100 Notable alumni of
Princeton University
Updated:
Princeton University is 15th in the world, 9th in North America, and 9th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Princeton University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 18 individuals affiliated with Princeton University won Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
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John F. Kennedy
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1935-1936
- Occupations
- anti-communistwriternaval officerstatespersonpolitician
- Biography
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president at 43 years. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress before his presidency.
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Jeff Bezos
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1982-1986 graduated with Bachelor of Science in computer science and electrical engineering
- Occupations
- computer scientistbusiness oligarchcommercial astronautentrepreneur
- Biography
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Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. According to Forbes, as of December 2025, Bezos's estimated net worth is US$239.4 billion, making him the fourth richest person in the world. He was the wealthiest person from 2017 to 2021, according to Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
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Alan Turing
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1937-1938
- Occupations
- computer scientistcryptographer
- Biography
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Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science.
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Wentworth Miller
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorscreenwritermodelfilm actor
- Biography
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Wentworth Earl Miller III is a British-born American actor known for playing the role of Michael Scofield in Prison Break, for which he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 2005. He made his screenwriting debut with the 2013 thriller film Stoker. In 2014, he began playing Leonard Snart / Captain Cold in a recurring role on The Flash before becoming a series main on the spin-off, Legends of Tomorrow.
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Michelle Obama
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1985 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in sociology
- Occupations
- juristlawyerwritersociologistpodcaster
- Biography
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Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an American attorney and author who served as First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 as the wife of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.
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Brooke Shields
- Occupations
- stage actormodelchildren's writerchild actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and current president of the Actors' Equity Association. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety for her leading role in Louis Malle's film Pretty Baby (1978), in which she appeared in nude scenes shot when she was 11 years old. She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981).
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Woodrow Wilson
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1875-1879 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- statespersonlawyerpolitical scientistuniversity teacherwriter
- Biography
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Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only Democrat to serve as president during the Progressive Era, when Republicans dominated the presidency and legislative branches. As president, Wilson made significant economic reforms and led the United States through World War I. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism.
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John Forbes Nash
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1948-1950 graduated with Doctor
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistmathematician
- Biography
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John Forbes Nash Jr., known and published as John Nash, was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. Nash and fellow game theorists John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten were awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics. In 2015, Louis Nirenberg and he were awarded the Abel Prize for their contributions to the field of partial differential equations.
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James Stewart
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1928-1932 studied architecture
- Occupations
- film actorpoetmilitary officertelevision actordirector
- Biography
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James Maitland Stewart was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart appeared in 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century. His films are considered some of the greatest films of all time. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors; he received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1980, the Kennedy Center Honor in 1983, as well as the Academy Honorary Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom, both in 1985.
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Ted Cruz
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1992 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- law clerklawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Rafael Edward Cruz is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 to 2008. Since 2025, Cruz has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1913-1917
- Occupations
- screenwriternovelistshort story writerwriterplaywright
- Biography
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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, widely known as F. Scott Fitzgerald or simply Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term that he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. He published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. He achieved transient success and fortune in the 1920s, but did not receive critical acclaim until after his death. He is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
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David Duchovny
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1982
- Occupations
- film directorwriterfilm produceractorfilm actor
- Biography
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David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer, director and musician. He received his breakthrough with the role of Fox Mulder in The X-Files franchise (1993–2002; 2016–2018) earning a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. He received another Golden Globe for his portrayal of Hank Moody on the television series Californication (2007–2014) and executive-produced and starred in the historically based cop drama Aquarius (2015–2016). He wrote and directed the 2004 coming-of-age comedy House of D starring Robin Williams, Téa Leoni and Anton Yelchin.
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Richard Feynman
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1939-1942 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- university teacherscience communicatorphysicistquantum physicistwriter
- Biography
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Richard Phillips Feynman was an American theoretical physicist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics (QED), with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles". He is also known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, and the parton model. Feynman developed a pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams and is widely used.
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Grover Cleveland
- Occupations
- politicianlawyerwriterstatespersonexecutioner
- Biography
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Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve two nonconsecutive terms and the first Democrat elected president after the American Civil War.
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Pete Hegseth
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 2003 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- television presenterpolitical donorbasketball playermilitary officerpolitician
- Biography
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Peter Brian Hegseth is an American government official and former television personality who has served as the 29th United States secretary of defense since 2025.
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Aaron Burr
- Occupations
- military officerpoliticianlawyerbretteurjurist
- Biography
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Aaron Burr Jr. was an American politician, businessman, and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805, during Thomas Jefferson's first presidential term. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he is primarily remembered for the killing of Alexander Hamilton in a duel, as well as his alleged conspiracy to take parts of the United States or the Spanish Empire to form an independent country.
