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 92 of 1,536 notable people

0022 PHILOSOPHER

Jean Vanier

1928 - 2019

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0033 FILM

Alain Tanner

Born 1929

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0038 HISTORIAN

Jean Starobinski

1920 - 2019

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0041 ACTOR

Vico Torriani

1920 - 1998

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0057 ACTOR

Sacha Pitoëff

1920 - 1990

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0082 FILM

Claude Goretta

1929 - 2019

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0115 MONK

Max Thurian

1921 - 1996

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0125 ACTOR

Roberto Risso

1925 - 2010

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0133 PLAYWRIGHT

Marc Camoletti (playwright)

1923 - 2003

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0141 PHOTOGRAPHER

Jean Mohr

1925 - 2018

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0172 WRITER

Christine Brooke-Rose

1923 - 2012

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0194 PHYSICIST

Jean Hoerni

1924 - 1997

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0220 PAINTER

Dominique Appia

1926 - 2017

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0222 FOOTBALL

Roger Bocquet

1921 - 1994

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0250 WRITER

André Kaminski

1923 - 1991

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0265 SPY

Anne-Marie Walters

1923 - 1998

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0273 WRITER

Yvette Z'Graggen

1920 - 2012

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0325 FOOTBALL

Marcel Mauron

Born 1929

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0330 PAINTER

Arthur Aesbacher

Born 1923

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0340 ACTOR

Georges Atlas

1926 - 1996

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0348 FOOTBALL

André Neury

1921 - 2007

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0355 PIANIST

Maro Ajemian

1921 - 1978

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0376 POLITICIAN

Lise Girardin

1921 - 2010

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0398 SKIER

Fernand Grosjean

1924 - 2015

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0424 TEACHER

André Corboz

1928 - 2012

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0460 ACTOR

Annie Vernay

1921 - 1941

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0462 ORGANIST

Joachim Havard de la Montagne

1927 - 2003

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0488 POLITICIAN

Nelly Wicky

1923 - 2020

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0497 SCREENWRITER

Walter Weideli

Born 1927

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0529 PIANIST

Henri Chaix

1925 - 1999

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0531 ARCHITECT

Georges Addor (architecte)

1920 - 1982

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0575 POLITICIAN

Bernard Anthonioz

1921 - 1994

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0591 ETHNOLOGIST

Jean-Christian Spahni

1923 - 1992

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0595 ASTRONOMER

Marcel Golay (astronome)

1927 - 2015

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0607 ACADEMIC

Jean Rudhardt

1922 - 2003

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0667 RÉSISTANT

Paul Halter (résistant)

1920 - 2013

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0683 ACTOR

Maurice Vallier

Born 1929

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0700 SCULPTOR

Albert Chubac

1925 - 2008

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0708 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Eoin MacWhite

1923 - 1972

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0734 JOURNALIST

Claude Richoz

1929 - 2001

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0770 ACTOR

Ellen Rasch

1920 - 2015

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0771 PHYSICIAN

Michel Fernex

Born 1929

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0788 JAZZ

Loys Choquart

1920 - 1989

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0798 SCULPTOR

Frère Éric

1925 - 2007

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0815 ZIRKUS

Fredy Knie senior

1920 - 2003

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0865 POLITICIAN

Guy Fontanet

1927 - 2014

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0868 BASKET

Roger Prahin

1923 - 2010

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0887 PSYCHOANALYST

Olivier Flournoy

1925 - 2008

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0891 PRODUCER

Monique Bermond

1927 - 2017

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0899 ACTOR

Juliette Brac

Born 1926

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0904 PAINTER

Ellis Zbinden

1921 - 2019

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0908 PASTOR

Henry Babel

1923 - 2019

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0914 WRITER

Jean-Claude Fontanet

1925 - 2009

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0926 PAINTER

Pierre Matthey

1927 - 2014

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0927 HISTORIAN

Jura Brüschweiler

1927 - 2013

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0929 SCULPTOR

Henri Presset

1928 - 2013

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0948 BIOLOGIST

François Morel (biologiste)

1923 - 2007

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0951 SAILOR

Pierre Girard (sailor)

Born 1926

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0958 PAINTER

Jean-François Liegme

1922 - 1977

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0965 TELEVISION

Jean-Jacques Lagrange

Born 1929

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1012 AUTHOR

Pierre Boissier

1920 - 1974

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1013 POLITICIAN

Robert Ducret

1927 - 2017

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1044 COMPOSER

Michel Wiblé

1923 - 2020

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1071 BIOLOGIST

Pierre Strinati

Born 1928

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1082 DRIVER

Roger de Lageneste

1929 - 2011

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1093 WRITER

Jacques Urbain

Born 1923

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1111 COMPOSER

Henri Scolari

1923 - 2011

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1142 DIPLOMAT

Francesca Pometta

1926 - 2016

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1149 PASTOR

Jean-René Brutsch

1921 - 1974

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1188 PHYSICIAN

Henri Isliker

1922 - 2007

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1194 WRITER

Marc Lamunière

Born 1922

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1211 MATHEMATICIAN

Lucien Waelbroeck

1929 - 2009

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1230 POLITICIAN

Pierre Marcel Raisin

1922 - 1996

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1234 POLITICIAN

André Gautier

1924 - 2000

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1259 WRITER

Maurice Roland

Born 1920

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1276 ARCHITECT

François Maurice

Born 1925

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1279 ARCHITECT

Giuseppe Patanè (architecte)

Born 1922

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1310 POLITICIAN

Henri Schmitt

1926 - 1982

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1327 POLITICIAN

Gilbert Duboule

1925 - 1983

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1374 POÈTE

Charles Mouchet

1920 - 1979

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1377 JOURNALIST

Kurt Mohr

1921 - 2007

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1379 JOURNALIST

Boris Acquadro

1929 - 2005

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1404 ARTIST

Marie Jacqueline Liegme-Choisy

1926 - 1975

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1419 FOOTBALL

Lucien Pasteur

1921 - 1980

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1437 FOOTBALL

Charles Kunz

Born 1928

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1465 FOOTBALL

Philippe Fuchs

1921 - 2001

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1490 PSYCHOANALYST

Anne-Marie Sandler

1925 - 2018

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1493 WATCHMAKER

Raymond Weil (Unternehmer)

1926 - 2014

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1496 PIANIST

Olivier Nusslé

Born 1926

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1499 POLITICIAN

Jacqueline Willener

1927 - 2016

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1523 MISSING

Frank Tappolet

1922 - 2009

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1524 POLITICIAN

Jacques Vernet

1926 - 2019

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