List of University of Edinburgh people

This is a list of notable graduates as well as non-graduate former students, academic staff, and university officials of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. It also includes those who may be considered alumni by extension, having studied at institutions that later merged with the University of Edinburgh.^{[dubious – discuss]} The university is associated with 20 Nobel Prize laureates, three Turing Award winners, an Abel Prize laureate and Fields Medallist, four Pulitzer Prize winners, three Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, and several Olympic gold medallists.

Government and politics

Heads of state and government

More information Leader, State/government ...

Leader	State/government	Office
Harini Amarasuriya^[1]^[2]	Sri Lanka	Prime Minister (2024–)
Hastings Banda^[3]^[4]	Malawi	Prime Minister (1964–1966), President (1966–1994)
Sir Robert Black^[5]	Colony of Singapore	Governor (1955–1957)
Sir Robert Black^[5]	British Hong Kong	Governor (1958–1964)
Sir Thomas Brisbane^[6]	New South Wales	Governor (1821–1825)
Gordon Brown^[7]	United Kingdom	Prime Minister (2007–2010)
Chang Taek-sang (張澤相)^[8]	South Korea	Prime Minister (1952)
John Crawfurd^[9]	Colonial Singapore	Resident (1823–1826)
Sir Gilbert Elliott^[10]	Anglo-Corsican Kingdom	Viceroy (1793–1796)
Sir Gilbert Elliott^[10]	British India	Governor-General (1807–1813)
Sir Dawda Jawara^[11]	Gambia Colony and Protectorate	Prime Minister (1962–1965)
Sir Dawda Jawara^[11]	The Gambia	Prime Minister (1965–1970), President (1970–1994)
Yusuf Lule^[12]	Uganda	President (1979)
Fawzi Mulki^[13]	Jordan	Prime Minister (1953–1954)
Lord Dunrossil^[14]	Australia	Governor-General (1960–1961)
Daniel Chanis Pinzón^[15]	Panama	President (1949)
Julius Nyerere^[16]^[17]	Tanganyika	Chief Minister (1960–1961), Prime Minister (1961–1962), President (1962–1964)
Julius Nyerere^[16]^[17]	Tanzania	President (1964–1985)
Paul Reeves^[18]	New Zealand	Governor-General (1985–1990)
Lord John Russell^[19]	United Kingdom	Prime Minister (1846–1852; 1865–1866)
Sir Ninian Stephen^[20]	Australia	Governor-General (1982–1989)
John Swinney^[21]	Scotland	First Minister (2024-)
Lord Palmerston^[22]	United Kingdom	Prime Minister (1855–1858; 1859–1865)
Sir Charles Tupper^[23]	Canada	Prime Minister (1896)
William Walker	Nicaragua	President (1856–1857)
Yun Posun (尹潽善)^[24]	South Korea	President (1960–1962)

United Kingdom

Asia

Harini Amarasuriya, Sri Lankan MP
Chu Anping, Chinese journalist and political activist
Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Indian nationalist, President of the Indian National Congress (1927–1928)
Kōichirō Asakai, Japanese ambassador to the United States and ambassador to the Philippines who oversaw the signing of U.S.-Japan Security Treaty
Lalith Athulathmudali, Sri Lankan Minister of Trade and Shipping (1977–1984)
Fu Ssu-nien, linguist and historian, one of the leaders of the Chinese May Fourth Movement in 1919
Hsu Hsin-liang, Chairman of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (1992-1993 and 1996–1998) and Magistrate of Taoyuan (1977–1979)
Sir Reginald Johnston, Puyi's tutor and advisor, last Commissioner of British Weihaiwei
Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (2005–2015)
M. C. M. Kaleel, Sri Lankan Minister of Home Affairs (1960)
Arbab Alamgir Khan, Pakistan Federal Minister for Communications (2012–2013)
Lim Chong Eu, 2nd Chief Minister of Penang (1969–1990) and founder of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
Zhang Shizhao, Chinese journalist, educator and Minister of Justice (1924–1925) and Minister of Education (1925)
Wu Zhihui, Chinese linguist and major political figure during the Republic of China (1912–1949)
Hsiao Chia-chi, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan, former Deputy Mayor of Taichung

Canada

William Johnston Almon, former Canadian senator for Halifax
Peter Boehm, Canadian senator for Ontario
Edward Borron, former MP for Algoma
Christy Clark, 35th Premier of British Columbia
George Ralph Richardson Cockburn, former MP for Toronto Centre
George Alexander Drummond, former Canadian senator for Quebec, 12th president of the Bank of Montreal
Kirsty Duncan, MP for Etobicoke North, Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (2019-), Minister for Science (2015–2019)
Adelbert Edward Hanna, former MP for Lanark South
Robert James Manion, Canadian cabinet minister, Conservative Leader of the Opposition 1938–1940
Joseph Morrin, 7th and 9th mayor of Quebec
Sir William MacGregor, 60th governor of Newfoundland
Frederick Montizambert, first Director General of Public Health in Canada
Andrew Ross McMaster, former MP for Brome and Provincial Treasurer of Quebec
Clarence Primrose, former Canadian senator for Nova Scotia
James Palmer Rankin, former Canadian senator for Ontario
Alexander David Stewart, former mayor of Hamilton, Ontario
Alexander Warburton, 7th Premier of Prince Edward Island
Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams, former MP and Chief Government Whip

Caribbean

John Alcindor, Trinidadian doctor and politician
Charles Duncan O'Neal, Barbados politician
Edgar F. Gordon, doctor and trade union leader in Bermuda
David Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead, Grenadian politician, first person of African descent to stand as an MP (in Britain), second person of African descent to sit in the House of Lords

Europe

Mina Andreeva, Chief Spokesperson for the European Commission
Gisela Babel, former member of the German Bundestag
Elmar Brok, former MEP for Germany, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (1999–2007; 2012–2017) and President of the Union of European Federalists (2013–2018)
Rebecca Buttigieg, Maltese MP
Benjamin Constant, French politician and eminent political theorist, Member of the Tribunat (1799–1802), Member of the Council of State (1815), Member of the Chamber of Députés (1819–1830)
Muriel Casals i Couturier, member of the Parliament of Catalonia
Katja Dörner, Mayoress of Bonn, Germany
Tedi Dobi, Albanian Minister of Justice (2024-)
Biljana Đorđević, member of the Serbian National Assembly
Aina Calvo, former Mayoress of Palma, Spain
Furio Honsell, former mayor of Udine, Italy
Giorgos Gerapetritis, Greek Minister of State (2019–2023), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2023–)
Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, Icelandic Minister of Finance (1987–1988), Foreign Minister (1988–1995)
Harri Jaskari, former member of the Parliament of Finland
Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Icelandic Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources (2024-)
Ögmundur Jónasson, Icelandic Minister of Health (2009) and Minister of the Interior (2011–2013)
Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, 19th Mayor of Reykjavík, Icelandic Minister of the Interior (2013–2014)
Árni Mathiesen, Icelandic Minister of Finance (2005–2009)
Radu Marian, Moldovian MP
Angelika Niebler, MEP for Germany, Deputy Chairwoman of European People's Party (2015–)
Theodoros Roussopoulos, Greek Minister of State (2004–2008), President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2024-)
Gerhard Schröder (CDU), West German Federal Minister of the Interior (1953–1961), Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs (1961–1966), and Federal Minister of Defence (1966–1969), 1969 presidential candidate
Gustaf Algernon Stierneld, Swedish Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs (1838–1840; 1848–1856)
Péter Ungár, Member of the National Assembly of Hungary, Leader of LMP – Hungary's Green Party (2022-)
Jerzy Żyżyński, economist and member of the Polish Sejm

Middle East

Najah al-Attar, former vice president of Syria
Lamis al-Alami, Palestinian Minister of Education (2009-)
Mehmet Aydın, Turkish Minister of State (2002-)
Hovhannes Bujicanian, Armenian teacher in the Ottoman Empire
Saad bin Khalid Al Jabri, Saudi Arabian Minister of State
Yahya bin Mahfoudh al-Mantheri, Omani Chairman of Council of State (2004–2020)
Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs (2001–2014; 2016)
Bassam Talhouni, Jordanian Minister for Justice (2013–2016)
Hikmat Abu Zayd, first female cabinet minister of Egypt

