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
Botanist24
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Showing 24 of 1,536 notable people

0016 BOTANIST

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle

1778 - 1841

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0065 BOTANIST

Jean Senebier

1742 - 1809

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0080 BOTANIST

Pierre Edmond Boissier

1810 - 1885

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0180 BOTANIST

John Isaac Briquet

1870 - 1931

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0217 BOTANIST

Jean Pierre Étienne Vaucher

1763 - 1841

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0228 BOTANIST

Casimir de Candolle

1836 - 1918

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0333 BOTANIST

Jean Étienne Duby

1798 - 1885

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0365 BOTANIST

Gustave Beauverd

1867 - 1942

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0383 BOTANIST

Daniel Delaroche

1743 - 1812

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0411 BOTANIST

Charles Baehni

1906 - 1964

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0441 BOTANIST

Louis Théodore Frederic Colladon

1792 - 1862

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0482 BOTANIST

Stefano Moricand

1779 - 1854

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0548 BOTANIST

Hervé Maurice Burdet

Born 1939

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0615 BOTANIST

Émile Yung

1854 - 1918

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0632 BOTANIST

Charles Jean Bernard

1876 - 1967

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0656 BOTANIST

Caroline Barbey-Boissier

1847 - 1918

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0753 BOTANIST

Jules-César Ducommun

1829 - 1892

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0759 BOTANIST

Marc Nicolas Puerari

1766 - 1845

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0917 BOTANIST

Rodolphe Spichiger

Born 1946

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0924 BOTANIST

Alain Chautems

Born 1953

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0942 BOTANIST

Auguste Isaac Samuel Schmidely

1838 - 1918

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1143 BOTANIST

Pierre-André Loizeau

Born 1959

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1166 BOTANIST

Paul Chenevard

1839 - 1919

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1302 BOTANIST

Philippe Küpfer

Born 1942

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