Heinz von Perckhammer (1895–1965), photographer, known for his Chinese nudes Ludwig Bemelmans (1898–1962), American writer and illustrator of children's books 20th C Hans Andersag (1902–1955), scientist, discovered Chloroquine, a malaria drug Anton Malloth (1912–2002), supervisor at Theresienstadt concentration camp Silvius Magnago (1914–2010), politician, South Tyrolean governor, father of the autonomy of South Tyrol Annelies Reinhold (1917–2007), film actress Bargil Pixner (1921–2002), a Benedictine monk, Biblical scholar and archaeologist Norbert Untersteiner (1926–2012), pioneer of modern polar science research Alberto Lizzio (1926-1999), fictitious conductor of inexpensive, mass market, classical recordings Irène Galter (1931–2018), actress Maria Bertolini (1931-2022), politician Arnaldo Di Benedetto, (born 1940), literary critic and professor Franco D'Andrea (born 1941), jazz pianist Lino Capolicchio (1943–2022), actor, screenwriter and film director Reinhold Messner (born 1944), Italian mountaineer, adventurer, explorer, and author Cuno Tarfusser (born 1954), judge at the International Criminal Court Gloria Guida (born 1955), Italian-speaking actress Rudolf Stingel (born 1956), artist Ferdinand Gamper (1957–1996), serial killer Guenther Steiner (born 1965), motorsports engineer and team principal of Haas F1 Team Luca Dipierro (born 1973), illustrator and animator Sport Norberto Oberburger (born 1960), retired heavyweight weightlifter, gold medallist at the 1984 Summer Olympics Edith Gufler (born 1962), former sport shooter, silver medallist at the 1984 Summer Olympics Armin Zöggeler (born 1974), luge champion with six Olympic medals and nine world championship golds Dominik Paris (born 1989), alpine skier, gold and silver medallist in World Championships Daniel Frank (born 1994), ice hockey player Daniel Grassl (born 2002), figure skater at the 2022 Winter Olympics, silver medalist at the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships Economy Merano is a popular tourist destination especially for Germans and Italians. In the summer, there are concerts on the promenade almost daily, and there are fine walks around the city and in the surrounding hills, not least "Merano 2000", where there is also skiing in winter. The city is reachable with the railway Bolzano-Merano, which continues to the Vinschgau Railway Merano-Malles. Society According to the 2011 census, 50.47% of the resident population spoke German as mother language, 49.06% Italian, and 0.47% Ladin. Sport A chess opening, the Merano Variation of the Semi-Slav Defense, is named after the city, from its successful use by Akiba Rubinstein against Ernst Grünfeld during a tournament held in the city in 1924. In 1981, the World Chess Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Victor Korchnoi was held in Merano. The first act of the musical