Oceania

Richard Arthur, New South Wales Minister for Public Health (1927–1930)
Sir John Bowser, 26th Premier of Victoria
Sir Thomas Brisbane, former governor of New South Wales whose name gave rise to the Australian city, Brisbane
Francis Bugotu, Permanent Representative of the Solomon Islands to the United Nations (1978–1992), Secretary-General of the Pacific Community (1982–1986)
Cyril Cameron, former Australian senator for Tasmania
Sir John Logan Campbell, 17th Mayor of Auckland
Sir Michael Cullen, former deputy prime minister of New Zealand
John Dedman, Australian Minister for War Organisation (1941-1945), Minister for Defence (1946-1949)
John Garland, New South Wales Minister for Justice (1909–1910; 1916–1919)
Sir James Graham, 41st Mayor of Sydney
Sir William MacGregor, 11th governor of Queensland
Malcolm Mackay, Australian Minister for the Navy (1971–1972)
John Alexander MacPherson, 7th Premier of Victoria
Andrew McLachlan, Australian senator for South Australia, Deputy President of the Australian Senate (2022-)
F. Russell Miller, 40th Mayor of Invercargill, New Zealand
Sir David Monro, 2nd Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Sir Hugh Nelson, 11th Premier of Queensland
Carty Salmon, 2nd Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
David Seath, New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs (1963–1972)
Sir Alexander Stuart, 9th Premier of New South Wales
Henry Thacker, 32nd Mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand

Royalty

Albert, 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, head of the House of Thurn and Taxis
Countess Alexandra Nikolaevna Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, member of the Tolstoy family
Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll
David Carnegie, 4th Duke of Fife
Charles Carnegie, Earl of Southesk, heir apparent to the Dukedom of Fife
Samuel Chatto and Arthur Chatto, sons of Elizabeth II's niece Lady Sarah Chatto
Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India^[a]^[28]
George Percy, Earl Percy, heir apparent to the Dukedom of Northumberland
Henry FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton, direct male-line descendant of Charles II of England
Lady Amelia Windsor, a relative of the British royal family
Margareta of Romania, Custodian of the Crown of Romania
Princess Mako of Akishino, member of the Imperial House of Japan
Princess Nora zu Oettingen–Spielberg, member of the House of Oettingen-Spielberg
Princess Raiyah bint Hussein, member of the House of Hashim
Princess Salha bint Asem, member of the House of Hashim
Princess Tsuguko of Takamado, member of the Imperial House of Japan
Prince Pavel Mikhailovich Dashkov, Russian aristocrat
Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, heir apparent to the Spencer earldom and first cousin of the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry
Bhagvat Singh, former maharaja of the princely state of Gondal

Judges and lawyers

Lord Reed of Allermuir, President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (2020–)
Lord Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (2020–)
Lord Carloway, Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General (2015–)
James Wolffe, Lord Advocate (2016–2021)
Julia Sebutinde, Vice-President and Judge of the International Court of Justice (2024–)

James Clyde, Baron Clyde, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn, former Solicitor General for Scotland
Paul Cullen, Lord Pentland, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland
William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk, former Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General
Raymond Doherty, Lord Doherty, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland
Unity Dow, former judge on the High Court of Botswana
Sir David Edward, former judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union
Thomas Addis Emmet, former New York State Attorney General
Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Tullybelton, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
John Garland, former Attorney General of New South Wales
Brian Gill, Lord Gill, former Lord President of the Court of Session
Henry Gollan, former Chief Justice of Hong Kong
Arthur Hamilton, Lord Hamilton, former Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General
Patrick Hodge, Lord Hodge, current Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, former Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and Master of the Rolls
Robert Lyall-Grant, former Attorney General of Kenya
Atholl MacGregor, former Chief Justice of Hong Kong
Alexander Mackenzie, barrister and writer on propaganda^[29]
Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Duncan Menzies, Lord Menzies, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland
Frank Mulholland, Lord Mulholland, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland
Wilfrid Normand, Baron Normand, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Sir Alan Stewart Orr, former Lord Justice of Appeal^[30]
David Richard Pigot, former Attorney General for Ireland
Alipate Qetaki, former Attorney General of Fiji
Michael Ramodibedi, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Swaziland
Robert Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, current president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Fred Ruhindi, former Attorney General of Uganda
Sir Dudley Ryder, former Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench
Alexander Shand, 1st Baron Shand, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
James Shaw, Baron Kilbrandon, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Alfred Henry Simpson, former Chief Justice of Kenya
Julia Sebutinde, sitting Judge on the International Court of Justice
Anne Smith, Lady Smith, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland
Alexander Mackenzie Stuart, Baron Mackenzie-Stuart, former president of the European Court of Justice
Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway, current Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General
James Beveridge Thomson, former Chief Justice of Malaysia

Military

Summarize

Perspective

Officers

Ralph Abercromby, MP, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland during the Irish Rebellion of 1798
Sir Archibald Alison, 2nd Baronet, general
Sir James Baird, lieutenant general, Director General Army Medical Services (1973–1977)
Sir Hugh Beach, general, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Field Army (1976–1977)
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Naval flag officer during the Napoleonic Wars and later Admiral of the Red, dubbed by Napoleon as le Loup des Mers, 'the Sea Wolf'
David Coulter, major-general, Chaplain General of the British Army (2014–2018)
Robert Craigie, admiral
Sir Hew Whitefoord Dalrymple, general, Governor of Gibraltar (1806–1808)
John Forbes, brigadier-general, commanded the Forbes Expedition during the French-Indian war
Sir Alexander Hood, lieutenant-general, Director General Army Medical Services (1941–1948), Governor of Bermuda (1949–1955)
John Hunter, vice-admiral of the red, governor of New South Wales (1795–1800)
James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish Jacobite, served during the Seven Years' War under Frederick the Great as Generalfeldmarschall of the Prussian Army
Daniel Knobel, lieutenant general, Surgeon General of the South African Defence Force (1988–1997)
William Thompson Lusk, Assistant adjutant-general for the Union, American Civil War
Gregor MacGregor, Army general, adventurer, and confidence trickster, known for his "Poyois scheme"
Sir George Malcolm, general
Sir Harold Martin, air marshal, Commander-in-Chief RAF Germany (1970–1973)
Sir Ian McGeoch, vice-admiral
Sir James McGrigor, responsible for the creation of the Royal Army Medical Corps
Iain McNicoll, air marshal, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Operations, RAF Air Command (2007–2010)
Sir Charles Napier, admiral, served in War of 1812, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Crimean War
Dame Sharon Nesmith, first woman to command a British Army brigade, general and vice-chief of the General Staff (2024–)
Arthur Edward Potts, major general, Commander of 6th Canadian Infantry Division (1942–1943)
Philip Raffaelli, Surgeon-General of the United Kingdom Armed Forces (2009–2012)
George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, governor of Canada (1820–1828), Commander-in-Chief, India (1830–1832)
Alan Reay, lieutenant general, Director General Army Medical Services (1981–1984)
Thomas Rimmer, air vice-marshal, commander, British Forces Cyprus (2000–2003)
Sir James Simpson, general, Commander-in-Chief British troops in the Crimea (1855)
Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot, lieutenant-general under Louis XIV when England was in Interregnum, governor of Tangier (1663–1664)
Sir Charles Shaw, brigadier-general during the Portuguese Liberal Wars
Adam Stephen, Scottish-American general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War
James Stuart, general, 1st General Officer Commanding, Ceylon (1796)
Mona Chalmers Watson, head of Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
Bennett H. Young, lieutenant, Confederate officer who led the St. Albans Raid during the American Civil War

Soldiers

Eric Brown, Royal Navy officer and test pilot who flew 487 types of aircraft, more than anyone else in history
William Brydon, the only person to reach safety in the 1842 retreat from Kabul
James Marr Brydone, Ship's surgeon of HMS Thunderer at Battle of Trafalgar
Charles Gray Catto, World War I flying ace, later Mayor of Waco, Texas
Gordon Duncan, Scottish flying ace
James Oliver Ewart, intelligence officer, translator, and staff member of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
John Todd, Scottish First World War flying ace credited with 18 aerial victories

Victoria Cross and George Cross recipients

Recipients of the Victoria Cross:

