58 Notable alumni of
Birkbeck, University of London
Updated:
The Birkbeck, University of London is 894th in the world, 318th in Europe, and 60th in the United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 58 notable alumni from the Birkbeck, University of London sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Daisy Ridley
- Occupations
- singeractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy from 2015 until 2019. Following the Star Wars films, Ridley appeared in the mystery film Murder on the Orient Express (2017), and played Ophelia in the romantic drama Ophelia (2018). She had voice roles in the animated film Peter Rabbit (2018) and the video game Twelve Minutes (2021). She subsequently had leading roles in the science-fiction film Chaos Walking (2021), the independent drama Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), and the psychological thriller The Marsh King's Daughter (2023). She also portrayed Gertrude Ederle in the biographical drama Young Woman and the Sea (2024).
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Marcus Garvey
- Occupations
- religious leaderentrepreneursociologistprinterpolitician
- Biography
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Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. ONH was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL, commonly known as UNIA), through which he declared himself Provisional President of Africa. Garvey was ideologically a black nationalist and Pan-Africanist. His ideas came to be known as Garveyism.
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Kemi Badenoch
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- Studied Bachelor of Laws
- Occupations
- authorpolitician
- Biography
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Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024. Badenoch previously worked in the Cabinet for prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024. She was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex, previously Saffron Walden, in 2017.
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Alfred Russel Wallace
- Occupations
- writerbotanistbotanical collectormathematicianzoological collector
- Biography
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Alfred Russel Wallace was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 paper on the subject was published that year alongside extracts from Charles Darwin's writings on the topic. It spurred Darwin to set aside the "big species book" he was drafting and to quickly write an abstract of it, which was published in 1859 as On the Origin of Species.
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Annie Besant
- Occupations
- freedom fighterwomen's rights activisttheosophistjournalistwriter
- Biography
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Annie Besant was an English socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist, and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She became the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.
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Romesh Ranganathan
- Occupations
- actorcomedianpresenter
- Biography
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Romesh Ranganathan is a British comedian, actor, and presenter. His style of comedy is deadpan and often self-deprecating.
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Simon Bird
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directoractorstand-up comedianfilm producer
- Biography
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Simon Antony Bird is an English comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the multi-award-winning E4 comedy series The Inbetweeners (2008–2010), as well as its two films (2011 and 2014), and Adam Goodman in the Channel 4 comedy series Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020). He is set to appear in Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter (2027).
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Ramsay MacDonald
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianjournalist
- Biography
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James Ramsay MacDonald was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party, where he led a minority Labour government for nine months in 1924 and again between 1929 and 1931. In 1931, MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party, after he formed a National Government dominated by the Conservative Party and supported by only a few Labour members, his premiership of which lasted until 1935.
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Prince Louis of Luxembourg
- Occupations
- aristocrat
- Biography
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Prince Louis of Luxembourg, Prince of Nassau, Prince of Bourbon-Parma is the third son of Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and the younger brother of Grand Duke Guillaume V.
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Jah Wobble
- Occupations
- composerpoetrecording artistsinger
- Biography
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John Joseph Wardle is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; he left the band after two albums.
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Helen Sharman
- Occupations
- chemistastronautResearch Cosmonaut
- Biography
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Helen Patricia Sharman is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in May 1991.
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Brittany Kaiser
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- Studied in 2010-2011
- Occupations
- executive
- Biography
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Brittany Nicole Kaiser is the former business development director for Cambridge Analytica, which collapsed after details of its misuse of Facebook data became public. Cambridge Analytica potentially influenced voting in the UK Brexit referendum and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Kaiser testified about her involvement in the work of Cambridge Analytica before a select committee of the UK Parliament and to the Mueller investigation.
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Claudia Webbe
- Occupations
- politiciancouncil member
- Biography
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Claudia Naomi Webbe is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East from 2019 to 2024. Elected to Parliament as a Labour MP in 2019, she sat as an Independent from 2021 until she lost her seat at the 2024 General Election.
