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. The university is associated with 19 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.

Cabinet and Party Leaders


• Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development (2007-2010), Secretary of State for Scotland (2006-2007) and Secretary of State for Transport (2006-2007)

• Michael Ancram, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Chairman of the Conservative Party (1998-2001)

• John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, Home Secretary (1939-1940), Lord President of the Council (1940-1943) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1943-1945)

• Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (1830-1834)

• David Campbell Bannerman, Chairman of the UK Independence Party (2005-2006), Deputy Leader (2006-2010)

• Robin Cook, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1997-2001), Leader of the House of Commons (2001-2003) and President of the Party of European Socialists (2001-2004)

• Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Home Secretary (1791-1794), Secretary of State for War (1794-1801) and First Lord of the Admiralty (1804-1805)

• Anneliese Dodds, Chair of the Labour Party (2021-)

• George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk, First Lord of the Admiralty (1957-1959), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1955-1957)

• Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty (1812-1830)

• Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto, First Lord of the Admiralty (1835-1841)

• Robert Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (1916-1919)

• Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet, Home Secretary (1932-1935)

• Auckland Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes, President of the Board of Trade (1919-1920)

• William Graham, President of the Board of Trade (1929-1931)

• Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (1912-1915; 1924), Secretary of State for War (1905-1912)

• Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington, First Lord of the Admiralty (1841-1846)

• Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (2001-2007), Minister for the Olympics

• Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport (2012-2016), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (2016-2018)

• David Mundell, Secretary of State for Scotland (2015-2019)

• Ian Murray, Secretary of State for Scotland (2024-)

• Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (2024-)

• James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (1987-1997)

• Robert Munro, 1st Baron Alness, Secretary of State for Scotland (1916-1922)

• William Mackenzie, 1st Baron Amulree, Secretary of State for Air (1930-1931)

• Ian Macpherson, 1st Baron Strathcarron, Chief Secretary for Ireland (1919-1920), Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1920-1922)

• Michael Moore, Secretary of State for Scotland (2010-2013)

• Sir George Murray, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (1828-1830)

• Sir William Molesworth, 8th Baronet, Secretary of State for the Colonies (1855)

• Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1806-1807), Home Secretary (1827-1828), Lord President of the Council (1830-1834; 1835-1841; 1846-1852) and Leader of the House of Lords (1846-1852)

• Amber Rudd, Home Secretary (2016-2018), Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2018-2019)

• Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1995-1997), Secretary of State for Defence (1992-1995)

• David Steel, Leader of the Liberal Party (1970-1976), Leader of the Liberal Democrats (1988)

• Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (1793-1801)

Scottish Cabinet and Party Leaders


• Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (2009-2011; 2016-2021)

• Ruth Davidson, Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party (2011-2019)

• Kezia Dugdale, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (2015-2017)

• Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy (2020-2022), Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2024-)

• Iain Gray, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (2008-2011; 2015)

• Andrew Dewar Gibb, Leader of the Scottish National Party (1936-1940)

• Robin Harper, co-convener of the Scottish Greens (2004–2008)

• Russell Johnston, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Party (1974-1988), Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (1988-1992)

• Liam Kerr, Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party (2019-2020)

• Kenny MacAskill, Deputy Leader of the Alba Party (2021-), Cabinet Secretary for Justice (2007-2014)

• David McLetchie, Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party (1999-2005)

• Robert McIntyre, Leader of the Scottish National Party (1947-1956)

• Alexander MacEwen, first Leader of the Scottish National Party (1934-1936)

• Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, Europe and External Affairs (2020-2021), President of the Scottish National Party (2020-)

• Alex Rowley, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (2017)

• Leslie Spoor, founder of Scottish Green Party

• Nicol Stephen, Leader of Scottish Liberal Democrats (2005-2008), Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2005-2007)

• John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy (2007-2014), Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery (2021-), Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2014-2022), First Minister (2024-)

• Jim Wallace, First Minister of Scotland (2000; 2001), Deputy First Minister of Scotland (1999-2005), Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (1992-2005)

• Gordon Wilson, Leader of the Scottish National Party (1979-1990)

Current Members of the House of Commons

 * Wendy Chamberlain, MP for North East Fife
 * Joanna Cherry, MP for Edinburgh South West
 * Colin Clark, MP for Gordon
 * Anneliese Dodds, MP for Oxford East
 * John Howell, MP for Henley
 * Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and The Border
 * Danny Kruger, MP for Devizes
 * Dame Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest
 * Steve McCabe, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak
 * Stuart McDonald, MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
 * Callum McCaig, MP for Aberdeen South
 * Ian Murray, MP for Edinburgh South
 * Pat McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East
 * Jerome Mayhew, MP for Broadland
 * David Mundell, MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
 * Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire
 * Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North
 * Kenny MacAskill, MP for East Lothian

Current Members of the House of Lords

 * James Bethell, 5th Baron Bethell, Conservative Peer
 * Anne McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, Conservative Peer
 * Kathryn Clark, Baroness Clark of Kilwinning, Labour Peer
 * Lynda Clark, Baroness Clark of Calton, Labour Peer
 * William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk, Crossbench
 * James Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas, Conservative Peer
 * Andrew Dunlop, Baron Dunlop, Conservative Peer
 * Ruth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links, Conservative Peer
 * Neil Davidson, Baron Davidson of Glen Clova, Labour Peer
 * Murray Elder, Baron Elder, Labour Peer
 * George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, Labour Peer
 * Peter Forster, Lord Spiritual
 * David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, Crossbench
 * Andrew Hardie, Baron Hardie, Crossbench
 * Richard Keen, Baron Keen of Elie, Conservative peer
 * Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Conservative Peer
 * James Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of Lindsay, Conservative Peer
 * James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, Conservative Peer
 * Donald Mackay, Baron Mackay of Drumadoon, Conservative peer
 * Mark McInnes, Baron McInnes of Kilwinning, Conservative Peer
 * Patrick McLoughlin, Baron McLoughlin, Conservative Peer
 * Malcolm Offord, Baron Offord of Garvel, Conservative peer
 * Adrian Palmer, 4th Baron Palmer, Crossbench
 * Robert Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, Crossbench
 * Nicol Stephen, Baron Stephen, Liberal Democrat Peer
 * Keith Stewart, Baron Stewart of Dirleton, Conservative Peer
 * Fiona Twycross, Baroness Twycross, Labour Peer
 * Alexander Trees, Baron Trees, Crossbench
 * Clifton Wrottesley, 6th Baron Wrottesley, Conservative Peer
 * Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, Liberal Democrat Peer
 * John Woodcock, Baron Walney, Crossbench

