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

0008 ARCHITECT

Peter Zumthor

Born 1943

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0009 ACTOR

Marthe Keller

Born 1945

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0083 ECONOMIST

Bruno Frey

Born 1941

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0100 PAINTER

Miriam Cahn

Born 1949

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0115 WRITER

Jürg Laederach

1945 - 2018

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0140 FILM

Niklaus Schilling

1944 - 2016

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0144 CONDUCTOR

Karl Anton Rickenbacher

1940 - 2014

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0172 CHOREOGRAPHER

Heinz Spoerli

Born 1940

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0181 JOURNALIST

Felix Philipp Ingold

Born 1942

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0197 BUSINESS

Rolf Fehlbaum

Born 1941

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0207 JUDGE

Carl Baudenbacher

Born 1947

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0214 WRITER

-minu

Born 1947

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0239 POLITICIAN

Felix Gutzwiller

Born 1948

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0242 POLITICIAN

Claude Janiak

Born 1948

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0256 PAINTER

Jörg Schuldhess

1941 - 1992

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0259 PHYSICIST

Christoph Gerber

Born 1942

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0266 ART HISTORIAN

Beat Wyss

Born 1947

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0337 WRITER

Christoph Geiser

Born 1949

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0344 WRITER

Urban Gwerder

1944 - 2017

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0359 CHEMIST

Andreas Pfaltz

Born 1948

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0377 COMPOSER

Thüring Bräm

Born 1944

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0387 WRITER

Jean Willi

Born 1945

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0407 FENCER

François Suchanecki

Born 1949

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0415 FENCER

Peter Lötscher

1941 - 2017

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0434 MATHEMATICIAN

Hanspeter Kraft

Born 1944

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0454 WRITER

Dieter Bachmann

Born 1940

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0468 JOURNALIST

Rosemarie Schwarzwälder

Born 1945

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0483 ACTOR

Jürg Löw

Born 1946

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0485 WRITER

François Conod

1945 - 2017

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0486 POLITICIAN

Boris Banga

Born 1949

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0487 SCULPTOR

Paul Degen

1941 - 2007

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0511 INTERNIST

Martin Vosseler

1948 - 2019

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0527 SPORT

Paul Köchli

Born 1947

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0529 ECONOMIST

Peter Tschopp

1940 - 2009

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0530 AUTHOR

Dieter Hagenbach

1943 - 2016

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0534 HISTORIAN

Georg Kreis

Born 1943

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0539 ART HISTORIAN

Jacqueline Burckhardt

Born 1947

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0544 LITERARY

Dieter Fringeli

1942 - 1999

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0553 PHILOLOGIST

Margarethe Billerbeck

Born 1945

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0561 WRITER

Matthyas Jenny

Born 1945

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0568 ACTOR

Franziska Kohlund

1947 - 2014

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0574 ECONOMIST

Bertram Schefold

Born 1943

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0577 AUTHOR

Jürg Stenzl

Born 1942

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0584 COMPOSER

Andreas Pflüger (Komponist)

Born 1941

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0595 FILM

Michel Bergmann

Born 1945

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0625 HELLENIST

Philippe Borgeaud

Born 1946

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0659 POLITICIAN

René Rhinow

Born 1942

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0688 WRITER

René Schweizer

1943 - 2015

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0698 FOOTBALL

Urs Siegenthaler

Born 1947

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0700 AUTHOR

Bruno Streit

Born 1948

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0714 ACTOR

Peter Danzeisen

Born 1941

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0718 ACTOR

Urs Bihler

Born 1944

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0721 ACTOR

Andreas Wellano

Born 1948

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0729 PRESENTER

Urs P. Gasche

Born 1945

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0787 AUTHOR

Peter Rüedi

Born 1943

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0793 SCULPTOR

Cordelia von den Steinen

Born 1941

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0795 ACTOR

Gaby Gasser

Born 1944

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0796 PUBLISHER

Moritz Suter

Born 1943

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0804 WRITER

Andres Müry

Born 1948

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0810 LITERARY

Christiaan L. Hart Nibbrig

Born 1944

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0812 PAINTER

Jean-Frédéric Schnyder

Born 1945

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0814 DRIVER

Peter Schetty

Born 1942

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0821 PHILOLOGIST

Andreas Fischer (Anglist)

Born 1947

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0835 JUDGE

Martin Schubarth

Born 1942

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0842 PHILOLOGIST

Christoph Schäublin

Born 1941

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0867 ACADEMIC

Martin E. Schwab

Born 1949

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0886 ARTIST

Heidi Lüdi

Born 1949

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0902 HISTORIAN

Martin Schaffner (Historiker)

Born 1940

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0914 ART HISTORIAN

Max Seidel (Kunsthistoriker)

Born 1940

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0924 SINGER

Rudolf Mazzola

1941 - 2010

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0927 PHILOLOGIST

Martin Lienhard

Born 1946

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0944 MATHEMATICIAN

Peter Buser

Born 1946

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0946 JOURNALIST

Urs Schoettli

Born 1948

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0955 MEDIEVALIST

Hans-Jörg Gilomen

Born 1945

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0990 ACTOR

Sibylle Courvoisier

1943 - 2003

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1003 MUSIC

Iwan Roth

Born 1942

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1067 DRUMMER

Lukas Lindenmaier

1946 - 2014

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1076 COMEDIAN

Jürg Hügi

1944 - 2009

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1103 ARTIST

Alain Péclard

Born 1943

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1107 ACTOR

Yvette Kolb

Born 1942

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1109 POLITICIAN

Stefan Cornaz

1944 - 2003

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1120 ACADEMIC

Lieselotte E. Saurma-Jeltsch

Born 1946

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1130 WRITER

Roger Monnerat

Born 1949

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1134 AUTHOR

Werner Zurfluh

1945 - 2008

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1190 THEATRE

Dominik Neuner

Born 1948

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1213 SKATER

Hansruedi Widmer

Born 1944

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1254 ACTOR

Peter Pollatschek

1944 - 1968

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1260 LAWYER

Peter Mathys

Born 1941

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1262 ORGANIST

Conrad Zwicky

Born 1946

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1273 THERAPIST

Paul Brutsche

Born 1943

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1283 ZIRKUS

Fritz Zollinger

Born 1949

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1308 ACADEMIC

Sylvia Botheroyd

Born 1944

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1331 CONDUCTOR

Markus Ulbrich

Born 1942

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1347 LAWYER

Roland Rasi

Born 1945

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1368 TROMBONIST

Paul Haag

Born 1942

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1381 MUSIC

Roman Hofer (Kirchenmusiker)

1942 - 2011

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1482 POLITICIAN

Hans Rudolf Gysin

Born 1940

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1492 POLITICIAN

Hans Fünfschilling

Born 1940

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1499 POLITICIAN

Margrith von Felten

Born 1944

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1505 RADIO

Helen Issler

Born 1946

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1509 POLITICIAN

Hermann Fehr (Politiker, 1941)

Born 1941

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1512 FOOTBALL

Josef Kiefer

Born 1942

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1526 POLITICIAN

Monika Dusong

Born 1945

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1528 POLITICIAN

Jörg Schild

Born 1946

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1542 ENTREPRENEUR

Werner Edelmann

Born 1941

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1554 SWIMMER

Werner Risi

Born 1940

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1569 POLITICIAN

Eduard Belser

Born 1942

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1574 OFFICER

Walter Knutti

Born 1948

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1599 ART HISTORIAN

Rose Marie Schulz-Rehberg

Born 1945

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1603 POLITICIAN

Michael Raith

1944 - 2005

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1619 POLITICIAN

Peter Bonsack

Born 1948

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