Recipients of the George Cross:

Second World War

Natural sciences, engineering and medicine

Astronomy

John Campbell Brown, astronomer
Hermann Brück, astronomer
Mary Brück, astronomer, astrophysicist and historian of science
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astrophysicist, co-discoverer of the first pulsars, 2018 winner of Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, Copley Medalist
Ralph Copeland, discoverer of the Copeland Septet
James Dunlop, astronomer, Herschel Medal winner in 2016
Sir Frank Watson Dyson, whose observations during Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 played an important role in proving Einstein's theory of General relativity
James Gregory, discoverer of the infinite series and designer of the first practical reflecting telescope, the Gregorian telescope
Thomas Henderson, first to measure the distance between Earth to Alpha Centauri
Catherine Heymans, astrophysicist, incumbent Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Herschel Medal winner in 2022
Chris Impey, astronomer
Simon Lilly, astrophysicist, Herschel Medal winner in 2017
James Lind of Windsor, natural philosopher
Malcolm Longair, physicist
William McCrea, astronomer
John A. Peacock, astronomer, Shaw Prize laureate in 2014^[31]
Anneila Sargent, astronomer
Charles Piazzi Smyth, astronomer
Licia Verde, cosmologist, 2018 winner of Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

Chemistry

Thomas Anderson, discoverer of pyridine
Polly Arnold, director of the chemical sciences division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Paul Attfield, Professor of Materials Science
George Barger, chemist
Wendy Bickmore, chemist
Joseph Black, discoverer of magnesium, carbon dioxide, latent heat and specific heat
Eleanor Campbell, Professor of Physical Chemistry
Neil Campbell, chemist and amateur athlete
Archibald Scott Couper, proposed an early theory of chemical structure and bonding
Leroy Cronin, chemist
John Davy, discoverer of phosgene
Sir James Dewar, inventor of the Dewar flask
Robin Ferrier, discoverer of Ferrier rearrangement and Ferrier carbocyclization
Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, biochemist
Thomas Graham, formulator of Graham's law and inventor of dialysis
Frederick Guthrie, synthesizer of Mustard gas
Richard Henderson, pioneer in the field of electron microscopy, Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 2017
William Henry, formulator of Henry's law
Edmund Hirst, chemist
Thomas Charles Hope, discoverer of strontium
Narayan Hosmane, cancer researcher, BNCT
David Leigh, Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh 2001–2012, Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology winner in 2007
Guy Lloyd-Jones, Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh (2012–)
Francis Robert Japp, discoverer of Japp-Klingemann reaction
Charles Macintosh, chemist, inventor of the waterproof raincoat (Mackintosh)
Christina Miller, synthesized phosphorus trioxide
Peter D. Mitchell, discoverer of the chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP synthesis, Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1978
Sir Geoff Palmer, Jamaican-born scientist, brewing researcher and activist, first black professor in Scotland
Sarah Pett, British immunopathologist and COVID-19 researcher
William Prout, proposer of Prout's hypothesis, an early model of proton
Sir Dai Rees, CEO of the Medical Research Council 1987–1996
Prafulla Chandra Roy, distinguished chemist and founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals
Daniel Rutherford, discoverer of Nitrogen
Benjamin Silliman, American chemist
Sir James Fraser Stoddart, supramolecular chemist, Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 2016
Smithson Tennant, discoverer of iridium and osmium
Alexander Robertus Todd, Baron Todd, first synthesizer of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1957
Vincent du Vigneaud, first synthesizer of oxytocin and Vasopressin, Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1955
Lorenz Florenz Friedrich von Crell, German chemist
James Walker, chemist
Kurt Wüthrich, developer of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for studying biological macromolecules, Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 2002
Lesley Yellowlees, first female president of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Geology

Robert Bell, geologist
Ami Boué, first to produce a Geological map of the world, Wollaston Medalist
Sir John William Dawson, geologist
Hugh Falconer, geologist and paleontologist, Wollaston Medalist
John Flett, geologist, Wollaston Medalist
James David Forbes, inventor of the Seismometer
Sir Archibald Geikie, geologist, Wollaston Medalist
Sir James Hector, geologist
Arthur Holmes, geologist, Wollaston Medalist
Wilfred Hudleston Hudleston, geologist, Wollaston Medalist
James Hutton, father of modern geology
Rosemary Hutton, geophysicist and pioneer of magnetotellurics
Robert Jameson, naturalist and mineralist
Sir William Edmond Logan, geologist, founder and first director of the Geological Survey of Canada, Wollaston Medalist
Robert Cameron Mackenzie, geologist
Sir Roderick Murchison, geologist, known for first describing the Silurian, Devonian and Permian systems, Copley Medalist
William Nicol, inventor of Nicol prism
Stan Paterson, glaciologist
Anya Reading, geophysicist
Justin B. Ries, American biogeochemist and inventor known for discoveries in the field of global oceanic change
Frederick Stewart, geologist
Erskine Douglas Williamson, known for his contribution to the Adams–Williamson equation

Computer science and informatics

Senior academic staff

Former staff and alumni

Samson Abramsky, computer scientist at the University of Oxford
Pat Ambler, creator of Freddy II
Joe Armstrong, creator of Erlang programming language and Open Telecom Platform (OTP)
Andrew Blake, computer scientist and former director of Microsoft Research, Cambridge and Alan Turing Institute in London
Bob Boyer, computer scientist, mathematician, philosopher at the University of Texas at Austin
Alan W. Black, Professor at the Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Justine Cassell, Professor at the Human–Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Luca Cardelli, computer scientist, Assistant Director of Microsoft Research, Cambridge
Ian Clarke, creator of Freenet
Rosemary Candlin, crystallographer and computer scientist at CERN
Margarita Chli, Leader of the Vision for Robotics Lab at ETH Zürich
Peter Dayan, director at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany
John Darlington, Emeritus Professor, Imperial College London
Bruce Davie, CTO of VMware
Vera Demberg, computational linguist and professor of computer science and computational linguistics at Saarland University
Paul Dourish, professor at the University of California, Irvine
Carla Gomes, computer scientist, Founding Director of the Cornell University Institute for Computational Sustainability
Leslie Ann Goldberg, computer scientist at the University of Oxford
Jeremy Gibbons, professor of computing, University of Oxford
Andrew Gordon, at Microsoft Research
Michael J. C. Gordon (1948–2017), computer scientist at the University of Cambridge
Alex Graves, computer scientist at Google DeepMind, creator of Neural Turing machine (NTM)
Philippa Gardner, Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at Imperial College London
Richard Gregory (1923–2010), cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol
Pat Hayes, senior research scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Florida
Robert Harper, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University
Matthew Hennessy, Co-creator of Hennessy–Milner logic
Geoffrey Hinton, "godfather of deep learning and artificial neural network", 2018 winner of the Turing Award^[32]
Xuedong Huang, CTO of Microsoft Azure AI
Auke Ijspeert, head of the Biorobotics Laboratory at EPFL
Mark Jerrum, Professor of Pure mathematics at the University of London, Gödel Prize Laureate
Mark H. Johnson, cognitive neuroscientist and brain–computer interface researcher, Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge
Philipp Koehn, Professor of Machine Translation at Johns Hopkins University
Robert Kowalski, logician whose interpretation of the Horn clause at Edinburgh became instrumental in the creation of Prolog
Lǐ Wèi, mathematician and computer scientist, President of Beihang University
Christopher Longuet-Higgins (1923–2004), cognitive scientist
Donald Michie, founder of Artificial Intelligence in the UK
Robin Milner (1934–2010), computer scientist, developer of ML, π-calculus and LCF, winner of the Turing Award in 1991
Eugenio Moggi, first to explicitly link the Monad of category theory to functional programming
J Strother Moore, computer scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, co-developer of the Boyer–Moore string-search algorithm and the Boyer–Moore majority vote algorithm
Stephen Muggleton, Head of the Computational Bioinformatics Laboratory at Imperial College London
Alan Mycroft, professor at the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Timothy O'Shea, Emeritus Professor and former principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh
Martha Palmer, creator of PropBank and VerbNet
Benjamin C. Pierce, Henry Salvatori Professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania
Robin Popplestone (1938–2004), creator of COWSEL and POP-2
John C. Reynolds (1935–2013), inventor of System F and professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University
Davide Sangiorgi, Professor at the University of Bologna
Nigel Shadbolt,^[33] Chairman of the Open Data Institute (ODI) and master of Jesus College, Oxford
Alistair Sinclair, Professor at University of California, Berkeley, Gödel Prize Laureate
Aaron Sloman, philosopher, cognitive scientist at the University of Birmingham
Chris Tofts, scientist at Hewlett-Packard
Mads Tofte, professor at the IT University of Copenhagen
Stephen Tweedie, software developer, creator of ext3 file system
Leslie Valiant, Complexity theory pioneer, winner of the Turing Award in 2010
Hanna Wallach, at Microsoft Research
Lincoln Wallen, CTO of Improbable, former CTO of DreamWorks Animation
Toby Walsh, professor of artificial intelligence at the UNSW
David H. D. Warren, creator of the Warren Abstract Machine
Xia Peisu, "mother of computer science in China"
Andrew Zisserman, computer scientist at Google DeepMind and University of Oxford