Current Members of the Scottish Parliament

 * Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian
 * Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife
 * Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian
 * Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland
 * Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland
 * Kate Forbes, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch
 * Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale
 * Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland
 * Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire
 * Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston
 * Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney
 * Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith
 * Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife
 * Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife
 * Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin
 * John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North
 * Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland
 * Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian

United States


• John Adams (Virginia politician), 25th Mayor of Richmond

• Robert Brooke, 10th Governor of Virginia

• Ashton Carter, 25th United States Secretary of Defense

• William Crawford, former U.S congressman from Pennsylvania

• William Carmichael, Former U.S Ambassador to Spain

• Alexander J. Dallas, served as the 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury and briefly as both Acting Secretary of War and Acting Secretary of State under the fourth U.S. President, James Madison

• James C. Duff, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

• Beverly B. Douglas, former U.S congressman from Virginia

• Enoh T. Ebong, Director of U.S Trade and Development Agency (2022-)

• Robert J. Faucher, Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations (2021-)

• William Foushee, 1st Mayor of Richmond

• William Fleming, 3rd Governor of Virginia

• Edwin Feulner, founder and president of conservative thinktank The Heritage Foundation

• Cyrus Griffin, 8th President of the Continental Congress

• Aylett Hawes, former U.S congressman from Virginia

• James Jones, former U.S congressman from Virginia

• Walter Jones, former U.S congressman from Virginia

• John J. Kindred, former U.S congressman from New York

• Henry Latimer, former U.S Senator from Delaware

• George Logan, former U.S Senator from Pennsylvania

• James McClurg, 18th, 21st, and 24th Mayor of Richmond

• Samuel L. Mitchill, former U.S Senator from New York

• Bill Moyers, 11th White House Press Secretary, White House Chief of Staff (1964-1965) and former director of Council on Foreign Relations

• Dave McCurdy, former U.S congressman from Oklahoma, former Chair of the House Intelligence Committee

• Deborah K. Owen, former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission

• William C. Preston, former U.S Senator from South Carolina

• Joel Roberts Poinsett, 15th United States Secretary of War

• Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 21st Governor of Virginia

• Benjamin Rush, signatory, United States Declaration of Independence

• William Spong Jr., former U.S Senator from Virginia

• Adam Seybert, former U.S. congressman from Pennsylvania

• Jacob Gould Schurman, former U.S. Ambassador to China, Germany, Greece and Montenegro

• Ike Skelton, former U.S. congressman from Missouri, former Chair of House Armed Services Committee

• Arthur St. Clair, Major-general in the Continental Army, 7th President of the Continental Congress, later 1st Governor of the Northwest Territory

• Mike Synar, former U.S. congressman from Oklahoma

• Thomas Tudor Tucker, 3rd Treasurer of the United States, former U.S congressman from South Carolina

• Alexander White, former U.S congressman from Virginia

• Hugh Williamson, signatory of the United States Constitution, Founding Father

• James Wilson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; signatory, United States Declaration of Independence

• John Witherspoon, signatory, United States Declaration of Independence

Africa

 * Joseph Ukel Abango, South Sudan Minister of General Education (2011-2013)
 * Eustace Akwei, Ghana Minister for Health (1966-1969)
 * Herbert Bankole-Bright, political activist in Sierra Leone
 * Jaya Krishna Cuttaree, Mauritian Minister of Labour, Lands and Housing (1982-2000), Minister of Industry and Trade (2000-2005)
 * Yusuf Dadoo, former chair of the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist Party
 * Moses Da Rocha, Nigerian doctor, journalist and politician
 * Unity Dow, Botswana Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (2019-2020), member of the National Assembly
 * Patrick Duncan, 6th Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, South African Minister for the Interior, Education and Public Health (1921-1924)
 * Kesaveloo Goonam, South African doctor, Indian nationalist and anti-apartheid activist
 * Alex Ibru, Nigerian Minister of Internal Affairs (1993-1995)
 * Omar Ali Juma, Former Vice-President of Tanzania
 * Danielle de St. Jorre, Seychelles Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989-1997)
 * Vedastus Kyalakishaija Kyaruzi, former Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the United Nations
 * Nazir Karamagi, Tanzanian Minister of Energy and Minerals (2006-2008)
 * Nelson P. W. Khonje, Speaker of the National Assembly of Malawi (1975-1987)
 * Peter Msolla, Tanzanian MP
 * Shettima Ali Monguno, Nigerian Federal Minister for Airforce and Internal Affairs (1965-1966), Minister for Mines, Power, Petroleum and Energy (1972-1975)
 * James Moroka, President of the African National Congress (1949-1952)
 * Agnes Nyalonje, Malawi Minister of Education (2020-)
 * Monty Naicker, anti-apartheid activist and leader of the South African Indian Congress
 * Frederick Nanka-Bruce, Ghanaian doctor, journalist and former member of the Ghanaian Parliament
 * Bandele Omoniyi, Nigerian law student and political activist
 * Betty Ogwaro, South Sudanese Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (2011-2014; 2014-2015; 2016-2019)
 * Sam Ongeri, Kenyan Minister for Education (2008-2012), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2012-2013)
 * Imrana Alhaji Buba, Nigerian social entrepreneur and political activist
 * Hae Phoofolo, interim Prime Minister of Lesotho
 * Benjamin Quartey-Papafio, first Ghanaian doctor and member of the Gold Coast Legislative Council
 * John K Randle, West African doctor and politician
 * Richard Sezibera, Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs (2018-2019), 4th Secretary-General of the East African Community (2011-2016)
 * Richard Akinwande Savage, Nigerian doctor, pan-African politician and newspaper editor
 * Noah Wekesa, Kenyan Minister for Forestry and Wildlife (2008-2012), Minister for Education (2007), and Minister for Science (2005-2007)

Asia

 * Kōichirō Asakai, Japanese ambassador to the United States and ambassador to the Philippines who oversaw the signing of U.S.-Japan Security Treaty
 * Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Indian nationalist, President of the Indian National Congress (1927-1928)
 * Lalith Athulathmudali, Sri Lankan Minister of Trade and Shipping (1977-1984)
 * Harini Amarasuriya, Sri Lankan MP
 * Chu Anping, Chinese journalist and political activist
 * 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 (1996-1998), Magistrate of Taoyuan (1977-1979) and President Elect in 2000
 * 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)
 * Arbab Alamgir Khan, Pakistan Federal Minister for Communications (2012-2013)
 * M. C. M. Kaleel, Sri Lankan Minister of Home Affairs (1960)
 * Lim Chong Eu, 2nd Chief Minister of Penang (1969-1990) and founder of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
 * Wu Zhihui, Chinese linguist and major political figure during the Republic of China (1912–1949)
 * Zhang Shizhao, Chinese journalist, educator and Minister of Justice (1924-1925) and Minister of Education (1925)

