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 21 of 1,536 notable people

0031 ACTIVIST

Élie Ducommun

1833 - 1906

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0204 HISTORIAN

Charles-Moïse Briquet

1839 - 1918

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0208 NEUROSCIENTIST

Jean-Louis Prévost

1838 - 1927

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0228 BOTANIST

Casimir de Candolle

1836 - 1918

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0261 PHYSICIAN

Sigismond Jaccoud

1830 - 1913

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0269 PAINTER

Édouard Castres

1838 - 1902

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0362 ZOOLOGIST

Victor Fatio

1838 - 1906

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0658 MANUFACTURER

Samson Jordan

1831 - 1900

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0665 PAINTER

Pierre Pignolat

1838 - 1913

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0764 CARTOGRAPHER

Charles Perron (cartographe)

1837 - 1909

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0842 PAINTER

Juliette Charlotte Hébert

1837 - 1924

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0942 BOTANIST

Auguste Isaac Samuel Schmidely

1838 - 1918

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1158 THEOLOGIAN

Eugène Ritter

1836 - 1928

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1159 PHOTOGRAPHER

Henri-Antoine Boissonnas

1833 - 1889

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1166 BOTANIST

Paul Chenevard

1839 - 1919

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1172 PAINTER

Simon Durand

1838 - 1896

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1189 ARCHIVIST

Louis Dufour-Vernes

1839 - 1909

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1216 POLITICIAN

Charles Boissonnas

1832 - 1912

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1220 ARCHITECT

Jacques-Elysée Goss

1839 - 1921

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1258 ENGINEER

Jules Faesch

1833 - 1895

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1346 MERCHANT

August Weiß

1832 - 1927

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