Engineering

Sir Thomas Hudson Beare, engineer
George Thomas Beilby, chemical engineer
Alexander Graham Bell, engineer, inventor of the telephone and founder of AT&T
Isaac Lowthian Bell, metallurgist, businessman and politician
George Parker Bidder, engineer and calculating prodigy
James Blyth, electrical engineer, pioneer of the Wind Turbine
Kenneth Denbigh, Chemical engineer
William Fothergill Cooke, engineer, founder of Electric Telegraph Company
Sir James Alfred Ewing, engineer and physicist, discoverer of Hysteresis
Lewis Gordon, civil engineer^[34]
Harald Haas, inventor of Li-Fi
Sir John Jackson, civil engineer and MP
James Jardine, civil engineer
Fleeming Jenkin, engineer, inventor of telpherage
Alexander Carnegie Kirk, marine engineer
David Milne, microelectronics engineer and entrepreneur
Elijah McCoy, engineer, inventor of the Automatic lubricator for Steam Engines
James Newlands, civil engineer
John Randall, inventor of Cavity Magnetron and leader of the team that led to the discovery of structure of DNA
William John Macquorn Rankine, engineer, physicist, and early contributor to the development of thermodynamics
George Rennie, engineer
John Rennie the Elder, civil engineer^[35]
John Scott Russell, civil engineer, discoverer of Soliton
Stephen Salter, wave energy pioneer
John Shepherd-Barron, inventor of the automated teller machine (ATM)
Alan Stevenson, lighthouse engineer
Charles Alexander Stevenson, lighthouse engineer
David Stevenson, lighthouse designer
David Alan Stevenson, lighthouse engineer
Robert Stephenson, railway engineer
Robert Stevenson, civil engineer
Thomas Stevenson, lighthouse engineer
Robert Stirling, inventor of Stirling engine
William Symington, engineer and inventor
Maria Watkins (née Marja Ludwika Ziff) first woman to study electrical engineering there, president of the Women's Engineering Society

Mathematics and physics

Alexander Aitken, mathematician, worked in Hut 6 Bletchley Park decrypting the ENIGMA code, known for the Aitken's delta-squared process
Sir Michael Atiyah mathematician, Fields Medallist in 1966, Abel Prize winner 2004
Sir John M. Ball, mathematician
Charles Glover Barkla, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1917 for his work in X-ray spectroscopy and related areas in the study of X-rays
Thomas Bayes, mathematician, known for Bayes' theorem and Bayesian Statistics
Max Born, principal founder of Quantum mechanics and Nobel laureate in Physics in 1954
Sir David Brewster, physicist, discoverer of Brewster's angle and photoelasticity, inventor of Kaleidoscope
J. W. S. Cassels, mathematician
Michael Cates, physicist known for his work in soft matter
Cheng Kaijia, physicist and pioneer of nuclear technology in China
George Chrystal, mathematician
Roger Cowley, physicist
Sir Charles Galton Darwin, director of the National Physics Laboratory (NPL) during World War II
Janette Dunlop, physicist and teacher
Sir James Alfred Ewing, physicist and engineer, discoverer of Hysteresis
Norman Feather, physicist
Klaus Fuchs, theoretical physicist and atomic spy^[36]
Fabiola Gianotti, Director-general of CERN, 2013 winner of Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Marion Cameron Gray, mathematician^[37]
David Gregory, mathematician, early Newtonian
Peter Higgs, 2013 Nobel laureate in Physics, theoretical physicist, Emeritus Professor, and theorist of the Higgs Boson, Higgs Mechanism and Higgs Field
Sir W. V. D. Hodge, mathematician and Copley Medalist, formulator of the Hodge theory and Hodge conjecture, one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems
Huang Kun, physicist, co-formulator of the Born-Huang approximation
Charles Hutton, mathematician and Copley Medalist
James Ivory, mathematician and Copley Medalist
Philip Kelland, mathematician
Nicholas Kemmer, contributor in United Kingdom's nuclear programme
Tom W. B. Kibble, theoretical physicist, Sakurai Prize winner in 2010
Sir John Leslie, mathematician and physicist, the first producer of artificial ice
Terry Lyons, mathematician
Colin Maclaurin, mathematician, discoverer of MacLaurin series
James Clerk Maxwell, physicist, "father of electromagnetism and Statistical mechanics"
Dusa McDuff, mathematician
David Olive, theoretical physicist and string theorist, 1997 Dirac Medal and Prize winner
Sir Alexander Oppenheim, mathematician
Peng Huanwu, physicist and pioneer of nuclear technology in China
John Playfair, mathematician
John Polkinghorne, theoretical physicist and theologian, Templeton Prize winner in 2002
William John Macquorn Rankine, engineer, physicist, and early contributor to the development of thermodynamics
John Robison, physicist
Marion Ross, physicist
Sir Joseph Rotblat, Polish physicist who worked in the Manhattan Project, 1995 Nobel Laureate in Peace
Agata Smoktunowicz, mathematician
Peter Guthrie Tait, physicist and pioneer in Thermodynamics
Igor Tamm, theorizer of Phonon and designer of Tomahak, won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the Cherenkov radiation
Sheila Tinney, mathematical physicist^[38]
Neil Turok, theoretical physicist, Director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (2009–2019)
Arthur Geoffrey Walker, mathematician, known for co-developing the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric and Fermi–Walker differentiation
Joseph Wedderburn, mathematician
Sir Edmund Whittaker, mathematician and historian of science, Copley Medalist
Emil Wolf, physicist, one-half of Born and Wolf
Shu Xingbei, physicist
Thomas Young, polymath, established the wave theory of light through his double-slit experiment

