51.2310° N, 6.7725° E

DUSSELDORF

Most Famous People Born in Dusseldorf, Germany

Notable people
2,294
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1936
Most distinctive
Painter 3.9×

A Rhenish art academy city whose bench is thick with painters — more than ten per cent of all notables, a share matched by very few cities in the dataset. Düsseldorf's distinctive shelves beyond that are authors, academics, sculptors, economists, and historians, and its most famous son is Heinrich Heine. The Kunstakademie is the engine that produced Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter (who taught there), and a generation of photographers; Jürgen Habermas and Wim Wenders grew up here too.

Through the Centuries

One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Dusseldorf during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 303 notable births.

What Dusseldorf Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Painter is Dusseldorf's biggest profession — 10% of all notables (234).

Dusseldorf over-indexes on painter3.9× the global rate.

Dusseldorf under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Painter234
  2. Actor189
  3. Politician176
  4. Football110
  5. Writer98
  6. Academic81
  7. Author74
  8. Lawyer51
  1. Painter2343.9×
  2. Author743.7×
  3. Academic813.5×
  4. Sculptor453.0×
  5. Economist242.5×
  6. Historian502.1×
  7. Architect402.0×
  8. Artist431.8×
  1. Football1100.4×
  2. Singer290.6×
  3. Politician1760.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Dusseldorf's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

155016001650170017501800185019001950
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Other
All2,294
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Showing 5 of 2,294 notable people

0011 PHILOSOPHER

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi

1743 - 1819

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0060 POET

Johann Georg Jacobi

1740 - 1814

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0069 ARISTOCRAT

Charles II August, Duke of Zweibrücken

1746 - 1795

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0883 POLITICIAN

Edmund Freiherr von Loë-Imstenradt

1749 - 1813

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2083 PAINTER

Aloys Cornelius

1748 - 1800

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