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James Madison
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1769-1771
- Occupations
- lawyerwriterstatespersonphilosopherpolitician
- Biography
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James Madison was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
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Ellie Kemper
- Occupations
- television actorwritervoice actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Elizabeth Claire Kemper is an American actress, best known for her roles of Erin Hannon in the sitcom The Office (2009–2013) and Kimmy Schmidt in the sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2019). She has also appeared in films, notably Bridesmaids (2011), 21 Jump Street (2012), Sex Tape (2014), and Home Sweet Home Alone (2021). In 2018, she released her debut book, My Squirrel Days.
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MacKenzie Scott
- Occupations
- novelistphilanthropistbusinessperson
- Biography
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MacKenzie Scott is an American novelist, philanthropist, and early contributor to Amazon. She was married to Jeff Bezos, the co-founder of Amazon, from 1993 to 2019. As of December 2025, she has a net worth of US$40.0 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, owning a 1.3 per cent stake in Amazon. As such, Scott is the third-wealthiest woman in the United States and the 40th-wealthiest person in the world. Scott was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2020 and one of the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes in 2021, 2023 and 2025.
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Dean Cain
- Occupations
- film producerfilm actorAmerican football playertelevision actoractor
- Biography
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Dean George Tanaka, known professionally as Dean Cain, is an American actor best known for portraying Superman in the 1990s television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Cain was also the host of Ripley's Believe It or Not! and appeared in the sports drama series Hit the Floor.
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Donald Rumsfeld
- Occupations
- defence ministermilitary officerdiplomatauthorpolitician
- Biography
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Donald Henry Rumsfeld was an American politician, businessman, and naval officer who served as the 13th United States secretary of defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and again as the 21st secretary of defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He was both the youngest and the oldest secretary of defense. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a four-term U.S. Congressman from Illinois (1963–1969), director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–1970), counselor to the president (1969–1973), the U.S. Representative to NATO (1973–1974), and the White House chief of staff (1974–1975). Between his terms as secretary of defense, he served as the CEO and chairman of several companies.
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Robert Mueller
- Occupations
- army officerlawyerofficialmilitary officercivil servant
- Biography
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Robert Swan Mueller III is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
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Sonia Sotomayor
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1976 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- prosecutoruniversity teacherlawyerjudgepolitician
- Biography
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Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since August 8, 2009. She is the first Hispanic justice and the third woman U.S. Supreme Court justice.
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Jerome Powell
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1971-1975 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- investment bankerlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Jerome Hayden "Jay" Powell is an American central banker who has been the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve since 2018. He was previously both a lawyer and investment banker in the private sector before entering public service.
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Lee Iacocca
- Occupations
- autobiographerentrepreneurdiaristbusiness executiveengineer
- Biography
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Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca was an American author, engineer, and an executive who developed the Ford Mustang, Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then revived the Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s. He was president of Chrysler from 1978 to 1991 and chairman and CEO from 1979 until his retirement at the end of 1992. He was one of the few executives to preside over the operations of two of the United States' Big Three automakers.
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David E. Kelley
- Occupations
- ice hockey playerfilm producerexecutive producershowrunnerlawyer
- Biography
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David Edward Kelley is an American television writer, producer, and former attorney. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including Doogie Howser, M.D., Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice and its spin-off Boston Legal, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Goliath, Big Little Lies, and Big Sky. Kelley is one of very few screenwriters to have created shows that have aired on all four top commercial American television networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC) as well as cable giant HBO.
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Terence Tao
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1992-1996 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Terence Chi-Shen Tao FAA FRS is an Australian and American mathematician. He is a Fields medalist and a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he holds the James and Carol Collins Chair in the College of Letters and Sciences. His research includes topics in harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic combinatorics, arithmetic combinatorics, geometric combinatorics, probability theory, compressed sensing, analytic number theory and the applications of artificial intelligence in mathematics.
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Samuel Alito
- Occupations
- university teacherlawyerjudgejuristmagistrate
- Biography
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Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated to the high court by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served on it since January 31, 2006. After Antonin Scalia, Alito is the second Italian American justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Syngman Rhee
- Occupations
- politicianwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Syngman Rhee, also known by his art name Unam (우남; 雩南), was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea from 1919 to his impeachment in 1925 and from 1947 to 1948. His administration was characterised by authoritarianism, limited economic development, and in the late 1950s growing political instability and public opposition to his rule.
