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
Search
Historian37
Sort By

Showing 37 of 1,427 notable people

0038 HISTORIAN

August Böckh

1785 - 1867

Preview
0073 HISTORIAN

Gisela Bock

Born 1942

Preview
0126 HISTORIAN

Adolph Hausrath

1837 - 1909

Preview
0188 HISTORIAN

Karl Friedrich Heinrich Marx

1796 - 1877

Preview
0247 HISTORIAN

Karl Helm

1871 - 1960

Preview
0275 HISTORIAN

Willy Andreas

1884 - 1967

Preview
0286 HISTORIAN

Thomas Ernst Josef Wiedemann

1950 - 2001

Preview
0298 HISTORIAN

Ernst Ludwig Posselt

1763 - 1804

Preview
0302 HISTORIAN

Miriam Rürup

Born 1973

Preview
0333 HISTORIAN

Hans Hausrath

1866 - 1945

Preview
0341 HISTORIAN

Karl Obser

1860 - 1944

Preview
0395 HISTORIAN

Axel W. Bauer

Born 1955

Preview
0506 HISTORIAN

Cornelia Rauh

Born 1957

Preview
0514 HISTORIAN

Raphael Straus

1887 - 1947

Preview
0554 HISTORIAN

Karl Hasel

1909 - 2001

Preview
0559 HISTORIAN

Werner Raupp

Born 1955

Preview
0637 HISTORIAN

Adelhart Zippelius

1916 - 2014

Preview
0655 HISTORIAN

Oskar Köhler

1909 - 1996

Preview
0662 HISTORIAN

Max Scheifele

1920 - 2013

Preview
0691 HISTORIAN

Walther Bulst

1899 - 1986

Preview
0695 HISTORIAN

Andreas Merkt

Born 1967

Preview
0699 HISTORIAN

Johann Christian Sachs

1720 - 1789

Preview
0730 HISTORIAN

Karl-Heinz Braun (Theologe)

Born 1955

Preview
0738 HISTORIAN

Martin Dreher

Born 1953

Preview
0762 HISTORIAN

Frank L. Schäfer

Born 1974

Preview
0787 HISTORIAN

Guido Pfeifer

Born 1968

Preview
0855 HISTORIAN

Sigmund Seeligmann

1873 - 1940

Preview
0871 HISTORIAN

Karl Hartfelder

1848 - 1893

Preview
0886 HISTORIAN

Horst F. Pampel

1934 - 2010

Preview
0898 HISTORIAN

Johann Heinrich May der Jüngere

1688 - 1732

Preview
0917 HISTORIAN

Dieter Helmut Stolz

1916 - 1999

Preview
0918 HISTORIAN

Angela Borgstedt

Born 1964

Preview
0977 HISTORIAN

Karl Friedrich Vierordt

1790 - 1864

Preview
0999 HISTORIAN

Jörg Schadt

Born 1937

Preview
1053 HISTORIAN

Hermann Franz (Ministerialdirektor)

1885 - 1957

Preview
1112 HISTORIAN

Karl Linnebach

1879 - 1961

Preview
1224 HISTORIAN

Karl Christ (Heimatforscher)

1841 - 1927

Preview