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 from 1938 to 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, the first person of African descent to stand as an MP (in Britain), the 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)
 * 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
 * Biljana Đorđević, member of the Serbian National Assembly
 * Aina Calvo, former Mayoress of Palma, Spain
 * Furio Honsell, former Mayor of Udine, Italy
 * Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, Icelandic Minister of Finance (1987-1988), Foreign Minister (1988-1995)
 * 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)
 * Angelika Niebler, MEP for Germany, Deputy Chairwomen for European People's Party (2015-)
 * Theodoros Roussopoulos, Greek Minister of State (2004-2008)
 * 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, current Vice President of Syria
 * 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
 * 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 Thomas Brisbane, former Governor of New South Wales whose name gave rise to the Australian city, Brisbane
 * Sir John Bowser, 26th Premier of Victoria
 * 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 Michael Cullen, former Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
 * Sir John Logan Campbell, 17th Mayor of Auckland
 * John Garland, New South Wales Minister for Justice (1909-1910; 1916–1919)
 * Sir James Graham, 41st Mayor of Sydney
 * John Alexander MacPherson, 7th Premier of Victoria
 * Malcolm Mackay, Australian Minister for the Navy (1971-1972)
 * Sir David Monro, 2nd Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
 * F. Russell Miller, 40th Mayor of Invercargill, New Zealand
 * Sir William MacGregor, 11th Governor of Queensland
 * Andrew McLachlan, Australian Senator for South Australia, Deputy President of the Australian Senate (2022-)
 * Sir Hugh Nelson, 11th Premier of Queensland
 * David Seath, New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs (1963-1972)
 * Carty Salmon, 2nd Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
 * 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
 * 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
• Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn, former Solicitor General for Scotland

• William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk, former Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General

• James Clyde, Baron Clyde, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

• Paul Cullen, Lord Pentland, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland

• Raymond Doherty, Lord Doherty, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland

• Unity Dow, former judge on the High Court of Botswana

• Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway, current Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General

• 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

• Patrick Hodge, Lord Hodge, current Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

• Arthur Hamilton, Lord Hamilton, former Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General

• Henry Gollan, former Chief Justice of Hong Kong

• David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, former Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

• Sir Dudley Ryder, former Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench

• James Shaw, Baron Kilbrandon, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

• Robert Lyall-Grant, former Attorney General of Kenya

• Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and Master of the Rolls

• Frank Mulholland, Lord Mulholland, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland

• Duncan Menzies, Lord Menzies, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland

• Atholl MacGregor, former Chief Justice of Hong Kong

• Alexander Mackenzie, barrister and writer on propaganda

• Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

• Wilfrid Normand, Baron Normand, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

• Sir Alan Stewart Orr, former Lord Justice of Appeal

• David Richard Pigot, former Attorney General for Ireland

• Alipate Qetaki, former Attorney General of Fiji

• Fred Ruhindi, former Attorney General of Uganda

• 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

• Anne Smith, Lady Smith, sitting justice on the Supreme Courts of Scotland

• Alexander Shand, 1st Baron Shand, former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

• Alfred Henry Simpson, former Chief Justice of Kenya

• Julia Sebutinde, sitting Judge on the International Court of Justice

• Alexander Mackenzie Stuart, Baron Mackenzie-Stuart, former President of the European Court of Justice

• James Beveridge Thomson, former Chief Justice of Malaysia

Officers



 * Ralph Abercromby, MP, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland during the Irish Rebellion of 1798
 * Sir Archibald Alison, 2nd Baronet, General
 * Sir Hugh Beach, General, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Field Army (1976-1977)
 * Sir James Baird, Lieutenant General, Director General Army Medical Services (1973-1977)
 * David Coulter, Major-General, Chaplain General of the British Army (2014-2018)
 * Robert Craigie, Admiral
 * 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'
 * 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
 * Sir James McGrigor, responsible for the creation of the Royal Army Medical Corps
 * 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
 * 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
 * Sharon Nesmith, first woman to command a British Army Brigade, Lieutenant-general and Deputy Chief of the General Staff (2021-)
 * 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)
 * Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot, Lieutenant-General under Louis XIV when England was in Interregnum, Governor of Tangier (1663-1664)
 * George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, Governor of Canada (1820-1828), Commander-in-Chief, India (1830-1832)
 * Thomas Rimmer, Air Vice-Marshal, Commander, British Forces Cyprus (2000-2003)
 * Alan Reay, Lieutenant General, Director General Army Medical Services (1981-1984)
 * Sir James Simpson, General, Commander-in-Chief British troops in the Crimea (1855)
 * James Stuart, General, 1st General Officer Commanding, Ceylon (1796)
 * Sir Charles Shaw, Brigadier-general during the Portuguese Liberal Wars
 * Adam Stephen, Scottish-American General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War
 * 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:
 * Crimean War
 * William Henry Thomas Sylvester Major
 * Indian Mutiny
 * James John McLeod Innes Lieutenant General
 * Valentine McMaster Army surgeon
 * Andaman Islands expedition
 * Campbell Mellis Douglas Lieutenant Colonel
 * Second Boer War
 * Sir William Babtie Lieutenant-General
 * Henry Edward Manning Douglas Major-General
 * First World War
 * Allan Ker Major
 * Arthur Moore Lascelles Captain
 * David Lowe MacIntyre Captain
 * Harcus Strachan Lieutenant Colonel
 * Second World War
 * Douglas Ford Captain
 * John Fraser Major
 * Sandy Hodge Captain
 * Charles Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk Bomb disposal expert

Astronomy
• Mary Brück, astronomer, astrophysicist and historian of science

• Hermann Brück, astronomer

• John Campbell Brown, astronomer

• 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

• 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 Dunlop, astronomer, Herschel Medal winner in 2016

• James Gregory, discoverer of the infinite series and designer of the first practical reflecting telescope, the Gregorian telescope

• Catherine Heymans, astrophysicist, incumbent Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Herschel Medal winner in 2022