Medicine and biology

Thomas Addis, pioneer in nephrology
Thomas Addison, first described Addison's disease, pernicious anemia and Addison-Schilder syndrome
William John Adie, first described Adie syndrome and narcolepsy
Arthur Cecil Alport, first identifier of the Alport syndrome
Kenneth Baillie, intensive care physician
John Hutton Balfour, botanist
Alfred George Barrs, physician
Benjamin Smith Barton, botanist
Nick Barton, evolutionary biologist, winner of the Darwin–Wallace Medal in 2008
Sir David Baulcombe, plant scientist, discovered SiRNA and its role in gene silencing in plants, winner of the Lasker Award in 2008
Sir John Beddington, population biologist, UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser
Charles Bell, anatomist and surgeon, first described of Bell's palsy
Joseph Bell, surgeon
Seneka Bibile, influential Sri Lankan pharmacologist
Sir Adrian Bird, geneticist, discovered the protein MeCP2 involved in DNA methylation, Canada Gairdner International Award winner in 2011, Shaw Prize laureate in 2016
James Braid, surgeon, founder of hypnosis in medicine
Robert Brown, botanist, discoverer of Brownian motion
David Bruce, discoverer of Brucella
William Speirs Bruce, naturalist and oceanographer, led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in 1902-04^[39]
Stephen L. Brusatte, paleontologist and evolutionary biologist
William Budd, physician and epidemiologist^[40]
Keith Campbell, biologist, Shaw Prize laureate in 2008
John Murray Carnochan, neurosurgeon, performed first successful surgery for trigeminal neuralgia
Min Chueh Chang, inventor of Combined oral contraceptive pill and pioneer in IVF, Lasker Award winner in 1954
Brian Charlesworth, evolutionary biologist, winner of the Darwin–Wallace Medal in 2010
Virender Lal Chopra, geneticist and biotechnologist
Bryan Clarke, geneticist, winner of the Darwin–Wallace Medal in 2008
John G. S. Coghill, doctor
Richard A Collins, biochemist and author
Robin Coombs, immunologist, discoverer of the Coombs test
Hilary Critchley, obstetrician and gynaecologist
William Cullen, physician and professor of medicine
Rafael Antonio Curra, Venezuelan ichthyologist
Charles Darwin, naturalist, author of The Origin of Species
James Douglas, physician and anatomist; the Douglas pouch and Douglas line are named for him
Cuthbert Dukes, pathologist and author
Richard Eastell, professor of bone medicine
Robert Edwards, pioneer in IVF, 2010 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
John Elliotson, physician, mesmerist
James Esdaile, surgeon, mesmerist
Emmanuel Evans-Anfom, Ghanaian doctor and vice-chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University
Ronald Fairbairn, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst,^[41] known for his Object Relations Theory
Heather M. Ferguson, FRSE malaria vector biologist^[42]
Sir David Ferrier, neuroscientist
Charles ffrench-Constant, neurologist
Ian Frazer, immunologist, developer of the HPV vaccine
Wong Fun, first western-educated Chinese doctor
Dame Anne Glover FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission 2012–2014
Rosemary Grant, evolutionary biologist, 2009 winner of Darwin-Wallace Medal
Michael Grunstein, biochemist, 2018 winner of Lasker Award
John Haldane, physiologist
William Hewson, founder of haematology, Copley Medalist
Bill Hill OBE FRS FRSE, geneticist and statistician, winner of 2018 Darwin Medal
Thomas Hodgkin, physician, first describer of Hodgkin's lymphoma
James Africanus Beale Horton, medicine
David Hosack, American botanist and landscape architect^[43]
William Hunter, anatomist
Sophia Jex-Blake, leader of the Edinburgh Seven, pioneer of medical education for women in Britain
Steve Jones, geneticist
George Kelly, psychologist
Kurt Koffka, psychologist, founder of Gestalt psychology
Sir John Liddell, physician and director-general of the Medical Department of the Royal Navy
James Lind, naturalistphysician to George III
James Lind, pioneer in preventive medicine, theorized the cure for scurvy
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, introduced antiseptics into surgery
Winifred W. Logan, nurse theorist
John Claudius Loudon, botanist
Mary F. Lyon, discoverer of Lyonization, winner of 1997 Wolf Prize in Medicine
Ian MacDonald, physician
William Sutherland Macdonald, physician and soldier
George Mackay, ophthalmic surgeon
Trudy Mackay, quantitative geneticist, winner of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in 2016^[44]
William Alexander Mackay, doctor
Aubrey Manning, zoologist
Samuel Manuwa, Nigerian doctor and president of the World Federation for Mental Health
James Fitzgerald Martin, personal surgeon to George VI and Lord Mountbatten
Henry Johnston Scott Matthew, physician, toxicologist
Kirsten McCaffery, public health researcher
Dame Anne McLaren, developmental biologist
Roger McNeil, doctor of public health
Gilean McVean, post-doctoral fellow, evolutionary biologist, member of the steering committee for the 1000 Genomes Project
Kath M. Melia, sociologist, professor of nursing, champion of ethics in healthcare
Pleasantine Mill, cell biologist
May-Britt Moser, 2014 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discoveries in grid cell
Edvard Moser, 2014 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries in grid cell
B. K. Misra, neurosurgeon
John Keith Moffat, Guggenheim Fellow, biologist and former Deputy Provost at University of Chicago, noted for Advanced Photon Source and Time resolved crystallography
Alexander Monro (primus), (secundus) and (tertius), anatomists
Hermann Joseph Muller, 1946 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries in mutagenesis
Kim Nasmyth, geneticist, 2018 winner of Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Sir Paul Nurse, geneticist, 2001 Winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Susan Ofori-Atta, first Ghanaian woman doctor
Sarah Otto, theoretical biologist, 2021 winner of Darwin-Wallace Medal
Richard Owen, major opponent to Charles Darwin, known for coining the term Dinosauria and presenting them as a distinct taxonomic group
Josephine Pemberton, evolutionary biologist, 2018 winner of Darwin-Wallace Medal
George Alexander Pirie, doctor
Richard Frank Rand, surgeon
David Robertson, virologist and bioinformatician
John Rogerson, personal physician to Catherine the Great
Nancy Roper, nurse theorist
Michael Rosbash, 2017 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Fiona Ross, nursing scholar
William Roxburgh, botanist
Agnes Yewande Savage, first West African woman graduate and doctor
Richard Gabriel Akinwande Savage, doctor and soldier
Randy Schekman, former editor-in-chief of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and 2013 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, physiologist and neuroscientist, founder of Endocrinology, Copley Medalist
Robert Sibbald, Professor of Medicine
Sir James Young Simpson, pioneered the use of chloroform in midwifery
Leslie Skene, psychiatrist^[45]
James Edward Smith, founder of the Linnean Society
Jeremy Smith, biological scientist
Jotello Festiri Soga, South Africa's first black veterinarian
Sahib Singh Sokhey, biochemist and British Indian Army general^[46]
Sir Edwin Southern, biomedical scientist, invented Southern blot, Canada Gairdner International Award winner in 1990, Lasker Award winner in 2005
Tara Spires-Jones, neuroscientist
George Neil Stewart, physiologist
Anne Bryson Sutherland, plastic surgeon
Grant Robert Sutherland AC, human geneticist
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, biologist, pioneer in Mathematical biology
Alison J. Tierney, professor of nursing, nurse theorist
William Aldren Turner, neurologist
Meena Upadhyaya, medical geneticist
Colin S. Valentine, medical missionary
C. H. Waddington, eminent developmental biologist
John Walker, naturalist
Joanna Wardlaw, neuroradiology and neuroimaging
Herbert Furnivall Waterhouse, surgeon and lecturer in anatomy
Hamish Watson, cardiology
Robert Whytt, medicine
Robert Willan, founder of dermatology
Sir Ian Wilmut, embryologist and former supervisor of the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, Shaw Prize laureate in 2008
Nairn Wilson, dental surgeon
Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson, first describer of Wilson's Disease
William Withering, physician, discoverer of Digitalis
Asrat Woldeyes, Ethiopian surgeon and politician
Robert Ramsay Wright, biologist, helped to re-establish the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1887
Ruth Wynne-Davies doctor and expert on scoliosis and clubfoot
Charles Wyville Thomson, naturalist and chief scientist on the Challenger expedition
Yao Zhen, biologist
Zhong Nanshan, pulmonologist, discoverer of the SARS Coronavirus and former president of the Chinese Medical Association

Social sciences, arts and business

Pulitzer Prize

Ross Anderson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1990^[47]
Andrew Marshall, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2014
Jack N. Rakove, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1997
Garry Wills, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1993

Architecture

Robert Adam, architect
Suad Amiry, Palestinian architect
Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, architect
Denise Bennetts, co-founder of Bennetts Associates
Colen Campbell, architect and architectural writer
Theodore S. Clerk, Ghanaian architect
Ted Cullinan, architect
Ptolemy Dean, architect, 19th and current Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey
Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith, conservation architect and former head of the Department of Architecture (1978–1988)
William Nairn Forbes, architect
Malcolm Fraser, architect
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, architect of Waterloo International railway station and the Eden Project, former president of the Royal Academy
Abdur Rahman Hye, architect
Percy Johnson-Marshall, urban designer
Tony Kettle, architect, designer of the Falkirk Wheel
Sir William Kininmonth, architect
Sir Robert Lorimer, architect and furniture designer
Kate Macintosh, architect
Ebenezer James MacRae, architect
Anuradha Mathur, landscape architect
Sir Robert Matthew, architect
John McAslan, architect of Western concourse, King's Cross station
Richard Murphy, architect
Patrick Nuttgens, architect and academic
Harriet Pattison, landscape architect
William Henry Playfair, architect
Deborah Saunt, co-founder of Deborah Saunt David Hills Architects (DSDHA)
Frank Worthington Simon, architect
Sir Basil Spence, Brutalist architect
Deyan Sudjic, architecture critic
William Thornton, architect who designed the United States Capitol

