Who is the most famous person in your hometown? This map shows you

You have probably wondered who is the most famous person in your hometown. Unfortunately, there was no conclusive answer until now: The recently released Notable People Map, created by Finnish geographer Topi Tjukanov, shows the most famous people in the world based on their place of birth – both contemporary and historical.

» Click here for the interactive map.

The data comes from a study published in the scientific journal Nature in June 2022, which collected massive amounts of data from various editions of Wikipedia and Wikidata. In total, a research team of six created a database of 2.29 million notable figures from 3500 BC. until 2018 from the fields of culture, science, politics and sport.

To calculate a person’s fame, the following factors were taken into account:

Thus was born a long list of the most famous personalities in world history. Former US President Barack Obama ranked first in 2018. He is followed by his successor Donald Trump, the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci and the former German dictator Adolf Hitler. Jesus only reached joint 204th place.

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The more famous a personality, the bigger and sooner the name appears on Tyukanov’s interactive world map. The further you zoom in, the more names are displayed. In larger cities there are several names, in smaller cities only the most famous person.

Anyone who counts on Simon Ammann at Grabs SG, for example, will learn otherwise – because artist Pipilotti Rist is ahead of the four-time Olympic champion in the popularity rankings. In Basel, Roger Federer is surpassed by the famous mathematician Leonard Euler.

But Federer and Ammann can also be reported. Users can filter their search by culture, science, politics, and sports categories. To ensure that you never lose track, you can conveniently display the city name in full zoom.

A total of 28,510 Swiss are included in the database of researchers “Nature”. The natural scientist Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva in 1712, is best known.

Now it’s your turn! Who is the most famous person in your hometown? Satisfied? Or do you have a better suggestion? Write it in the comments!