49.0159° N, 8.4031° E

KARLSRUHE

Most Famous People Born in Karlsruhe, Germany

Notable people
1,427
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1920
Most distinctive
Author 4.6×

A baroque grand-ducal city founded in 1715 around the fan-shaped palace of the Margraves of Baden-Durlach. Karlsruhe's distinctive professions are academic authors, chemists, engineers, judges, and architects — the trades of a Residenzstadt that grew into a 19th-century technical university town and never lost the official-document register. Karl Benz built the first automobile here in 1885, and Oliver Kahn and a deep column of other Bundesliga footballers came out of the local Karlsruher SC academy.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Karlsruhe during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 165 notable births.

What Karlsruhe Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Karlsruhe's biggest profession — 10% of all notables (136).

Karlsruhe over-indexes on author — 4.6× the global rate.

Karlsruhe under-produces singer — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Politician136
  2. Football98
  3. Actor69
  4. Painter63
  5. Author56
  6. Academic56
  7. Writer44
  8. Lawyer38
  1. Author564.6×
  2. Academic563.9×
  3. Chemist173.4×
  4. Judge233.4×
  5. Engineer232.6×
  6. Historian372.5×
  7. Architect312.5×
  8. Officer212.2×
  1. Singer170.6×
  2. Football980.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Writing
  • Sports
  • Art & Design
  • Film & TV
  • Other
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Showing 19 of 1,427 notable people

0020 QUEEN

Frederica of Baden

1781 - 1826

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0022 INVENTOR

Karl Drais

1785 - 1851

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0026 POET

Karoline von Günderrode

1780 - 1806

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0038 HISTORIAN

August Böckh

1785 - 1867

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0046 SOVEREIGN

Charles, Grand Duke of Baden

1786 - 1818

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0052 PRINCESS

Princess Wilhelmine of Baden

1788 - 1836

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0079 ARISTOCRAT

Princess Marie of Baden (1782–1808)

1782 - 1808

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0463 PHYSICIST

Gustav Friedrich Wucherer

1780 - 1843

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0771 POLITICIAN

Karl Wilhelm Eugen von Freydorf

1781 - 1854

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0772 ARCHITECT

Friedrich Arnold (Baumeister)

1786 - 1854

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0797 WRITER

Ferdinand von Biedenfeld

1788 - 1862

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0851 POLITICIAN

Friedrich Carl Hector Wilhelm von Günderrode –

1786 - 1862

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1032 PHILOLOGIST

Naphtali Epstein

1782 - 1852

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1136 POLITICIAN

Johann Gottfried Stösser

1781 - 1860

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1152 POLITICIAN

Bernhard Dollmaetsch

1780 - 1845

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1171 GOUVERNEUR

Wilhelm Gayling von Altheim

1786 - 1861

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1399 LAWYER

Carl Friedrich von Fischer

1783 - 1860

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1407 POLITICIAN

Christian Karl Füeßlin

1783 - 1854

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1415 MINISTER

Wilhelm Ludwig Dietz

1785 - 1837

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