Business

Laura J. Alber, CEO of Williams-Sonoma Inc
John Allan, chairman of Tesco and Barratt Developments
Ian Bankier, chairman of Celtic F.C.
Jo Bamford, multi-billionaire businessman, founder of investment firm HYCAP
William Denholm Barnetson, chairman of United Newspapers, Reuters and Thames Television
Victoria Barnsley, former CEO of HarperCollins
Chris Beard, former CEO of Mozilla
Crawford W. Beveridge, former executive vice president, Sun Microsystems
Henry Birch, CEO of The Very Group
Adam Black, founder of book publishing company A & C Black
James Blair-Cunynghame, former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland
Sir Donald Brydon, chairman of the Royal Mail, Sage Group and Medical Research Council
Jamie Byng, CEO of Canongate Books
Nigel Cowie, CEO of Daedong Credit Bank
George A. David, chairman emeritus of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company
Bob Davies, former CEO of transport company Arriva
Martin Dickie, co-founder of BrewDog
James Douglas, mining engineer, first president and CEO of Phelps Dodge
John Boyd Dunlop, founder of Dunlop Tyres
Birna Einarsdóttir, CEO of Íslandsbanki
Nicholas Ferguson, chairman of Sky UK
John Ritchie Findlay, owner of The Scotsman newspaper
Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder and CEO of OVO Energy and Vertical Aerospace, former owner of the Manor Racing team
Sandy Flockhart, former CEO of HSBC
Robert A. Funk, former chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Carlyle Gifford, co-founder of investment firm Baillie Gifford
Sir Alistair Grant, former governor of Bank of Scotland
Hugh Grant, Chairman, President and CEO of Monsanto
Doug Gurr, former global vice-president and head of Amazon UK
Andrew Harrison, CEO of Diamond Light Source
Rick Hayward, former chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Tony Hayward, chairman of Glencore, former CEO of BP
Alexander S. Hoare, former CEO of private bank C. Hoare & Co
Johnny Hornby, chairman of Sentebale
William Jardine, merchant, surgeon, and co-founder of global conglomerate Jardine Matheson (怡和洋行)
Sir John Jennings, former chairman of Shell
Ian Quayle Jones, co-founder, former chairman, and CEO of Quayle Munro merchant bank
Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever
Jay Jopling, art dealer, founder of White Cube
Brittany Kaiser, former business development director for Cambridge Analytica
Vivien Kellems, American industrialist and inventor^[48]
Robert Kibaara, CEO of Housing Finance Group of Kenya
William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, founder of Unilever
Eilidh Mactaggart, CEO of Scottish National Investment Bank
Sir James Matheson, co-founder of Jardine Matheson
Isabel Maxwell, co-founder of Excite
John McFarlane, Chairman of Westpac, former chairman of Barclays and Aviva
David Milne, co-founder and former CEO of Wolfson Microelectronics
Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, founder and first CEO of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI)
Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, founder and CEO of Banda Property, husband to Princess Beatrice
Sir Kenneth Murray, founder of multinational biotechnology company Biogen
Sir Frederick Ogilvie, former director-general of the BBC
Lord Max Percy, financial analyst
David E. I. Pyott, former CEO of Allergan
Lars Rasmussen, co-founder of Google Maps
Jim Reid, co-founder of Wolfson Microelectronics
Anne Richards, CEO of Fidelity International
Sir Jack Shaw, former governor of Bank of Scotland
Nigel Stein, CEO of GKN
Dave Stevenson, chairman of Edinburgh Woollen Mill
Lord Swann, former chairman of the BBC
Paul Tash, chairman and CEO of the Times Publishing Company
David Taylor, former General Secretary of UEFA
Xenia Timchenko, daughter of Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko^[49]
George Touche, co-founder of Deloitte
Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
James Watt, founder and CEO of BrewDog
Andrew Wirth, president and CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings
Susie Wolff, retired racing driver and CEO of Venturi Racing
Arthur Young, founder of Ernst & Young

Economics

Kenneth E. Boulding, American economist, recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal in 1949^[50]
Robin Burgess, economist
Thomas Chalmers, political economist
Paul Cockshott, Marxist economist
William Cunningham, economic historian
Marcus Fleming, known for his contribution to the Mundell–Fleming model
Sir Alexander Gray, Scottish economist and poet
William Ballantyne Hodgson, Scottish political economist
Sir John Kay, British economist, first dean of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Henry Dunning Macleod, coined the term "Gresham's law"
John Ramsay McCulloch, Ricardian economist
Sir James Mirrlees, British economist, winner of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1996^[51]
John Moore, British economist, former president of the Econometric Society; recipient of the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in 1999, BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards laureate in 2020^[52]
Takeshi Nakano, Japanese economist and bureaucrat, introduced the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to Japan
Joseph Shield Nicholson, English economist
Ragnar Nurkse, Estonian economist, known for his balanced growth theory
Will Page, Chief Economist at Spotify
Sir Alan T. Peacock, English economist
Madsen Pirie, co-founder and president of the Adam Smith Institute
John Rae, Scottish-Canadian economist
Gavin Clydesdale Reid, Scottish economist
Yongcheol Shin, South Korean-born British economist
Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, "father of economics"
James Steuart, economist
Jerzy Żyżyński, Polish economist

Literature

Edward Abbey, American author
Jokha Alharthi, novelist, 2019 winner of International Booker Prize
William Archer, writer and critic
John Arden, playwright
Michael Arlen, British-Armenian essayist
Sir J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan
Horatius Bonar, Scottish churchman and poet
James Boswell, life-long friend of Samuel Johnson, founded the modern biographic writing with his Life of Johnson
George Mackay Brown, poet
John Campbell, biographer
Thomas Campbell, poet
Thomas Carlyle, essayist and historian known for his great man theory
Bliss Carman, Canadian poet
George Chalmers, antiquarian and political writer
Bruce Chatwin, travel writer, author and winner of the 1982 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Kate Clanchy, poet and freelance writer
Jenny Colgan, romantic novelist
S. R. Crockett, novelist
Charles Cumming, spy fiction writer
David Daiches, literary historian and critic
Helen Dale, writer
Erasmus Darwin, poet, writer and natural philosopher
John Davison, poet
Thomas Dick, writer
Angus Donald, author and journalist
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author and creator of Sherlock Holmes
William Drummond of Hawthornden, poet
Barbara Erskine, novelist
Ralph Erskine, poet and churchman
Ahmed Fagih, Libyan novelist and diplomat
John Fowles, novelist, author of The Collector and The French Lieutenant's Woman
Miriam Gamble, poet
Robert Garioch, poet and translator
Oliver Goldsmith, writer, poet, and author of The Vicar of Wakefield
Michael Grant, writer and historian
Philippa Gregory, historical novelist, author of The Other Boleyn Girl
Hamish Henderson, Scottish poet
Ella Hickson, award-winning playwright
John Hodge, screenwriter
Thomas Hodgskin, socialist writer
Sam Holcroft, playwright
John Home, playwright and joint-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Gu Hongming, writer and polyglot
Africanus Horton, first West African graduate of Edinburgh, nationalist writer, and medical surgeon
Kathleen Jamie, current Makar for Scotland
Harold Jenkins, Shakespeare scholar
Ae-ran Kim, South Korean writer
Lucy Kirkwood, playwright
Paul Alfred Kleinert, German writer, editor and translator
John Gibson Lockhart, biographer of Sir Walter Scott
Andrew Lownie, biographer
Christine De Luca, poet
Norman MacCaig, Scottish poet
Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet and essayist
Sharman Macdonald, playwright
Ian Maclaren, fiction writer and minister of the Free Church of Scotland
Sorley MacLean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain), Gaelic poet, nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994
James Macpherson, poet, collector and publisher of The Poems of Ossian
William Matheson (1910–1995), Scottish Gaelic scholar and ordained minister of the Church of Scotland^[53]
Joel McIver, author
C. K. Scott Moncrieff, writer and translator
Samuel George Morton, writer and physician, proponent of polygenism
Flora Nwapa, Nigerian author, educator and politician
Kole Omotosho, Nigerian writer
Julie O'Neill, author
Lloyd Osbourne, novelist
Neil Paterson, Academy award-winning playwright and screenwriter
David Paulides, writer
Themo H. Peel, author and illustrator
John William Polidori, personal physician to Lord Byron and author of The Vampyre, the first modern vampire story
Kenneth Ramchand, Trinidadian author and literary scholar
Sir Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus series and winner of the 2003 Edgar Awards
Peter Mark Roget, author of the first thesaurus
J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series^[b]^[54]
George Saintsbury, literary critic
Sir Walter Scott, romanticist, author of Ivanhoe and Waverly, and founder of the historical novel genre
Rachel Shabi, political author
Ansuyah Ratipul Singh, South African author and doctor
Samuel Smiles, author and reformer
A. J. M. Smith, Canadian poet
Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and professor of medical law
Tobias Smollett, poet and novelist
William Soutar, poet and diarist^[55]
Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
James Thomson, poet and playwright, known for the lyrics of "Rule, Britannia!"
Catherynne M. Valente, American fiction writer, three-time Locus Award winner
Alan Warner, novelist
Kenneth White, poet
Aeneas Francon Williams, writer, poet, and missionary
John Wilson, writer

