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
Academic42
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Showing 42 of 1,646 notable people

0127 ACADEMIC

Bonifacius Amerbach

1495 - 1562

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0139 ACADEMIC

Oliver Schmitt

Born 1973

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0321 ACADEMIC

Ambros Uchtenhagen

Born 1928

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0326 ACADEMIC

Harry Goldschmidt

1910 - 1986

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0356 ACADEMIC

Mark Pieth

Born 1953

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0445 ACADEMIC

Jacob Achilles Mähly

1828 - 1902

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0453 ACADEMIC

Martin Rikli (Botaniker)

1868 - 1951

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0519 ACADEMIC

Adrian Scheidegger

1925 - 2014

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0611 ACADEMIC

Johann Rudolf Zwinger (pasteur)

1660 - 1708

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0678 ACADEMIC

Felix Stalder

Born 1968

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0816 ACADEMIC

Leonhard Burckhardt

Born 1953

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0839 ACADEMIC

Christoph Handschin

Born 1973

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0858 ACADEMIC

André Schroeder

1918 - 2004

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0865 ACADEMIC

Felix Uhlmann

Born 1969

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0867 ACADEMIC

Martin E. Schwab

Born 1949

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0871 ACADEMIC

Max Gutzwiller

1889 - 1989

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0880 ACADEMIC

Fritz Spannagel

1891 - 1957

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0891 ACADEMIC

Sandro Zanetti

Born 1974

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0931 ACADEMIC

Thomas Sutter-Somm

Born 1956

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0959 ACADEMIC

Hugo Triadan

1930 - 1987

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0973 ACADEMIC

Bernhard Fehr

1876 - 1938

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0995 ACADEMIC

Nadja Capus

Born 1971

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0997 ACADEMIC

Stephan Breitenmoser

Born 1955

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1110 ACADEMIC

Werner Hügin

1918 - 2001

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1120 ACADEMIC

Lieselotte E. Saurma-Jeltsch

Born 1946

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1125 ACADEMIC

Eduard His-Eberle

1886 - 1948

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1126 ACADEMIC

Arnold Geering

1902 - 1982

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1127 ACADEMIC

Hannes B. Staehelin

Born 1937

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1129 ACADEMIC

Dietrich Hoffmann (Althistoriker)

Born 1929

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1139 ACADEMIC

Nicolaus Gürtler

1654 - 1711

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1143 ACADEMIC

Katharina Steib

Born 1935

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1208 ACADEMIC

Curt Hallauer

1900 - 1994

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1257 ACADEMIC

René Walther

Born 1928

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1305 ACADEMIC

Samuel Holzach

1536 - 1616

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1308 ACADEMIC

Sylvia Botheroyd

Born 1944

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1321 ACADEMIC

Leo Weber (Hochschullehrer)

1909 - 2000

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1354 ACADEMIC

Roland Fankhauser

Born 1967

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1383 ACADEMIC

Hermann Kapp (Mediziner)

1900 - 1976

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1392 ACADEMIC

Felix Hafner (Jurist)

Born 1956

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1397 ACADEMIC

Dora Julia Rittmeyer-Iselin

1902 - 1974

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1402 ACADEMIC

Ramon Mabillard

Born 1972

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1491 ACADEMIC

Verena Keller (Autorin)

Born 1952

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