007

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1129 ACADEMIC

Dietrich Hoffmann (Althistoriker)

Born 1929

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1140 PROFESSOR

Alfred Bürgin

1927 - 2014

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1144 DERMATOLOGIST

Urs Walter Schnyder

1923 - 2012

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1160 NEUROLOGE

Pierre Gloor

1923 - 2003

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1187 OPERA

Alfred Vökt

1926 - 1999

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1200 SOCIOLOGIST

Robert H. Reichardt

1927 - 1994

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1220 BASSIST

Sunny Lang

1923 - 1979

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1224 POLITICIAN

Hansjürg Weder

1928 - 2018

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1225 PHOTOGRAPHER

Roger Humbert

Born 1929

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1257 ACADEMIC

René Walther

Born 1928

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1277 HISTORIAN

Marc Sieber (Historiker)

1927 - 2010

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1307 OFFICER

Felix Wittlin

1929 - 2017

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1319 MERCHANT

Peter Ryhiner

1920 - 1975

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1388 ARCHIVIST

Hellmut Gutzwiller

1922 - 2007

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1391 FILM

Raymond Vogel (réalisateur)

1927 - 1995

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1422 BOTANIKER

Heinrich Zoller

1923 - 2009

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1434 HEBRAIST

Ernst Jenni

Born 1927

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1451 BIOLOGIST

Katharina Mangold-Wirz

1922 - 2003

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1501 ACTOR

Christian Dolny

1929 - 1986

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1507 CHESS

Peter Leepin

1920 - 1995

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1541 POLITICIAN

Ruedi Bantle

1926 - 2017

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1558 INVENTOR

Max Hetzel

Born 1921

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1559 BUSINESS

Hans Häusermann

Born 1926

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1598 ART HISTORIAN

Hans Helmut Hofstätter

Born 1928

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1613 PHOTOGRAPHER

Peter Moeschlin

1924 - 2003

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1627 POLITICIAN

Hansruedi Schmid

1928 - 2012

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