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Jon Lansman
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jonathan Lansman is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party, and for subsequently founding the pro-Corbyn organisation Momentum. He was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. Lansman has worked for both Tony Benn and Michael Meacher, and was a prominent supporter of Benn in the early 1980s.
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Irene Lozano
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in philosophy
- Occupations
- writerjournalistbiographerpolitician
- Biography
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Irene Lozano Domingo is a Spanish writer, journalist, and politician, who served as President of the Consejo Superior de Deportes and Secretary of State for Sports of Spain from 2020 to 2021 and as Secretary of State for Global Spain from 2018 to 2020 under Pedro Sánchez.
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Sidney Webb
- Occupations
- aristocrathistorianeconomistprofessorsociologist
- Biography
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Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield, OM, PC was a British socialist, economist and reformer, who co-founded the London School of Economics. He was an early member of the Fabian Society in 1884, joining, like George Bernard Shaw, three months after its inception. Along with his wife Beatrice Webb and with Annie Besant, Graham Wallas, Edward R. Pease, Hubert Bland and Sydney Olivier, Shaw and Webb turned the Fabian Society into the pre-eminent politico-intellectual society in Edwardian England. He wrote the original, pro-nationalisation Clause IV for the British Labour Party.
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Eyal Weizman
- Occupations
- university teacherarchitectopinion journalist
- Biography
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Eyal Weizman MBE FBA is a British Israeli architect. He is the director of the research agency Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London where he is Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures and a founding director there of the Centre for Research Architecture at the department of Visual Cultures. In 2019 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy.
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Topsy Ojo
- Occupations
- rugby union player
- Biography
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Temitope "Topsy" Ojo listen is an English former rugby union player who played for London Irish and England. He is London Irish's all-time leading try scorer, with 73 tries in all competitions.
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Chris Abani
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- In 1995 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- playwrightuniversity teacherprofessorwriteracademic
- Biography
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Christopher Abani is a Nigerian American author. He says he is part of a new generation of Nigerian writers working to convey to an English-speaking audience the experience of those born and raised in "that troubled African nation".
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Jennifer Donnelly
- Occupations
- writerauthorchildren's writernovelist
- Biography
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Jennifer Donnelly is an American writer best known for the young adult historical novel A Northern Light.
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Nick Smith
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Nicholas Desmond John Smith is a Welsh politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, previously Blaenau Gwent, since 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Camden Council from 1998 to 2006.
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Bisi Alimi
- Occupations
- LGBTQ rights activistHIV/AIDS activist
- Biography
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Adebisi Ademola Alimi Listen, known as Bisi Alimi, is a British-Nigerian gay rights activist, public speaker, blog writer, filmmaker and HIV/LGBT advocate who gained international attention when he became the first Nigerian to come out on television.
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Melanie Dawes
- Years
- 1966-.. (age 60)
- Occupations
- economist
- Biography
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Dame Melanie Henrietta Dawes DCB is a British economist and administrator. In February 2020 she was appointed Chief Executive of Ofcom. She was previously the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and before that worked at HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs, and in the Cabinet Office. She is a Trustee of the Patchwork Foundation, founded by Harris Bokhari.
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Arthur Wing Pinero
- Occupations
- actorplaywrightdirectorwritertheatrical director
- Biography
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Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor.
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John Altman
- Occupations
- conductorcomposerjazz musician
- Biography
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John Altman is an English film composer, music arranger, orchestrator and conductor.
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Kostas Lapavitsas
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Costas Lapavitsas is a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and was elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the left-wing Syriza party in the January 2015 general election. He subsequently defected to the Popular Unity in August 2015.
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Tale Heydarov
- Years
- 1985-.. (age 41)
- Occupations
- editorbusinesspersonentrepreneur
- Biography
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Tale Heydarov is an Azerbaijani businessman and investor.
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Michael Wilshaw
- Years
- 1946-.. (age 80)
- Occupations
- civil servant
- Biography
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Sir Michael Wilshaw was the Chief Inspector of Schools in England and head of Ofsted from 2012 until 2016.