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Elena Kagan
- Occupations
- academic administratoruniversity teacherlawyerjudgejurist
- Biography
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Elena Kagan is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and is the fourth woman to serve on the Court.
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David Petraeus
- Occupations
- politicianmilitary officer
- Biography
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David Howell Petraeus is a retired United States Army general who served as the fourth director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 2011 until his resignation in November 2012. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus served 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and commander, U.S. Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 2010 to July 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 2008 to June 2010, and as commanding general, Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) from February 2007 to September 2008. As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.
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Daniel Kahneman
- Occupations
- essayistuniversity teacherpsychologistauthoreconomist
- Biography
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Daniel Kahneman was an Israeli-American psychologist best known for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making as well as behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences together with Vernon L. Smith. Kahneman's published empirical findings challenge the assumption of human rationality prevailing in modern economic theory. Kahneman became known as the "grandfather of behavioral economics."
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Queen Noor of Jordan
- Occupations
- writerautobiographerqueen consortarchitect
- Biography
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Noor Al Hussein is an American-born Jordanian philanthropist and activist who was the fourth wife and widow of King Hussein of Jordan. She was Queen of Jordan from their marriage on June 15, 1978, until Hussein's death on February 7, 1999.
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Mel Ferrer
- Occupations
- actordirectorwriterfilm producerproducer
- Biography
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Melchor Gastón Ferrer was an American actor, director, and producer, active in film, theatre, and television. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with Scaramouche (1952), Lili (1953), and Knights of the Round Table (also 1953). He starred opposite his wife, actress Audrey Hepburn, in War and Peace (1956) and produced her film Wait Until Dark (1967).
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Molly Ephraim
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Molly Ephraim is an American actress who has appeared in films, television, and Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theater productions. She is best known for her role as Mandy Baxter on the ABC/Fox sitcom Last Man Standing during its original run (2011–2017) before its move to Fox after its sixth season. Ephraim has also appeared on a number of other TV series, including Brockmire (2017), Halt and Catch Fire (2017), and Casual (2018). Ephraim portrayed Irene Kelly in the Hugh Jackman movie The Front Runner (2018), her second collaboration with her Last Man Standing co-star Kaitlyn Dever. She also appeared on HBO's Perry Mason as Della Street’s lover Hazel Prystock. She played Maybelle Fox on the Amazon series A League of Their Own.
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Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Occupations
- Buddhist monkspiritual teachermonkpeace activistreligious studies scholar
- Biography
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Thích Nhất Hạnh was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet, and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism. Known as the "father of mindfulness", Nhất Hạnh was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism.
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Nambi Narayanan
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1969
- Occupations
- military flight engineerchemical engineerwriter
- Biography
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Nambi Narayanan is an Indian aerospace scientist who worked for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). As a senior official at the ISRO, he was briefly in charge of the cryogenics division. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, in March 2019.
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Ralph Nader
- Occupations
- political activistlawyerjournalistpresenterenvironmentalist
- Biography
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Ralph Nader is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed, which criticized the automotive industry for its safety record, helped lead to the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966.
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Eric Schmidt
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1976 graduated with bachelor's degree in electrical engineering
- Occupations
- businesspersonentrepreneuruniversity teachercomputer scientistengineer
- Biography
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Eric Emerson Schmidt is an American businessman and former computer engineer who was the chief executive officer of Google from 2001 to 2011 and the company's executive chairman from 2011 to 2015. He also was the executive chairman of parent company Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2017, and technical advisor at Alphabet from 2017 to 2020. Since 2025, he has been the CEO of Relativity Space, an aerospace manufacturing company. As of 2025, he is one of the wealthiest people in the world according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index with an estimated net worth of US$54.5 billion.
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Wayne Rogers
- Occupations
- military officerstage actorinvestortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
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William Wayne McMillan Rogers III was an American actor, known for playing the role of Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre in the CBS television series M*A*S*H and as Dr. Charley Michaels on House Calls (1979–1982).
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Cornel West
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1975 graduated with Master of Arts
- In 1980 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- writercriticpodcasterphilosopherexecutive producer
- Biography
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Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, politician, social critic, and public intellectual. West was an independent candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election and is an outspoken voice in left-wing politics in the United States. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West's primary philosophy focuses on the roles of race, gender, and class struggle in American society. A socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, democratic socialism, left-wing populism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism.
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José Ferrer
- Occupations
- theatrical directorfilm producerfilm actorstage actorfilm director
- Biography
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José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors during his lifetime and after, with a career spanning nearly 60 years between 1935 and 1992. He achieved prominence for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac in the play of the same name, which earned him the inaugural Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1947. He reprised the role in a 1950 film version and won an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him both the first Hispanic and the first Puerto Rican–born actor to win an Academy Award.