• Thomas Henderson, first to measure the distance between Earth to Alpha Centauri

• Chris Impey, astronomer

• James Lind of Windsor, natural philosopher

• Malcolm Longair, physicist

• Simon Lilly, astrophysicist, Herschel Medal winner in 2017

• William McCrea, astronomer

• John A. Peacock, astronomer, Shaw Prize laureate in 2014

• 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

• Joseph Black, discoverer of Magnesium, carbon dioxide, latent heat and specific heat

• Wendy Bickmore, chemist

• Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, biochemist

• Leroy Cronin, chemist

• Lorenz Florenz Friedrich von Crell, German chemist

• Robin Ferrier, discoverer of Ferrier rearrangement and Ferrier carbocyclization

• Eleanor Campbell, Professor of Physical Chemistry

• Neil Campbell, chemist and amateur athlete

• Archibald Scott Couper, proposed an early theory of chemical structure and bonding

• John Davy, discoverer of phosgene

• Sir James Dewar, inventor of the Dewar flask

• Thomas Graham, formulater of Graham's law and inventor of Dialysis

• Frederick Guthrie, synthesizer of Mustard gas

• Narayan Hosmane, cancer researcher, BNCT

• Edmund Hirst, chemist

• William Henry, formulater of Henry's law

• Thomas Charles Hope, discoverer of Strontium

• Richard Henderson, pioneer in the field of electron microscopy, Nobel laureates in Chemistry in 2017

• David Leigh, Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh from 2001 to 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

• Christina Miller, synthesized phosphorus trioxide

• Peter D. Mitchell, discoverer of the chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP synthesis, Nobel laureates in Chemistry in 1978

• Charles Macintosh, chemist, inventor of the waterproof raincoat (Mackintosh)

• 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 from 1987 to 1996

• Prafulla Chandra Roy, distinguished chemist and founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals

• Daniel Rutherford, discoverer of Nitrogen

• Sir James Fraser Stoddart, supramolecular chemist, Nobel laureates in Chemistry in 2016

• Benjamin Silliman, American chemist

• Smithson Tennant, discoverer of Iridium and Osmium

• Alexander Robertus Todd, Baron Todd, first synthesizer of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), Nobel laureates in Chemistry in 1957

• Vincent du Vigneaud, first synthesizer of Oxytocin and Vasopressin, Nobel laureates in Chemistry in 1955

• James Walker, chemist

• Kurt Wüthrich, developer of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for studying biological macromolecules, Nobel laureates 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

• James David Forbes, inventor of the Seismometer

• Hugh Falconer, geologist and paleontologist, Wollaston Medalist

• John Flett, geologist, Wollaston Medalist

• 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

• Sir Roderick Murchison, geologist, known for first describing the Silurian, Devonian and Permian systems, Copley Medalist

• William Nicol, inventor of Nicol prism

• Robert Cameron Mackenzie, geologist

• 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

Senior Academic Staff
• Malcolm Atkinson

• Alan Bundy

• Peter Buneman

• Christopher Bishop

• Rod Burstall, emeritus

• Kousha Etessami

• Wenfei Fan

• Michael Fourman

• Igor Goryanin

• Dragan Gasevic

• Jane Hillston

• Aggelos Kiayias

• Elham Kashefi

• Frank Keller

• Mirella Lapata

• Leonid Libkin

• Ursula Martin

• Johanna Moore

• Michael O'Boyle

• Gordon Plotkin

• Don Sannella

• Mark Steedman

• Don Sannella

• Keith Stenning

• Amos Storkey

• Austin Tate

• Sethu Vijayakumar

• Philip Wadler

• Barbara Webb

• Bonnie Webber

Former Staff and Alumni
• Geoffrey Hinton, "Godfather of Deep learning and Artificial neural network", 2018 winner of the Turing Award

• Robin Milner (1934–2010), computer scientist, developer of ML, π-calculus and LCF, winner of the Turing Award in 1991

• Leslie Valiant, Complexity theory pioneer, winner of the Turing Award in 2010

• 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

• 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 (computer scientist), Professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University

• Matthew Hennessy, Co-creator of Hennessy–Milner logic

• Xuedong Huang, CTO of Microsoft Azure AI

• Auke Ijspeert, Head of the Biorobotics Laboratory at EPFL

• Mark H. Johnson, cognitive neuroscientist and Brain–computer interface researcher, Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge

• Mark Jerrum, Professor of Pure mathematics at the University of London, Gödel Prize Laureate

• 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

• 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

• Robin Popplestone (1938–2004), creator of COWSEL and POP-2

• Martha Palmer, creator of PropBank and VerbNet

• Benjamin C. Pierce, Henry Salvatori Professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania

• 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, 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

• Stephen Tweedie, software developer, creator of ext3 file system

• Chris Tofts, scientist at Hewlett-Packard

• Mads Tofte, professor at the IT University of Copenhagen

• Lincoln Wallen, CTO of Improbable, former CTO of DreamWorks Animation

• Toby Walsh, Professor of artificial intelligence at the UNSW

• Hanna Wallach at Microsoft Research

• 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

• William Fothergill Cooke, engineer, founder of Electric Telegraph Company

• Lewis Gordon, civil engineer

• Harald Haas, inventor of Li-Fi

• James Jardine, civil engineer

• Fleeming Jenkin, engineer, inventor of telpherage

• Alexander Carnegie Kirk, marine engineer

• Elijah McCoy, engineer, inventor of the Automatic lubricator for Steam Engines

• James Newlands, civil engineer

• John Scott Russell, civil engineer, discoverer of Soliton

• John Randall, inventor of Cavity Magnetron and leader of the team that led to the discovery of structure of DNA

• John Rennie the Elder, civil engineer

• George Rennie, engineer

• Stephen Salter MBE FRSE, wave energy pioneer

• Robert Stephenson, railway engineer

• Robert Stevenson, civil engineer

• Alan Stevenson, lighthouse engineer

• David Stevenson, lighthouse designer

• Thomas Stevenson, lighthouse engineer

• Charles Alexander Stevenson, lighthouse engineer

• David Alan Stevenson, lighthouse engineer

• Robert Stirling, inventor of Stirling engine

• John Shepherd-Barron, inventor of the automated teller machine (ATM)

• 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

• 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, principle founder of Quantum mechanics and Nobel laureate in Physics in 1954