Media and the arts

Jane Alexander, two time Primetime Emmy Award winner, Tony Award winner
Camilla Arfwedson, actress
Richard Arnold, presenter and journalist best known for his work on GMTV
Maria Bamford, comedian
Mardi Barrie, artist
Mitch Benn, comedian, songwriter and broadcaster
Elizabeth Blackadder, artist
Phyllis Bone, sculptor^[56]
Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company
Tom Bradby, journalist and novelist
JJ Chalmers, former Marine and television presenter
Ian Charleson, actor
Rawdon Christie, Television New Zealand producer/presenter
Hamish Clark, actor
Robbie Coltrane, actor, as Rubeus Hagrid in Harry Potter
Sophie Cookson, actress
Quentin Cooper, science journalist and broadcaster
Michael Davies, executive producer of Jeopardy!
Anthony d'Offay, art dealer
Daisy Donovan, actor and broadcaster
Rona Dougall, broadcaster, journalist and presenter (Scotland Tonight)
Elize du Toit, actress
Jimmy Finlayson, actor and comedian
Iain Gale, journalist and author
Jessica Harrison-Hall, British Museum curator
Jim Haynes, founder of Traverse Theatre, the paper International Times and the London Arts Lab
Mairi Hedderwick, illustrator and author
Carl Honoré, Canadian journalist
Robert Indiana, pop artist
Miles Jupp, comedian
Alex Kay-Jelski, journalist, editor of The Athletic
Roisin Kennedy, art critic and curator
Humphrey Ker, actor and comedian
Laura Kuenssberg, editor, BBC Politics
Paul Laidlaw, auctioneer and television antiques expert
Katie Leung, actress, as Cho Chang in Harry Potter
Allan Little, BBC Foreign Correspondent
Donald Locke, Guyanese artist and curator
Angus Macfadyen, actor, Robert the Bruce in Braveheart
Ewen MacIntosh, actor, The Office, Little Britain
Sally Magnusson, jurnalist, broadcaster on BBC Scotland
Patrick Malahide, actor
Sam McAlister, TV producer and author
Kirsty McCabe, GMTV weather presenter
Freddy McConnell, Guardian multimedia journalist
Michael McIntyre, comedian
Gillian McKeith, television presenter and writer
Kevin McKidd, actor, as Owen Hunt in Grey's Anatomy
Hilton McRae, actor
William Cameron Menzies, film director and production designer, winner of Academy Award for Best Production Design and Academy Honorary Award
Judith Miller, antiques expert, writer and broadcaster
Steve Morrison, TV producer and former Rector of the University
Marina O'Loughlin, restaurant critic
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, sculptor and pioneer in pop art
Peter Pomerantsev, Soviet-born British journalist
Catherine Rayner, illustrator and author
David Rintoul, actor
Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, actress
Alastair Sim, actor
Iain Stirling, comedian
Rachael Stirling, actress
Ed Stoppard, actor
Margaret Tait, filmmaker and poet^[57]
Bill Turnbull, journalist and television presenter
Kirsty Wark, broadcaster
Greg Wise, actor, as John Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility
Sir David Wilkie, painter

Music

Sir James MacMillan

Thea Musgrave

Max Richter

Sir Donald Runnicles

Sir Henry Bishop, composer
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor
Tom Chaplin, lead singer of Keane
Erik Chisholm, composer
Anna Clyne, composer
Darius Danesh, musician and singer
Django Django, art rock band
James Douglas, composer
Tanya Ekanayaka, composer-pianist
Hans Gal, composer
Katie Gregson-MacLeod, musician
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, singer and composer^[58]
Kenneth Leighton, composer
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, composer
Sir James MacMillan, classical composer
Stuart MacRae, composer
Eduardo Reck Miranda, composer and Professor of Computer Music
Marcus Mumford, lead singer of Mumford & Sons
Thea Musgrave, composer
Mylo, DJ
Sir Herbert Oakeley, composer
Carl Orff, German composer
Nigel Osborne, composer
The Rezillos, punk/new wave band
Max Richter, composer and pianist
Sir Donald Runnicles, conductor
Rebecca Saunders, composer
Mike Scott, founder of The Waterboys
Dan Tepfer, jazz pianist and composer
John Thomson, composer
Sir Donald Francis Tovey, composer, pianist, musicologist
Julian Wagstaff, composer
David Wilde, pianist and composer
Derek Williams, composer, arranger and conductor
William Wordsworth, composer

