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Famous alumni
Our former students have been at the forefront of knowledge since the founding of the University in 1583.
Distinguished former students
Some of our distinguished former students include:
- Charles Darwin - naturalist and author of “The Origin of Species”
- David Hume - philosopher and leading figure of the Enlightenment
- James Clerk Maxwell - physicist
- James Simpson - pioneer of chloroform in midwifery and surgery
More recent well-known alumni include:
- Dr Piers Sellers - third Briton to go into space in 2002
- Stella Rimington - former MI5 director
- Gordon Brown - UK Prime Minister
Nobel Prize winners
We are associated with fifteen Nobel Prize winners, including:
- Professor Charles Barkla - Physics, 1917
- Max Born - Physics, 1954
- Peter Doherty - Medicine, 1996
- James Mirrlees - Economics, 1996
In 2004, University Honorary Professor Sir Michael Atiyah won the prestigious Abel Prize, Maths' equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
Alumnus of the year
Recent recipients of our alumnus of the year award have included novelist Ian Rankin, Olympic medallists Chris Hoy and Katherine Grainger, and author Alexander McCall Smith.
Photo copyright NASA.
This article was published on Oct 2, 2012