• Sir John M. Ball, mathematician

• 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

• George Chrystal, mathematician

• Cheng Kaijia, physicist and pioneer of nuclear technology in China

• Roger Cowley, physicist

• Janette Dunlop, physicist and teacher

• Sir Charles Galton Darwin, director of the National Physics Laboratory (NPL) during World War II

• Sir James Alfred Ewing, physicist and engineer, discoverer of Hysteresis

• Klaus Fuchs, theoretical physicist and atomic spy

• Norman Feather, physicist

• David Gregory, mathematician, early Newtonian

• Marion Cameron Gray, mathematician

• Fabiola Gianotti, Director-general of CERN, 2013 winner of Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

• 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

• Tom W. B. Kibble, theoretical physicist, Sakurai Prize winner in 2010

• Nicholas Kemmer, contributor in United Kingdom's nuclear programme

• Sir John Leslie, mathematician and physicist, the first producer of artificial ice

• Terry Lyons, mathematician

• Dusa McDuff, mathematician

• Colin Maclaurin, mathematician, discoverer of MacLaurin series

• James Clerk Maxwell, physicist, "father of electromagnetism and Statistical mechanics"

• David Olive, theoretical physicist and string theorist, 1997 Dirac Medal and Prize winner

• Sir Alexander Oppenheim, mathematician

• John Playfair, mathematician

• John Polkinghorne, theoretical physicist and theologian, Templeton Prize winner in 2002

• Peng Huanwu, physicist and pioneer of nuclear technology in China

• William John Macquorn Rankine, engineer, physicist, and early contributor to the development of thermodynamics

• Sir Joseph Rotblat, Polish physicist who worked in the Manhattan Project, 1995 Nobel Laureate in Peace

• John Robison, physicist

• Marion Ross, physicist

• Agata Smoktunowicz, mathematician

• Igor Tamm, theorizer of Phonon and designer of Tomahak, won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the Cherenkov radiation

• Peter Guthrie Tait, physicist and pioneer in Thermodynamics

• Neil Turok, theoretical physicist, Director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (2009-2019)

• Sheila Tinney, mathematical physicist

• Joseph Wedderburn, mathematician

• Emil Wolf, physicist, one-half of Born and Wolf

• Sir Edmund Whittaker, mathematician and historian of science, Copley Medalist

• Arthur Geoffrey Walker, mathematician, known for co-developing the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric and Fermi–Walker differentiation

• 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

• Alfred George Barrs, physician

• 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

• Stephen L. Brusatte, paleontologist and evolutionary biologist

• 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

• Benjamin Smith Barton, botanist

• William Speirs Bruce, naturalist and oceanographer, led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in 1902-04

• William Budd, physician and epidemiologist

• John Hutton Balfour, botanist

• David Bruce, discoverer of Brucella

• Min Chueh Chang, inventor of Combined oral contraceptive pill and pioneer in IVF, Lasker Award winner in 1954

• Keith Campbell, biologist, Shaw Prize laureate in 2008

• John Murray Carnochan, neurosurgeon, performed first successful surgery for trigeminal neuralgia

• Bryan Clarke, geneticist, winner of the Darwin–Wallace Medal in 2008

• Brian Charlesworth, evolutionary biologist, winner of the Darwin–Wallace Medal in 2010

• Virender Lal Chopra, geneticist and biotechnologist

• Robin Coombs, immunologist, discoverer of the Coombs test

• John G. S. Coghill, doctor

• Richard A Collins, biochemist and author

• 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

• Sir David Ferrier, neuroscientist

• Heather M. Ferguson, FRSE malaria vector biologist

• Charles ffrench-Constant, neurologist

• Ronald Fairbairn, psychiatrist, known for his Object Relations Theory

• Wong Fun, first western-educated Chinese doctor

• Ian Frazer, immunologist, developer of the HPV vaccine

• Dame Anne Glover FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission from 2012 to 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

• William Hunter, anatomist

• Thomas Hodgkin, physician, first describer of Hodgkin's lymphoma

• James Africanus Beale Horton, medicine

• David Hosack, American botanist and landscape architect

• Sophia Jex-Blake, leader of the Edinburgh Seven, pioneer of medical education for women in Britain

• Steve Jones, geneticist

• Kurt Koffka, psychologist, founder of Gestalt Psychology

• George Kelly, psychologist

• Sir John Liddell, physician and director-general of the Medical Department of the Royal Navy

• James Lind (naturalist), physician 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

• Mary F. Lyon, discoverer of Lyonization, winner of 1997 Wolf Prize in Medicine

• John Claudius Loudon, botanist

• Ian MacDonald, physician

• Hermann Joseph Muller, 1946 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries in Mutagenesis

• William Sutherland Macdonald, physician and soldier

• George Mackay (Ophthalmologic Surgeon)

• Trudy Mackay, quantitative geneticist, winner of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in 2016

• William Alexander Mackay, doctor

• Aubrey Manning, zoologist

• James Fitzgerald Martin, personal surgeon to George VI and Lord Mountbatten

• 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

• Samuel Manuwa, Nigerian doctor and president of the World Federation for Mental Health

• Henry Johnston Scott Matthew, physician, toxicologist

• Kath M. Melia, sociologist, professor of nursing, champion of ethics in healthcare

• Kirsten McCaffery, public health researcher

• Roger McNeil, doctor of public health

• Gilean McVean, post-doctoral fellow, evolutionary biologist, member of the steering committee for the 1000 Genomes Project

• Pleasantine Mill, cell biologist

• B. K. Misra, neurosurgeon

• Dame Anne McLaren, developmental biologist

• 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

• Sir Paul Nurse, geneticist, 2001 Winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• Kim Nasmyth, geneticist, 2018 winner of Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

• 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

• William Roxburgh, botanist

• Richard Frank Rand, surgeon

• David Robertson (virologist), virologist and bioinformatician

• John Rogerson, personal physician to Catherine the Great

• Nancy Roper, nurse theorist

• Fiona Ross, nursing scholar

• Michael Rosbash, 2017 winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• Agnes Yewande Savage, first West African woman graduate and doctor

• Richard Gabriel Akinwande Savage, doctor and soldier

• Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, physiologist and neuroscientist, founder of Endocrinology, Copley Medalist

• Robert Sibbald, Professor of Medicine

• James Edward Smith, founder of the Linnean Society

• 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

• Sir James Young Simpson, pioneered the use of chloroform in midwifery

• Leslie Skene, psychiatrist

• Sahib Singh Sokhey, biochemist and British Indian Army general

• Jeremy Smith, biological scientist

• Jotello Festiri Soga, South Africa's first black veterinarian

• 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, human geneticist

• Alison J. Tierney, professor of nursing, nurse theorist

• D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, biologist, pioneer in Mathematical biology

