47.3744° N, 8.5411° E

ZURICH

Most Famous People Born in Zurich, Switzerland

Notable people
2,462
Peak decade
1940s
Median birth year
1941
Most distinctive
Author 3.5×

A Reformed Swiss city with a disproportionately large academic-and-letters bench. Zurich's distinctive professions are authors, academics, architects, artists, and physicists — the trades of a German-language university town that runs from Gottfried Keller through Max Frisch on the literary side and Einstein and Pauli on the scientific. Pestalozzi, Rorschach, and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross all belong to this bench, and nearly eighty per cent of the names were born after 1900.

Through the Centuries

One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Zurich during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 264 notable births.

What Zurich Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Zurich's biggest profession — 7% of all notables (164).

Zurich over-indexes on author — 3.5× the global rate.

Zurich under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Politician164
  2. Actor141
  3. Writer128
  4. Football114
  5. Painter102
  6. Academic80
  7. Sport77
  8. Author74
  1. Author743.5×
  2. Academic803.2×
  3. Architect572.6×
  4. Artist632.5×
  5. Physicist252.4×
  6. Film682.3×
  7. Sculptor322.0×
  8. Historian512.0×
  1. Football1140.4×
  2. Politician1640.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Writing
  • Sports
  • Art & Design
  • Science
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Other
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Author74
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Showing 74 of 2,462 notable people

0035 AUTHOR

Erich Gamma

Born 1961

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0053 AUTHOR

Fleur Jaeggy

Born 1940

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0361 AUTHOR

Philipp Keel

Born 1968

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0404 AUTHOR

Jos Murer

1530 - 1580

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0425 AUTHOR

Kurt Guggenheim

1896 - 1983

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0490 AUTHOR

Robert Faesi

1883 - 1972

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0625 AUTHOR

Urs Eggli

Born 1959

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0673 AUTHOR

Kurt Weil

1932 - 2012

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0733 AUTHOR

Barbara Schulthess

1745 - 1818

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0744 AUTHOR

Roswitha Quadflieg

Born 1949

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0795 AUTHOR

Traugott Vogel

1894 - 1975

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0822 AUTHOR

Jürg Jegge

Born 1943

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0839 AUTHOR

Hans Ulrich Steger

1923 - 2016

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0944 AUTHOR

Nikolaus Glattauer

Born 1959

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1014 AUTHOR

Annette Kaiser

Born 1948

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1017 AUTHOR

René Scheu

Born 1974

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1019 AUTHOR

Alice Vollenweider

1927 - 2011

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1057 AUTHOR

Peter Surava

1912 - 1995

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1112 AUTHOR

Thomas Huonker

Born 1954

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1134 AUTHOR

Nicola Bardola

Born 1959

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1136 AUTHOR

Arnold Künzli (Philosoph)

1919 - 2008

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1141 AUTHOR

Philippe Welti

Born 1949

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1170 AUTHOR

Peter K. Wehrli

Born 1939

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1191 AUTHOR

Frank Jehle

Born 1939

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1206 AUTHOR

Roman Boos

1889 - 1952

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1207 AUTHOR

Franz Rueb

Born 1933

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1308 AUTHOR

Peter Jezler

Born 1954

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1324 AUTHOR

Andreas Sauter

Born 1974

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1350 AUTHOR

Andrea Raschèr

Born 1961

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1351 AUTHOR

René Lüchinger

Born 1958

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1374 AUTHOR

Rudolf Steiger (Militärpädagoge)

Born 1946

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1381 AUTHOR

Amalie Pinkus

1910 - 1996

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1383 AUTHOR

Jürg von Ins

Born 1953

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1398 AUTHOR

Verena Keller

Born 1945

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1423 AUTHOR

Helena Rüegg

Born 1959

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1434 AUTHOR

Walter Ackermann (Schriftsteller)

1903 - 1939

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1437 AUTHOR

Elisabeth Wandeler-Deck

Born 1939

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1444 AUTHOR

Armin Bollinger

1913 - 1995

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1491 AUTHOR

Heiner Hug

Born 1946

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1533 AUTHOR

Martin Stern

Born 1930

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1593 AUTHOR

Annette Hug

Born 1970

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1599 AUTHOR

Werner Rohner

Born 1975

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1608 AUTHOR

Jürg Beeler

Born 1957

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1613 AUTHOR

Lothar Kempter (Schriftsteller)

1900 - 2001

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1626 AUTHOR

Peter Baumann (Verleger)

Born 1947

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1673 AUTHOR

Adolf Maurer

1883 - 1976

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1685 AUTHOR

Arnold Guillet

1922 - 2007

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1701 AUTHOR

Thomas Bodmer (Herausgeber)

Born 1951

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1704 AUTHOR

Eva Zeltner

Born 1931

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1738 AUTHOR

Christian Mürner

Born 1948

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1754 AUTHOR

Ludwig Kaufmann (Theologe)

1918 - 1991

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1758 AUTHOR

Salomon Tobler

1794 - 1875

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1782 AUTHOR

Beat Schmid

Born 1940

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1828 AUTHOR

Adolf Attenhofer

1879 - 1950

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1829 AUTHOR

Wanda Schmid

Born 1947

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1853 AUTHOR

Madeleine Jakits

Born 1955

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1876 AUTHOR

Werner Pfändler

Born 1946

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1888 AUTHOR

Harry Holzheu

Born 1934

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1924 AUTHOR

Sergio Maspoli

1920 - 1987

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1930 AUTHOR

Konrad Bänninger

1890 - 1981

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1981 AUTHOR

Hermann J. Stern

Born 1966

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1990 AUTHOR

Silvia Hüsler

Born 1943

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1997 AUTHOR

Walter Hefti

Born 1902

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2004 AUTHOR

Tom Zürcher

Born 1966

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2021 AUTHOR

Karl Friedrich Würtenberger

1838 - 1911

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2045 AUTHOR

Fritz Senft

1922 - 1997

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2059 AUTHOR

Monika Schnyder

Born 1945

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2074 AUTHOR

Rebecca C. Schnyder

Born 1986

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2086 AUTHOR

Dieter Schwarz (Museumsdirektor)

Born 1953

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2129 AUTHOR

Konrad Kahl

1914 - 1985

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2171 AUTHOR

Guido Wemans

1938 - 2014

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2178 AUTHOR

Katrin Wiederkehr

Born 1942

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2276 AUTHOR

Anna Tamà

Born 1965

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2444 AUTHOR

Hanna Rutishauser

Born 1950

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