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
Theologian27
Sort By

Showing 27 of 1,646 notable people

0003 THEOLOGIAN

Karl Barth

1886 - 1968

Preview
0099 THEOLOGIAN

Johann Jakob Wettstein

1693 - 1754

Preview
0153 THEOLOGIAN

Eduard Schweizer

1913 - 2006

Preview
0158 THEOLOGIAN

Johannes Buxtorf II

1599 - 1664

Preview
0230 THEOLOGIAN

Samuel Werenfels

1657 - 1740

Preview
0300 THEOLOGIAN

Alfred Bertholet

1868 - 1951

Preview
0308 THEOLOGIAN

Lukas Vischer (theologian)

1926 - 2008

Preview
0370 THEOLOGIAN

Johannes Wolleb

1589 - 1629

Preview
0403 THEOLOGIAN

Markus Lutz

1772 - 1835

Preview
0447 THEOLOGIAN

Friedrich Seyler

1642 - 1708

Preview
0460 THEOLOGIAN

Jacob Christoph Iselin

1681 - 1737

Preview
0464 THEOLOGIAN

Carl Albrecht Bernoulli

1868 - 1937

Preview
0473 THEOLOGIAN

Johannes Jakob Buxtorf

1645 - 1705

Preview
0489 THEOLOGIAN

Theodor Zwinger (pasteur)

1597 - 1654

Preview
0541 THEOLOGIAN

Johann Zwinger

1634 - 1696

Preview
0570 THEOLOGIAN

Jacob Strauß

1480 - 1533

Preview
0610 THEOLOGIAN

Dietrich Ritschl

1929 - 2018

Preview
0681 THEOLOGIAN

Heinrich Ott (Theologe)

1929 - 2013

Preview
0697 THEOLOGIAN

Beatrice Rohner

1876 - 1947

Preview
0741 THEOLOGIAN

Arthur F. Utz

1908 - 2001

Preview
0744 THEOLOGIAN

Ludwig Bär (Theologe)

1479 - 1554

Preview
0864 THEOLOGIAN

Beat Dietschy

Born 1950

Preview
0996 THEOLOGIAN

Rudolf Liechtenhan der Ältere

1875 - 1947

Preview
1102 THEOLOGIAN

Samuel Heiland

1533 - 1592

Preview
1133 THEOLOGIAN

Jakob Burckhardt der Ältere

1785 - 1858

Preview
1145 THEOLOGIAN

Walter Neidhart

1917 - 2001

Preview
1168 THEOLOGIAN

Johann Buxtorf (Orientalist)

1663 - 1732

Preview