History, philosophy, anthropology, sociology and theology

Marcella Althaus-Reid, theologian
John Anderson, philosopher
Talal Asad, anthropologist
John Baillie, theologian
S. Barry Barnes, philosopher and sociologist of science
Robert Bartlett, medievalist, winner of the Wolfson History Prize in 1993
Jay Bernstein, philosopher
Alexander Bird, philosopher
David Bloor, philosopher, sociologist of science, and key figure in the Edinburgh school
Helen Bond, theologian
Clifford Edmund Bosworth, historian and Orientalist specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies
Sarah Broadie, philosopher
Irene Brown, linguist and codebreaker who worked at Bletchley Park
Thomas Brown, medicine and philosophy
John Burnet, classicist
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, naturalist, philosopher, linguist
Tom Burns, sociologist
Oswald Chambers, Baptist evangelist
V. Gordon Childe, eminent archeologist
Andy Clark, philosopher of mind and cognition
Peter Comensoli, current Archbishop of Melbourne
Benjamin Constant, French député and political thinker
Pit Corder, linguist
Saul David, military historian
Christopher Dawson, Catholic historian
Tom Devine, historian specialized in Scottish history
Ligon Duncan, theologian
John Erickson, military historian
Adam Ferguson, philosopher and historian, contributed to the initial development of sociology
David Fergusson, theologian
Kit Fine, philosopher
George Finlay, historian
Sir Patrick Geddes, sociologist, developed the concept of Conurbation
Ernest Gellner, philosopher, critical rationalist
H. A. R. Gibb, orientalist
John Gilchrist, linguist
James Giles (born 1958), philosopher and psychologist
Michael Grant, classicist
Michael Halliday, linguist, founder of Systemic functional linguistics
Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet, philosopher and logician
Thomas Blom Hansen, anthropologist
Alexander Henderson, second founder of Reformed Church in Scotland
John Hick, religious philosopher
John Holloway, sociologist and Marxist philosopher
David Hume, philosopher and historian
Larry Hurtado, New Testament scholar
Michael Ingham, Anglican bishop and author
Edward Irving, founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church
Alison Jaggar, feminist philosopher
Schuyler Jones, anthropologist
Martin Joos, linguist
Margot Käßmann, theologian, former leader of Evangelical Church in Germany
Norman Kemp Smith, philosopher
Peter Ladefoged, linguist and phonetician
Rae Langton, philosopher
Alice Loxton, popular historian^[59]
Michael Lynch, expert on Scottish Reformation
Sir John Lyons, linguist
Sir Neil MacCormick, former MEP and legal philosopher
Neil MacGregor, art historian, former director of the National Gallery, London (1987–2002) and of the British Museum (2002–2015), founding director of the Humboldt Forum (2015–)
Robert Morrison MacIver, sociologist
Donald MacKenzie, sociologist
Ruth Barcan Marcus, philosopher and logician
Arthur Marwick, historian
Elton Mayo, psychologist and organizational theorist
Robert Murray M'Cheyne, church minister
James Mill, historian, classical economist and utilitarian philosopher
Peter Millican, philosopher
Akbar Muhammad, historian specialized in African history
Donald Nicol, Byzantinist
David Nicolle, military historian
Pippa Norris, political scientist
Christine Nuttall, linguisitics and teaching English as a foreign language
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, former Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh
Richard Ovenden, Bodley's Librarian in the University of Oxford
Thorsten J. Pattberg, philologist and cultural critic
Stuart Piggott, archeologist
Huw Price, philosopher
Duncan Pritchard, philosopher
Geoffrey K. Pullum, linguist
Sir Herbert Read, art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher
Rush Rhees, philosopher
David Talbot Rice, art historian who gave his name to the Talbot Rice Gallery at Edinburgh
David George Ritchie, philosopher
William Robertson, Historiographer Royal and Principal of the University of Edinburgh
William Robertson Smith, orientalist and church minister
Holmes Rolston III, philosopher, winner of the Templeton Prize in 2003
Sir W. D. Ross, Aristotelian philosopher
Samuel Seabury, first American Episcopal bishop
Steven Shapin, sociologist and philosopher of science, early founder on Sociology of scientific knowledge (STS)
Timothy Sprigge, philosopher
Dugald Stewart, enlightenment philosopher
John Toland, philosopher, coined the term "pantheism"
Iain Torrance, theologian and President of Princeton Theological Seminary
Thomas F. Torrance, theologian, winner of the Templeton Prize in 1978
Immanuel Velikovsky, psychoanalyst
Géza Vermes, historian and theologian
Tullio Vinay, founder of Agapè Center, Righteous Among the Nations
Asher Wade, American-born international lecturer and psychotherapist
Jeremy Waldron, legal philosopher
William J. Watson, linguist and toponymist, scholar of the history of Scottish place names
W. Montgomery Watt, historian and Orientalist
Heather Widdows, philosopher
Robin Williams, developer of the concept of social shaping of technology (SST)
Timothy Williamson, philosopher
Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, historian and political theorist
Alex Woolf, medieval historian
Michael Worton, former vice provost of University College of London
Yang Changji, Chinese educator and philosopher, mentor and godfather of Mao Zedong
George Yule, linguist
Zhu Guangqian, philosopher on aesthetics
John Zizioulas, Greek Orthodox prelate

Others

Lulwah Al-Qatami, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and first woman from Kuwait to attend university overseas
B. T. S. Atkins, lexicographer
Chris Atton, university professor and musician
Susan Deacon, former Health Minister in the Scottish Executive, now Professor of Social Change at Queen Margaret University
Margaret Jarvie, counsellor
Edward Johnston, father of modern calligraphy, creator of sans-serif
Alan M. Leslie, psychologist
David MacRitchie, archaeologist
Roger Mercer, archaeologist
A.S. Neill, educationalist, founder of Summerhill School
Madsen Pirie, founder and president of the Adam Smith Institute

Sports

Tommy Armour, three-time major golf championships winner
Leslie Balfour-Melville, outstanding all-round sportsman
Graeme Beveridge, Scottish international rugby union player
Bob Braithwaite, Olympic gold medalist in Trap shooting
Mike Budenholzer, head coach of the Phoenix Suns of the NBA
Euan Burton, judoka
Zbigniew Czajkowski, fencing master, "father of the Polish School" of fencing
Stephen Dick, hockey player
Eilidh Doyle, Olympic track and field bronze medalist
Gemma Gibbons, Olympic judo silver medallist
Eilidh Gibson, canoeist
Katherine Grainger, Olympic rowing gold medallist
Stuart Grimes, international professional rugby union player
Peter Heatly, diver and former chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation
Sir Chris Hoy, second-most successful British Olympian in history with six Olympic track cycling gold medals
Alexander Watson Hutton, "father of Argentine football"
Andy Irvine, rugby union player and president of the Scottish Rugby Union
Michael Jamieson, 200m breaststroke Olympic silver medallist
Eric Liddell, men's Olympic 400m gold medallist, and Scottish Rugby international
Linsey MacDonald, Olympic bronze medalist in 400 metres
Margaret Maughan, Britain's first and four-times Paralympic games gold medalist
Caitlin McClatchey, swimmer and two-times Commonwealth gold medallist
Judy Murray, mother and coach of professional tennis players Jamie Murray and Sir Andy Murray
Chris Paterson, Scottish international rugby union player
Alistair Potts, Commonwealth and British World Champion rower
Mark Robertson, Scottish international rugby union player
Jackie Robinson, 1948 Olympic gold medalist in Basketball representing Team USA
Martin Sinclair, silver medalist in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games
Pat Spence, two-time tennis Grand Slam mixed doubles champion
Micky Steele-Bodger, English rugby international and chairman of IRB
Robert Strang, English cricketer who played once for Scotland
Polly Swann, Olympic rowing silver medallist
Catherine Taylor, Jon Duncan, Scott Fraser and Yvette Baker, orienteers with international success
Simon Taylor, international professional rugby union player
Bungy Watson, English rugby union player^[60]

Miscellaneous

Ruth Adler, human rights campaigner^[61]
John Aikin, physician and writer
John (Ian) Bartholomew, cartographer and former principal of John Bartholomew and Son Ltd.
Thomas Spencer Baynes, publisher and writer
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr, visual artist and member of the Bhutto family
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, daughter of Benazir Bhutto, 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan, member of the Bhutto family
John Biggar, Scottish mountaineer who has made various first ascents in the Andes
George Birkbeck, founder of Birkbeck College, University of London and co-founder of UCL
James Blair, founder of the College of William & Mary
John Brown, physician and author
Archibald Cameron of Locheil, jacobite
Sam Denby, YouTuber
John Dalgleish Donaldson, mathematician, father of Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
Robert Felkin, medical missionary; ceremonial magician, member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; author on Africa; explorer and anthropologist
James Gall, clergyman and astronomer, founder of the Carrubbers Close Mission^[62]
Alastair Humphreys, Adventurer^[63]
Rev Bruce Kenrick, writer, minister, social activist and founder of Shelter
Rev Joseph Marsh, founder of Hill Street Academy
Philippa Matthews, socialite and younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales
Ailsa Maxwell, Bletchley Park code breaker and historian
Sheila McKechnie, Scottish trade unionist and 1991 Alumnus of the Year
James Middleton, businessman and younger brother of Catherine, Princess of Wales
Macvey Napier, encyclopedist
Mungo Park, explorer
Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair, scientist and parliamentarian
Daphne Pochin Mould, photographer, writer, geologist
Stella Rimington, former head of MI5
Peter Sawkins, winner of The Great British Bake Off 2020
Piers Sellers, astronaut
William Smellie, encyclopedist

University officials

Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, former rector of the university (1935–1936)
Anne, Princess Royal, chancellor of the university (2011–present)
Sir Edward Victor Appleton, former principal and vice-chancellor of the university (1949–1965)
Stanley Baldwin, former rector of the university (1923–1926)
Arthur Balfour, former chancellor of the university (1891–1930)
Earl Beatty, former rector of the university (1917–1920)
Gordon Brown, former rector of the university (1972–1975)
Sir Winston Churchill, former rector of the university (1929–1932)
Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, rector of the university (1945–1948)
Sir Alexander Fleming, former rector of the university (1951–1953)
David Lloyd George, former rector of the university (1920–1923)
William Gladstone, former rector of the university (1859–1865)
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, former chancellor of the university (1953–2010)
The Earl of Rosebery, former rector of the university (1880–1883)

Notes

Edward was taught by professor Lyon Playfair and others at Edinburgh during 1859. Although he attended courses, he never formally matriculated as a student.
Rowling attended the Moray House School of Education in 1995, before it merged with the university in 1998.

References

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