Who Was Alive

Were Hermann Hesse and Barack Obama alive at the same time?

Yes. Hermann Hesse and Barack Obama were alive at the same time for 1 years, from 1961 to 1962.

Hermann Hesse was 84 when Barack Obama was born.

Barack Obama was 1 when Hermann Hesse died, aged 85.

Hermann Hesse

Nobel Prize winning German-Swiss poet, novelist and painter

Born 2 July 1877 · died 9 August 1962, aged 85

Barack Obama

44th President of the United States

Born 4 August 1961 · living, 65 as of September 2026

  1. Hermann Hesse
  2. Albert Einstein
  3. Adolf Hitler
  4. Ronald Reagan
  5. Nelson Mandela
  6. Donald Trump
  7. Vladimir Putin
  8. Michael Jackson
  9. Barack Obama
Hermann Hesse and Barack Obama in bold, with some of their best-known contemporaries. Drag across to see the age each reached in any year. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.