46.2001° N, 6.1500° E

GENEVE

Most Famous People Born in Geneve, Switzerland

Notable people
1,536
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1917
Most distinctive
Bank 6.0×

A Protestant republic that became, in the 19th century, the world's capital of banking and international diplomacy. Geneva's distinctive professions are bankers, theologians, botanists, pianists, photographers, and physicists — a combination that exists almost nowhere else. Rousseau was born here, Calvin made it the Protestant Rome, Henri Dunant founded the Red Cross here, and Saussure essentially invented modern linguistics at the university.

Through the Centuries

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

What Geneve Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Geneve's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (138).

Geneve over-indexes on bank6.0× the global rate.

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

  1. Politician138
  2. Writer106
  3. Painter105
  4. Actor67
  5. Football64
  6. Artist43
  7. Lawyer35
  8. Architect34
  1. Bank156.0×
  2. Theologian244.3×
  3. Botanist243.9×
  4. Pianist153.6×
  5. Driver163.4×
  6. Photographer243.2×
  7. Physicist203.1×
  8. Artist432.7×
  1. Football640.4×
  2. Singer200.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Other
All1,536
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Showing 19 of 1,536 notable people

0019 PIANIST

Sigismond Thalberg

1812 - 1871

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0063 CHEMIST

Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac

1817 - 1894

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0077 THEOLOGIAN

Louis Segond

1810 - 1885

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0080 BOTANIST

Pierre Edmond Boissier

1810 - 1885

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0146 PAINTER

Barthélemy Menn

1815 - 1893

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0193 MAN OF LETTERS

Valérie de Gasparin

1813 - 1894

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0240 POLITICIAN

Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel

1811 - 1893

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0321 DIPLOMAT

Henry Elliot

1817 - 1907

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0323 WRITER

Gustave Revilliod

1817 - 1890

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0363 POLITICIAN

Antoine Carteret

1813 - 1889

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0368 PHYSICIST

Emile Plantamour

1815 - 1882

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0447 EGYPTOLOGIST

Solomon Caesar Malan

1812 - 1894

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0570 GEOLOGIST

Alphonse Favre

1815 - 1890

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0739 WRITER

Marc Fournier (Autor)

1818 - 1879

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0854 ARCHITECT

Jean-Daniel Blavignac

1817 - 1876

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1106 ILLUSTRATOR

Louis Pierre Guillaume Régamey

1814 - 1878

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1169 POLITICIAN

Abraham Louis Tourte

1818 - 1863

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1176 POLITICIAN

Antoine Achard

1814 - 1890

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1242 POLITICIAN

Alexandre-Félix Alméras

1811 - 1868

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