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Mark A. Milley
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in politics
- Occupations
- army officer
- Biography
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Mark Alexander Milley is a retired United States Army general who served as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2023. He had previously served as the 39th chief of staff of the Army from 2015 to 2019 and held multiple command and staff positions in eight divisions and special forces.
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Eugene O'Neill
- Occupations
- playwrightscreenwriterwriter
- Biography
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Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier associated with Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is often included on lists of the finest American plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.
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John Rawls
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1939-1950 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- pedagoguephilosopheruniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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John Bordley Rawls was an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the modern liberal tradition. Rawls has been described as one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century.
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Lex Barker
- Occupations
- singerstage actortelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. was an American film and television actor. He played Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953 and portrayed leading characters from Karl May's novels, including Old Shatterhand in a film series by the West German studio Rialto Film. At the height of his fame, he was one of the most popular actors in German-speaking cinema and received Bambi Award and Bravo Otto nominations for the honor.
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Carl Icahn
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied philosophy
- Occupations
- merchantfinancierbusinesspersonstockbroker
- Biography
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Carl Celian Icahn is an American businessman and investor. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. Icahn's business model is to take large stakes in companies that he believes will appreciate from changes to corporate policy; Icahn then pressures management to make the changes that he believes will benefit shareholders, and him. Widely regarded as one of the most successful hedge fund managers of all time and one of the greatest investors on Wall Street, he was one of the first activist shareholders and is credited with making that investment strategy mainstream for hedge funds.
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Edward Said
- Occupations
- literary criticjournalistphilosopherpolitical scientistwriter
- Biography
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Edward Wadie Said was a Palestinian and American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of post-colonial studies. As a cultural critic, Said is best known for his book Orientalism (1978), a foundational text which critiques the cultural representations that are the bases of Orientalism—how the Western world perceives the Orient. His model of textual analysis transformed the academic discourse of researchers in literary theory, literary criticism, and Middle Eastern studies.
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Paul Krugman
- Occupations
- columnistprofessorwritereconomistessayist
- Biography
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Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He was a columnist for The New York Times from 2000 to 2024. In 2008, Krugman was the sole winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to new trade theory and new economic geography. The Prize Committee cited Krugman's work explaining the patterns of international trade and the geographic distribution of economic activity, by examining the effects of economies of scale and of consumer preferences for diverse goods and services.
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Rossif Sutherland
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Rossif Racette-Sutherland is a Canadian actor, son of actor Donald Sutherland, brother of actors Angus Sutherland and Roeg Sutherland, and half-brother of actor Kiefer Sutherland and his twin sister Rachel. He has appeared in various projects including TV series like ER and Crossing Lines and films such as Poor Boy's Game and River. By fall 2024, Sutherland had starred in the Canadian-produced drama Murder in a Small Town based on the "Alberg and Cassandra Mysteries" crime fiction series by L. R. Wright. Sutherland has been also part of films such as Hyena Road, and Guest of Honour and TV series such as King, Reign, and Copper.
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Graham Phillips
- Occupations
- voice actorstage actoractortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Graham David Phillips is an American actor, singer, writer and director. Beginning his acting career at the age of nine, Phillips is known for a variety of television, film, and stage roles; as Zach Florrick on the CBS series The Good Wife, Ben Tennyson in the film Ben 10: Race Against Time, and Evan Goldman in the Broadway musical 13, as well as a leading role in the independent film Staten Island Summer. He has also appeared in films such as Blockers and XOXO and in the recurring television roles of Nick St. Clair in Riverdale and Nate in Atypical. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2019 with the neowestern The Bygone, and followed it with the Southern noir thriller Rumble Through the Dark in 2023.
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Pedro Pablo Kuczynski
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1961 graduated with Master in Public Administration in public administration
- Occupations
- bankereconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard, also known simply as PPK ( Spanish: [pepeˈka]), is a Peruvian economist, public administrator, and former politician who served as the president of Peru from 2016 to 2018. He served as prime minister of Peru and as minister of economy and finance during the presidency of Alejandro Toledo. Kuczynski resigned from the presidency on 23 March 2018, following a successful impeachment vote and days before a probable conviction vote. Since 10 April 2019 he has been in pretrial detention, due to an ongoing investigation on corruption, money laundering, and connections to Odebrecht, a public works company accused of paying bribes.
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Michael Lewis
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in art history
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Michael Monroe Lewis is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He is known for his nonfiction work, particularly his coverage of financial crises and behavioral finance.