• William Aldren Turner, neurologist

• Meena Upadhyaya, medical geneticist

• Colin S. Valentine, medical missionary

• John Walker, naturalist

• Joanna Wardlaw, neuroradiology and neuroimaging

• Herbert Furnivall Waterhouse, surgeon and lecturer in anatomy

• Hamish Watson, cardiology

• Robert Whytt, medicine

• Sir Ian Wilmut, embryologist and former supervisor of the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, Shaw Prize laureate in 2008

• C. H. Waddington, eminent developmental biologist

• Nairn Wilson, dental surgeon

• Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson, first describer of Wilson's Disease

• William Withering, physician, discoverer of Digitalis

• Robert Willan, founder of Dermatology

• 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

Pulitzer Prize

 * Ross Anderson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1990
 * Garry Wills, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1993
 * Jack N. Rakove, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1997
 * Andrew Marshall, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2014

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

• Sir William Kininmonth, architect

• Tony Kettle, architect, designer of the Falkirk Wheel

• Sir Robert Lorimer, architect and furniture designer

• John McAslan, architect of Western concourse, King's Cross station

• Sir Robert Matthew, architect

• Ebenezer James MacRae, architect

• Anuradha Mathur, landscape architect

• Richard Murphy, architect

• Kate Macintosh, architect

• Harriet Pattison, landscape architect

• Patrick Nuttgens, architect and academic

• William Henry Playfair, architect

• Deborah Saunt, architect

• Deyan Sudjic, architecture critic

• Frank Worthington Simon, architect

• Sir Basil Spence, Brutalist architect

• Deborah Saunt, co-founder of Deborah Saunt David Hills Architects (DSDHA)

• William Thornton, architect who designed the United States Capitol

Business


• John Allan, Chairman of Tesco and Barratt Developments

• Laura J. Alber, CEO of Williams-Sonoma Inc

• William Denholm Barnetson, Chairman of United Newspapers, Reuters and Thames Television

• Henry Birch, CEO of The Very Group

• James Blair-Cunynghame, former Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland

• Ian Bankier, Chairman of Celtic F.C.

• Jo Bamford, multi-billionaire businessman, founder of investment firm HYCAP

• Chris Beard, former CEO of Mozilla

• Crawford W. Beveridge, former Executive Vice President, Sun Microsystems

• Jamie Byng, CEO of Canongate Books

• Victoria Barnsley, former CEO of HarperCollins

• Adam Black, founder of book publishing company A & C Black

• Sir Donald Brydon, Chairman of the Royal Mail, Sage Group and Medical Research Council

• Nigel Cowie, CEO of Daedong Credit Bank

• Martin Dickie, co-founder of BrewDog

• James Douglas, mining engineer, first President and CEO of Phelps Dodge

• George A. David, Chairman Emeritus of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company

• Bob Davies, former CEO of transport company Arriva

• John Boyd Dunlop, founder of Dunlop Tyres

• Eilidh Mactaggart, CEO of Scottish National Investment Bank

• Birna Einarsdóttir, CEO of Íslandsbanki

• Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder and CEO of OVO Energy and Vertical Aerospace, former owner of the Manor Racing team

• Nicholas Ferguson, Chairman of Sky UK

• John Ritchie Findlay, owner of The Scotsman newspaper

• Robert A. Funk, former Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

• Sandy Flockhart, former CEO of HSBC

• Carlyle Gifford, Co-founder of investment firm Baillie Gifford

• Doug Gurr, former global vice-president and head of Amazon UK

• Hugh Grant, Chairman, President and CEO of Monsanto

• Sir Alistair Grant, former Governor of Bank of Scotland

• Johnny Hornby, Chairman of Sentebale

• Alexander S. Hoare, former CEO of private bank C. Hoare & Co

• Rick Hayward, former Chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

• Andrew Harrison, CEO of Diamond Light Source

• Ian Quayle Jones, co-founder, former chairman, and CEO of Quayle Munro merchant bank

• Tony Hayward, Chairman of Glencore, former CEO of BP

• Sir John Jennings, former Chairman of Shell

• Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever

• Jay Jopling, art dealer, founder of White Cube

• William Jardine, merchant, surgeon, and co-founder of global conglomerate Jardine Matheson (怡和洋行)

• Vivien Kellems, American industrialist and inventor

• Robert Kibaara, CEO of Housing Finance Group of Kenya

• Brittany Kaiser, former business development director for Cambridge Analytica

• Christopher Lovelock, business school professor and services marketing pioneer

• Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, founder and CEO of Banda Property, husband to Princess Beatrice

• Isabel Maxwell, co-founder of Excite

• David Milne, co-founder and former CEO of Wolfson Microelectronics

• Sir James Matheson, co-founder of Jardine Matheson

• Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, founder and first CEO of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI)

• John McFarlane, Chairman of Westpac, former chairman of Barclays and Aviva

• 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

• Jim Reid, co-founder of Wolfson Microelectronics

• Lars Rasmussen, co-founder of Google Maps

• Anne Richards, CEO of Fidelity International

• Nigel Stein, CEO of GKN

• Sir Jack Shaw, former Governor of Bank of Scotland

• Dave Stevenson, chairman of Edinburgh Woollen Mill

• Lord Swann, former Chairman of the BBC

• Paul Tash, chairman and CEO of the Times Publishing Company

• Xenia Timchenko, daughter of Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko

• George Touche, co-founder of Deloitte

• David Taylor, former General Secretary of UEFA

• Sir David Tweedie, Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)

• Susie Wolff, retired racing driver and CEO of Venturi Racing

• Andrew Wirth, president and CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings

• James Watt, founder and CEO of BrewDog

• Arthur Young, founder of Ernst & Young

Economics


• Kenneth E. Boulding, American economist, recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal in 1949

• 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

• Sir James Mirrlees, British economist, winner of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1996

• 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

• John Ramsay McCulloch, Ricardian economist

• Henry Dunning Macleod, coined the term "Gresham's law"