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Cyril Ponnamperuma
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- Studied in 1959
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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Dr. Cyril Andrew Ponnamperuma was a Sri Lankan scientist in the fields of chemical evolution and the origin of life.
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Mark Lowcock
- Years
- 1962-.. (age 64)
- Occupations
- civil servantaccountant
- Biography
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Sir Mark Andrew Lowcock KCB served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) between 2017 and 2021. Prior to his appointment by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on 12 May 2017, Lowcock was the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development (DFID) from June 2011 to September 2017.
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Pierre Adolphe Valette
- Occupations
- painter
- Biography
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Pierre Adolphe Valette was a French Impressionist painter who spent most of his career in England. His most acclaimed paintings are urban landscapes of Manchester, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery. Today, he is chiefly remembered as L. S. Lowry's tutor.
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Mohammed Al-Ghabban
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Dr. Mohammed Al-Ghabban is an Iraqi politician and the former Minister of Interior.
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John Walter Gregory
- Occupations
- exploreruniversity teachergeographergeologistbotanical collector
- Biography
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John Walter Gregory, FRS, FRSE, FGS was a British geologist and explorer, known principally for his work on glacial geology and on the geography and geology of Australia and East Africa.
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Amina Mama
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- In 1987 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- academicnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Amina Mama is a Nigerian-British writer, activist and academic. Her main areas of focus have been post-colonial, militarist and gender issues. She has lived in Africa, Europe and North America, and worked to bridge the gap between feminists and related movements across the globe.
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Elizabeth Fremantle
- Occupations
- novelistteacherwriter
- Biography
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Elizabeth Fremantle is an English novelist. Her published works include Queen's Gambit (2013), The Girl in the Glass Tower (2016) and the critically acclaimed thriller The Poison Bed (2018). In 2024, a revised edition of Queen's Gambit was published as Firebrand to mark the release of the novel's adaption into a major motion picture, starring Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr and Jude Law as Henry VIII.
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Cyrus Chothia
- Years
- 1942-2019 (aged 77)
- Occupations
- bioinformatician
- Biography
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Cyrus Homi Chothia FRS was an English biochemist who was an emeritus scientist at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) at the University of Cambridge and emeritus fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.
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Ada Aharoni
- Occupations
- poetwritertranslator
- Biography
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Ada Aharoni is an Israeli poet, writer, lecturer, sociologist and peace researcher. She has published numerous books of peace poetry, historical novels, sociology, history, biography, drama, film-scripts, literary criticism, and children's books. In her work she often focuses on the "Second Exodus", the uprooting of the Jews from Egypt, following the establishment of Israel in 1948, which she personally experienced. Aharoni is the founder and world president of The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC).
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Ian Blatchford
- Occupations
- art historianexhibition curatorjurist
- Biography
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Sir Ian Craig Blatchford, FSA is the director of the Science Museum Group, which oversees the Science Museum in London, England and other related museums. He was previously deputy director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, opposite the Science Museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, southwest London.
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Stephen Gaukroger
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- Graduated with licentiate
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopherphilosophy historian
- Biography
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Stephen Gaukroger was a British historian of philosophy and science who spent the majority of his academic career in Australia. Gaukroger was Emeritus Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Sydney.
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Paul Ekins
- Years
- 1950-.. (age 76)
- Occupations
- economist
- Biography
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Professor Paul Ekins OBE is a British academic in the field of sustainable economics, currently Professor of Resources and Environment Policy at University College London. He was formerly co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre (2004–2014). He is a former member of the Green Party.
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Richard Burchett
- Occupations
- painter
- Biography
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Richard Burchett was a British artist and educator on the fringes of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who was for over twenty years the Headmaster of what later became the Royal College of Art.
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Markus Campbell-Savours
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Markus Dale Campbell-Savours is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Penrith and Solway since 2024. He had the whip suspended from the Labour Party in December 2025 for voting against plans to extend the inheritance tax to farmers.
