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 author4.6× 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
All1,427
Sort By

Showing 21 of 1,427 notable people

0027 SOVEREIGN

Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden

1790 - 1852

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0039 NATURALIST

Friedrich Parrot

1791 - 1841

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0072 SON

Prince William of Baden

1792 - 1859

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0124 RABBI

Jacob Ettlinger

1798 - 1871

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0188 HISTORIAN

Karl Friedrich Heinrich Marx

1796 - 1877

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0402 NOBLE

Amélie de Bade

1795 - 1869

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0549 ACADEMIC

Karl Eduard Morstadt

1792 - 1850

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0579 CHEMIST

Karl Michael Marx

1794 - 1864

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0850 MILITAR

Ernst von Biedenfeld

1793 - 1849

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0881 ARCHITECT

Johann Ludwig Weinbrenner

1790 - 1858

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0962 ARCHITECT

Conrad Hengst

1796 - 1877

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0975 POLITICIAN

Ludwig Friedrich Eichrodt

1798 - 1844

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0977 HISTORIAN

Karl Friedrich Vierordt

1790 - 1864

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1004 MERCHANT

Friedrich Lauer

1793 - 1873

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1072 BANK

Moritz von Haber

1798 - 1874

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1131 LAWYER

Karl von Stößer

1792 - 1874

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1135 POLITICIAN

August Klose

1791 - 1872

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1341 GEHEIMRAT

Friedrich Theodor Schaaf

1792 - 1876

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1356 POLITICIAN

Veit Ettlinger

1796 - 1877

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1371 LAWYER

Carl Baumgärtner

1790 - 1847

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1411 POLITICIAN

Ludwig Daler

1797 - 1870

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