• 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

• Sir Alan T. Peacock, English economist

• Madsen Pirie, co-founder and president of the Adam Smith Institute

• Will Page, Chief Economist at Spotify

• John Rae, Scottish-Canadian economist

• Gavin Clydesdale Reid, Scottish economist

• James Steuart, economist

• Yongcheol Shin, South Korean-born British economist

• Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, Father of Economics

• Jerzy Żyżyński, Polish economist

Literature


• Michael Arlen, British-Armenian essayist

• John Arden, playwright

• William Archer, writer and critic

• Jokha Alharthi, novelist, 2019 winner of International Booker Prize

• Edward Abbey, American author

• Sir J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan

• James Boswell, life-long friend of Samuel Johnson, founded the modern biographic writing with his Life of Johnson

• George Mackay Brown, poet

• Horatius Bonar, Scottish churchman and poet

• Thomas Carlyle, essayist and historian known for his great man theory

• Bliss Carman, Canadian poet

• Thomas Campbell, poet

• S. R. Crockett, novelist

• George Chalmers, antiquarian and political writer

• Charles Cumming, spy fiction writer

• Bruce Chatwin, travel writer, author and winner of the 1982 James Tait Black Memorial Prize

• Jenny Colgan, romantic novelist

• Kate Clanchy, poet and freelance writer

• John Campbell, biographer

• David Daiches, literary historian and critic

• Erasmus Darwin, poet, writer and natural philosopher

• William Drummond of Hawthornden, poet

• Thomas Dick, writer

• John Davison, poet

• Angus Donald, author and journalist

• Helen Dale, writer

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author and creator of Sherlock Holmes

• Barbara Erskine, novelist

• Ralph Erskine, poet and churchman

• John Fowles, novelist, author of The Collector and The French Lieutenant's Woman

• Ahmed Fagih, Libyan novelist and diplomat

• Robert Garioch, poet and translator

• Oliver Goldsmith, writer, poet, and author of The Vicar of Wakefield

• Miriam Gamble, poet

• Michael Grant, writer and historian

• Philippa Gregory, historical novelist, author of The Other Boleyn Girl

• Ella Hickson, award-winning playwright

• John Hodge, screenwriter

• Thomas Hodgskin, socialist writer

• John Home, playwright and joint-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

• Sam Holcroft, playwright

• Hamish Henderson, Scottish poet

• Africanus Horton, first West African graduate of Edinburgh, nationalist writer, and medical surgeon

• Gu Hongming, writer and polyglot

• Harold Jenkins, Shakespeare scholar

• Kathleen Jamie, current Makar for Scotland

• Lucy Kirkwood, playwright

• Paul Alfred Kleinert, German writer, editor and translator

• Ae-ran Kim, South Korean writer

• Andrew Lownie, biographer

• John Gibson Lockhart, biographer of Sir Walter Scott

• Christine De Luca, poet

• Sorley MacLean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain), Gaelic poet, nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994

• Joel McIver, author

• Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet and essayist

• William Matheson (1910–1995), Scottish Gaelic scholar and ordained minister of the Church of Scotland

• Norman MacCaig, Scottish poet

• Samuel George Morton, writer and physician, proponent of Polygenism

• Ian Maclaren, fiction writer and minister of the Free Church of Scotland

• Sharman Macdonald, playwright

• C. K. Scott Moncrieff, writer and translator

• James Macpherson, poet, collector and publisher of The Poems of Ossian

• Flora Nwapa, Nigerian author, educator and politician

• Kole Omotosho, Nigerian writer

• Julie O'Neill, author

• Lloyd Osbourne, novelist

• David Paulides, writer

• Neil Paterson, Academy award-winning playwright and screenwriter

• 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

• Rachel Shabi, political author

• George Saintsbury, literary critic

• Tobias Smollett, poet and novelist

• A. J. M. Smith, Canadian poet

• Samuel Smiles, author and reformer

• Sir Walter Scott, romanticist, author of Ivanhoe and Waverly, and founder of the Historical Novel genre

• Ansuyah Ratipul Singh, South African author and doctor

• Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and professor of medical law

• William Soutar, poet and diarist

• 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!

• Aeneas Francon Williams, writer, poet, and missionary

• Kenneth White, poet

• John Wilson, writer

• Alan Warner, novelist

• Catherynne M. Valente, American fiction writer, three-time Locus Award winner

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

• 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

• Quentin Cooper, science journalist and broadcaster

• Sophie Cookson, actress

• 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

• Carl Honoré, Canadian journalist

• Mairi Hedderwick, illustrator and author

• 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

• Allan Little, BBC Foreign Correspondent

• Donald Locke, Guyanese artist and curator

• Angus Macfadyen, actor, as Robert the Bruce in Braveheart

• Ewen MacIntosh, actor, The Office, Little Britain

• Sally Magnusson, BBC journalist

• Patrick Malahide, actor

• Sam McAlister, TV producer and author

• Kirsty McCabe, GMTV weather presenter

• Kevin McKidd, actor, as Owen Hunt in Grey's Anatomy

• Freddy McConnell, Guardian multimedia journalist and trans man

• Michael McIntyre, comedian

• Sally Magnusson, broadcaster on BBC Scotland

• Gillian McKeith, television presenter and writer

• 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

• Katie Leung, actress, as Cho Chang in Harry Potter

• Peter Pomerantsev, Soviet-born British journalist

• Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, sculptor and pioneer in pop art

• 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

• Bill Turnbull, journalist and television presenter

• Greg Wise, actor, as John Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility

• Sir David Wilkie, painter

• Kirsty Wark, broadcaster

Music


• 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

• 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


• Talal Asad, anthropologist

• Marcella Althaus-Reid, theologian

• John Anderson, philosopher

• Sarah Broadie, philosopher

• Jay Bernstein, philosopher

• Tom Burns, sociologist

• Alexander Bird, philosopher

• John Baillie, theologian

• S. Barry Barnes, philosopher and sociologist of science

• David Bloor, philosopher, sociologist of science, and key figure in the Edinburgh school

• John Burnet, classicist

• Helen Bond, theologian

• Irene Brown, linguist and codebreaker who worked at Bletchley Park

• Thomas Brown, medicine and philosophy

• Clifford Edmund Bosworth, historian and Orientalist specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies

• Robert Bartlett, medievalist, winner of the Wolfson History Prize in 1993

• James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, naturalist, philosopher, linguist