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Mercedes Cebrián
- Occupations
- poetwritertranslator
- Biography
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Mercedes Cebrián is a Spanish writer and translator.
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Elizabeth Esteve-Coll
- Occupations
- curatorlibrarian
- Biography
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Dame Elizabeth Anne Loosemore Esteve-Coll DBE FRSA was a British academic, museum director and librarian.
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Andy Saull
- Occupations
- rugby union player
- Biography
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Andy Saull is a rugby union player who plays at flanker and was part of the Saracens team who won the English premiership in 2011. Saull also represented Oxford University in The Varsity Match against Cambridge University.
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Eliane Glaser
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Eliane Glaser is an English writer, lecturer, radio producer and broadcaster.
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Anita Pollack
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Anita J. Pollack was a Labour MEP for London South West from 1989 to 1999.
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Andrej Šali
- Occupations
- computational biologistbiologist
- Biography
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Andrej Šali is a computational structural biologist. Since 2003, he has been Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at University of California, San Francisco. He also serves as an editor of the journal Structure.
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Sucharitha Gamlath
- Years
- 1934-2013 (aged 79)
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Sucharitha Gamlath was a veteran professor of Sinhala, and a bright student of the Peradeniya University. After that he functioned as the dean of the Sinhala Language Faculty of the Jaffna University. He has also served in the University of Ruhuna and Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka. And he was a well-known scholastic in linguistics and critiques who has authored a number of books on language, literature, arts and politics.
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Claude Ambrose Rogers
- Enrolled in the Birkbeck, University of London
- Studied in 1946-1949
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
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Claude Ambrose Rogers FRS was an English mathematician who worked in analysis and geometry.
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William Pett Ridge
- Years
- 1859-1930 (aged 71)
- Occupations
- novelistshort story writerwriterplaywrighthumorist
- Biography
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William Pett Ridge was an English fiction writer, born at Chartham, near Canterbury, Kent, and educated at Marden, Kent, and at the Birkbeck Institute, London. He was for some time a clerk in the Railway Clearing House, and began about 1891 to write humorous sketches for the St James's Gazette and other papers.
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Wai Hnin Pwint Thon
- Occupations
- human rights defender
- Biography
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Wai Hnin Pwint Thon is a Burmese activist based in London. Wai Hnin was born in Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar) and is the daughter of Mya Aye, one of the leaders of the 88 Generation student group in Burma.
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Clive Barda
- Years
- 1945-.. (age 81)
- Occupations
- photographer
- Biography
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Clive Blackmore Barda OBE FRSA is a London-based, British freelance photographer best known for capturing the performances of classical musicians and artists of the stage (opera, ballet and theatre). During his career spanning over five decades, Barda has created a collection of over a million photographs of performers, composers, and conductors.
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Clement Edwards
- Occupations
- barristerpoliticiantrade unionist
- Biography
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Allen Clement Edwards was a Welsh lawyer, journalist, trade union activist and Liberal Party politician.
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William Maw
- Occupations
- engineercivil engineer
- Biography
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William Henry Maw was a British civil engineer and astronomer. Born into a seafaring family and orphaned at age 16, Maw was taken into the workshops of the Eastern Counties Railway as an assistant before progressing to the design office as a draughtsman. He was made the head of the office and designed the first outside cylinder locomotive for use in India. In 1865 he founded the journal Engineering and remained an editor for the rest of his life. He left the railway and became a consulting engineer his many works including printing presses for several newspapers and magazines. He was president of the Civil and Mechanical Engineers' Society, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers.
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James Hemsley
- Years
- 1941-.. (age 85)
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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James Hemsley is the founder of the EVA Conferences on Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts.
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Catherine Mason
- Born in
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Australia - Occupations
- art historian
- Biography
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Catherine Mason is an art historian and author who specialises in digital art, especially computer art.
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David Casals-Roma
- Occupations
- screenwriterwriterfilm director
- Biography
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David Casals-Roma is a Spanish writer/director based in Spain.
