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.
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.
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.
- Writing
- Sports
- Art & Design
- Science
- Film & TV
- Music
- Other
- Field: Politician Clear ×
Alfred Escher
1819 - 1882
Elisabeth Kopp
Born 1936
Johann Kaspar Bluntschli
1808 - 1881
Gottlieb Duttweiler
1888 - 1962
Madeleine Kunin
Born 1933
Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth
1767 - 1823
Willy Spühler
1902 - 1990
Max Weber (Swiss politician)
1897 - 1974
Daniel Jositsch
Born 1965
Rudolf Brun
1290 - 1360
Anna Záborská
Born 1948
Franz Anton Basch
1901 - 1946
Ursula Koch
Born 1941
Tim Guldimann
Born 1950
Balthasar Glättli
Born 1972
Hans Streuli
1892 - 1970
Ludvig Douglas
1849 - 1916
Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi
Born 1946
Sigmund Widmer
1919 - 2003
Rudolf Stüssi
Died 1443
Carl-Eduard von Bismarck
Born 1961
Ulrich Schlüer
Born 1944
Louis Louis-Dreyfus
1867 - 1940
Erika Forster-Vannini
Born 1944
Jiří Lobkowicz
Born 1956
Rosa Bloch-Bollag
1880 - 1922
Hans Caspar Escher
1775 - 1859
Eric Honegger
Born 1946
Ernst Cincera
1928 - 2004
Mario Fehr
Born 1958
Verena Diener
Born 1949
Doris Fiala
Born 1957
Gerold Edlibach
1454 - 1530
Maria Roth-Bernasconi
Born 1955
Hans Reinhard
1755 - 1835
Gregor Rutz
Born 1972
Alfred Heer
Born 1961
Max Leo Keller
1897 - 1956
Hans Conzett
1915 - 1996
Robert Tobler
1901 - 1962
Roland Eberle
Born 1953
Vreni Spoerry
Born 1938
Jacqueline de Quattro
Born 1960
Berthe Zimmermann
1902 - 1937
Thomas Hurter
Born 1963
Walter Renschler
1932 - 2006
Erwin Jaeckle
1909 - 1997
Barbara Kistler
1955 - 1993
Melchior Römer
1831 - 1895
Verena Grendelmeier
1939 - 2018
Carlo Sommaruga
Born 1959
Peter Malama
1960 - 2012
Eva Segmüller
Born 1932
Alois Grendelmeier
1903 - 1983
Mauro Tuena
Born 1972
Emil Landolt
1895 - 1995
Hans Konrad Pestalozzi
1848 - 1909
Edgar May
1929 - 2012
Barbara Schmid-Federer
Born 1965
Christine Goll
Born 1956
Hugues Hiltpold
Born 1969
Alfred Gilgen
1930 - 2018
Ernst Schibli
Born 1952
Monika Weber (Politikerin)
Born 1943
David von Wyss
1763 - 1839
Hans Conrad Escher (vom Luchs)
1743 - 1814
Thomas Hefti
Born 1959
Verena Dunst
Born 1958
Karl Bürkli
1823 - 1901
Kurt Müller (Politiker, 1925)
1925 - 2016
Doris Stump
Born 1950
Johann Heinrich Waser (Bürgermeister)
1600 - 1669
Jürg Scherrer
Born 1947
Barbara Gysi
Born 1964
Moritz Thape
1920 - 2019
Lieni Füglistaller
Born 1951
Christian Huber (Politiker, 1944)
Born 1944
Ernst Biedermann (Politiker)
1902 - 1997
Ulrich Bremi
Born 1929
Peter Briner
Born 1943
Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann
1889 - 1972
Friedrich Fick
1863 - 1955
Tiana Angelina Moser
Born 1979
Julia Gerber Rüegg
Born 1957
Salomon Hirzel (Historiker)
1727 - 1818
Thomas Wagner (Politiker, 1943)
Born 1943
Richard Calini
1882 - 1943
Albin Heimann
1914 - 2015
Walter Frey (Politiker, 1943)
Born 1943
Jean-Paul Flachsmann
1936 - 2001
Ernst Bieri
1920 - 2003
Rosemarie Simmen
Born 1938
Alecs Recher
Born 1975
Adolf Lüchinger (Politiker)
1894 - 1949
Thomas Heiniger
Born 1957
Kathy Riklin
Born 1952
Paul Schmid-Ammann
1900 - 1984
Franklin Bircher
1896 - 1988
Salomon Hirzel (Politiker)
1580 - 1652
Urs Hany
Born 1955
Hans Georg Lüchinger
1927 - 2009
Hans Ulrich Graf
1922 - 2010
Lukas Fierz
Born 1941
Anita Thanei
Born 1954
Wilhelm Füssli (Politiker)
1803 - 1845
Thomas Hardegger
Born 1956
Fritz Hoch
1896 - 1984
Hans Conrad Finsler
1765 - 1839
Otto Nauer
1914 - 2012
Salomon Bleuler
1829 - 1886
Priska Seiler Graf
Born 1968
Alfredo Retortillo
Born 1965
Hans Steffen (Politiker)
Born 1931
Silvio de Capitani
1925 - 2013
Jörg De Bernardi
Born 1973
Ernst Hofmann (Fröntler)
1912 - 1986
Paul Emil Usteri
1853 - 1927
Hans Ulrich Schlaepfer
1893 - 1985
Regula Pestalozzi
1921 - 2000
Cornelia Füeg
Born 1941
Liselotte Meyer-Fröhlich
1922 - 2014
Martha Ribi
1915 - 2010
Max Brunner
1893 - 1962
Jonny Crosio
Born 1962
Brigitta Gerber
Born 1964
Theodor Fischer (Politiker)
1895 - 1957
Johann Caspar Escher
1678 - 1762
Hans Munz (Politiker, 1902)
1902 - 1974
Alfred Gehrig
1912 - 1995
Ernst Weber (Politiker, 1906)
1906 - 1997
Otto Wyss
1889 - 1960
Heinrich Gustav Schoch
1841 - 1895
Willy Thieme
1912 - 1979
Leo Lejeune
1915 - 1985
Fritz Gottschalk
1853 - 1917
Martina Munz
Born 1955
Josias Gasser
Born 1952
Richard Müller (Politiker, 1913)
1913 - 1986
Werner O. Ciocarelli
1925 - 2020
Julius Frei
1874 - 1939
Hans Conrad Heidegger (Politiker, 1649)
1649 - 1721
Irene Aderenti
Born 1955
Martin Vollenwyder
Born 1953
Miguel Ángel Mulet Taló
Born 1956
Lothar Ziörjen
Born 1955
Andri Silberschmidt
Born 1994
Franz Richau
Born 1960
Esther Maurer
Born 1957
Benjamin Long
1838 - 1877
Kathrin Martelli
Born 1952
Marianne Binder-Keller
Born 1958
Christopher Chandiramani
Born 1957
Johann Heinrich Widerkehr
1670 - 1746
Thomas Vogel (Politiker)
Born 1972
Walter Günthart
1911 - 1971
Christian Bretscher
Born 1963
Wendelin Manser
Born 1960
Laura Huonker
Born 1981
Adrian Guggisberg
Born 1943
Patricia von Falkenstein
Born 1961
Max Juen (Politiker, 1885)
1885 - 1935
Josy Biedermann
Born 1941
Ueli Brasser
1952 - 2010
Eva B. Keller
Born 1956