• Benjamin Constant, French député and political thinker

• V. Gordon Childe, eminent archeologist

• Andy Clark, philosopher of mind and cognition

• Pit Corder, linguist

• Oswald Chambers, Baptist evangelist

• Peter Comensoli, current Archbishop of Melbourne

• Tom Devine, historian specialized in Scottish history

• Christopher Dawson, Catholic historian

• Ligon Duncan, theologian

• Saul David, military historian

• John Erickson, military historian

• George Finlay, historian

• Kit Fine, philosopher

• David Fergusson, theologian

• Adam Ferguson, philosopher and historian, contributed to the initial development of sociology

• Ernest Gellner, philosopher, critical rationalist

• H. A. R. Gibb, orientalist

• Sir Patrick Geddes, sociologist, developed the concept of Conurbation

• James Giles (born 1958), philosopher and psychologist

• Michael Grant, classicist

• John Gilchrist, linguist

• Thomas Blom Hansen, anthropologist

• Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet, philosopher and logician

• John Holloway, sociologist and Marxist philosopher

• Larry Hurtado, New Testament scholar

• Alexander Henderson, second founder of Reformed Church in Scotland

• John Hick, religious philosopher

• David Hume, philosopher and historian

• Michael Halliday, linguist, founder of Systemic functional linguistics

• Michael Ingham, Anglican bishop and author

• Edward Irving, founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church

• Alison Jaggar, feminist philosopher

• Schuyler Jones, anthropologist

• Martin Joos, linguist

• Norman Kemp Smith, philosopher

• Margot Käßmann, theologian, former leader of Evangelical Church in Germany

• Rae Langton, philosopher

• Peter Ladefoged, linguist and phonetician

• Sir John Lyons, linguist

• Michael Lynch, expert on Scottish Reformation

• Elton Mayo, psychologist and organizational theorist

• Ruth Barcan Marcus, philosopher and logician

• Peter Millican, philosopher

• Robert Murray M'Cheyne, church minister

• Arthur Marwick, historian

• Robert Morrison MacIver, sociologist

• Donald MacKenzie, sociologist

• Akbar Muhammad, historian specialized in African History

• 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-)

• Sir Neil MacCormick, former MEP and legal philosopher

• James Mill, historian, classical economist and utilitarian philosopher

• 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

• Huw Price, philosopher

• Duncan Pritchard, philosopher

• Stuart Piggott, archeologist

• Thorsten J. Pattberg, philologist and cultural critic

• Geoffrey K. Pullum, linguist

• Sir W. D. Ross, Aristotelian philosopher

• David George Ritchie, philosopher

• Rush Rhees, philosopher

• Holmes Rolston III, philosopher, winner of the Templeton Prize in 2003

• Sir Herbert Read, art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher

• David Talbot Rice, art historian who gave his name to the Talbot Rice Gallery at Edinburgh

• William Robertson, Historiographer Royal and Principal of the University of Edinburgh

• William Robertson Smith, orientalist and church minister

• Steven Shapin, sociologist and philosopher of science, early founder on Sociology of scientific knowledge (STS)

• Timothy Sprigge, philosopher

• Dugald Stewart, enlightenment philosopher

• Samuel Seabury, first American Episcopal bishop

• John Toland, philosopher, coined the term "Pantheism"

• Thomas F. Torrance, theologian, winner of the Templeton Prize in 1978

• Iain Torrance, theologian and President of Princeton Theological Seminary

• Géza Vermes, historian and theologian

• Asher Wade, American-born international lecturer and psychotherapist

• Robin Williams, developer of the concept of Social shaping of technology (SST)

• Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, historian and political theorist

• Heather Widdows, philosopher

• Timothy Williamson, philosopher

• Jeremy Waldron, legal philosopher

• William J. Watson, linguist and toponymist, scholar of the history of Scottish place names

• W. Montgomery Watt, historian and Orientalist

• Michael Worton, former Vice Provost of University College of London

• Alex Woolf, medieval historian

• Tullio Vinay, founder Agapè Center, Righteous Among the Nations

• Immanuel Velikovsky, psychoanalyst

• George Yule, linguist

• Yang Changji, Chinese educator and philosopher, mentor and Godfather of Mao Zedong

• 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, threetime major golf championships winner

• Leslie Balfour-Melville, outstanding all-round sportsman

• Euan Burton, judoka

• Bob Braithwaite, Olympic gold medalist in Trap shooting

• 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

• Alexander Watson Hutton, "The Father of Argentine football"

• Peter Heatly, diver and former Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation

• Sir Chris Hoy, the second-most successful British Olympian in history with six Olympic track cycling gold medals

• 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

• Caitlin McClatchey, swimmer and two-times Commonwealth Gold medallist

• Margaret Maughan, Britain's first and four-times Paralympic games Gold medalist

• Linsey MacDonald, Olympic bronze medalist in 400 metres

• 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

• Micky Steele-Bodger, English rugby international and Chairman IRB

• Pat Spence, two-time Tennis Grand Slam mixed doubles champion

• Robert Strang, English cricketer who played once for Scotland

• Polly Swann, Olympic rowing silver medallist

• Simon Taylor, international professional rugby union player

• Catherine Taylor, Jon Duncan, Scott Fraser and Yvette Baker, orienteers with international success

• Bungy Watson, English rugby union player

Miscellaneous


• Ruth Adler, human rights campaigner

• John Aikin, physician 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 (Ian) Bartholomew, cartographer and former principal of John Bartholomew and Son Ltd.

• Thomas Spencer Baynes, publisher and writer

• John Biggar, Scottish mountaineer who has made various first ascents in the Andes

• James Blair, founder of the College of William & Mary

• George Birkbeck, founder of Birkbeck College, University of London and co-founder of UCL

• 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

• Alastair Humphreys, Adventurer

• Rev Bruce Kenrick, writer, minister, social activist and founder of Shelter

• Rev Joseph Marsh, founder of Hill Street Academy

• 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

• Philippa Matthews, socialite and younger sister 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



 * Sir Edward Victor Appleton, former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the university (1949–1965)
 * Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, former Rector of the university (1935-1936)
 * Arthur Balfour, former Chancellor of the university (1891–1930)
 * Stanley Baldwin, former Rector of the university (1923-1926)
 * Earl Beatty, former Rector of the university (1917-1920)
 * Gordon Brown, Rector of the university (1972-1975)
 * Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, Rector of the university (1945-1948)
 * Sir Winston Churchill, former Rector of the university (1929–1932)
 * 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)
 * The Earl of Rosebery, former Rector of the university (1880-1883)
 * Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, former Chancellor of the university (1953–2010)
 * Anne, Princess Royal, Chancellor of the university (2011–present)