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Jason Garrett
- Occupations
- American football playerAmerican football coachCanadian football player
- Biography
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Jason Calvin Garrett is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was most notably the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 2010 to 2019.
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Lachlan Murdoch
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Lachlan Keith Murdoch is a businessman and mass media heir. He is the son of the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. He is the executive chairman of Nova Entertainment, chairman of News Corp, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation. In 2025, Murdoch's net worth was estimated at A$3.21 billion, as published in the Financial Review Rich List.
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Ali Reza Pahlavi
- Occupations
- socialitepolitician
- Biography
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Ali Reza Pahlavi was a member of the Pahlavi imperial family of Iran. He was the younger son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the former Shah of Iran and his third wife Farah Diba. He was second in order of succession to the Iranian throne before the 1979 Iranian Revolution. On 4 January 2011, he died from suicide after battling with depression.
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Parker Stevenson
- Occupations
- television actortelevision directoractorvoice actorfilm producer
- Biography
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Richard Stevenson Parker Jr., known professionally as Parker Stevenson, is an American actor best known for playing Frank Hardy in the 1970s series The Hardy Boys and Craig Pomeroy on the 1990s series Baywatch. He is also a descendant of the Lee Family of Virginia.
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Norman Finkelstein
- Occupations
- human rights defenderpolitical scientistwriteruniversity teacheracademic
- Biography
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Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist and activist. His primary fields of research are the politics of the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
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Eliot Spitzer
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American politician and attorney who served as the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008 after a prostitution scandal. A member of the Democratic Party, he was also the 63rd attorney general of New York from 1999 to 2006.
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Adlai Stevenson II
- Occupations
- diplomatlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. He previously served as the 31st governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and was the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in 1952 and 1956, losing both elections to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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Allen W. Dulles
- Occupations
- lawyerdiplomatintelligence officerpolitician
- Biography
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Allen Welsh Dulles was an American lawyer who was the first civilian director of central intelligence (DCI), and its longest serving director. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he oversaw numerous activities, such as the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, the Project MKUltra mind control program, and the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. As a result of the failed invasion of Cuba, Dulles was forced to resign by President John F. Kennedy and was replaced with John McCone for the remainder of the Kennedy administration.
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Stockton Rush
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1984 graduated with Bachelor of Science in Engineering in aerospace engineering
- Occupations
- venture capitalistexplorerentrepreneur
- Biography
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Richard Stockton Rush III was an American businessman who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of OceanGate, a deep-sea exploration company.
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Jesse Marsch
- Occupations
- association football playerassociation football coach
- Biography
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Jesse Alan Marsch is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the head coach of the Canada men's national team. Marsch played 14 seasons as a midfielder in Major League Soccer (MLS) with D.C. United, Chicago Fire, and Chivas USA, winning three league titles and four U.S. Open Cup titles, as well as earning two caps for the United States national team.
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Kip S. Thorne
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1962-1965 graduated with Doctor
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterphysicistastrophysicistastronomer
- Biography
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Kip Stephen Thorne is an American astrophysicist and author. He shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics with Rainer Weiss and Barry C. Barish "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves".
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Mellody Hobson
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Mellody Louise Hobson Lucas is an American businesswoman who is president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, and former chair of Starbucks. She is the former chairman of DreamWorks Animation, having stepped down after negotiating the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., by NBCUniversal in August 2016. In 2017, she became the first African-American woman to head The Economic Club of Chicago. On December 26, 2020 it was announced she would become chair of Starbucks in 2021, thus becoming the first black woman to chair an S&P 500 company, making her one of the highest profile corporate directors in the US. She continued in the role of chair until August 2024.
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Susie Dent
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Graduated with master's degree in German
- Occupations
- television personalitywriteretymologistlinguistlexicographer
- Biography
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Susan Dent is an English lexicographer, etymologist, and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show Countdown since 1992. She also appears on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, a post-watershed comedy version of the show.
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James Baker
- Occupations
- lawyerdiplomatmilitary officerpolitician
- Biography
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James Addison Baker III is an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, and former Marine Corps officer. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary of the treasury under President Ronald Reagan and the 61st U.S. secretary of state before returning as the 16th White House chief of staff under President George H. W. Bush.
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Michael Porter
- Occupations
- military flight engineereconomistmechanical engineeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Michael Eugene Porter is an American businessman and professor at Harvard Business School. He was one of the founders of the consulting firm The Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte) and FSG, a social impact consultancy. He is credited with creating Porter's five forces analysis, a foundational framework in strategic management that remains widely used in both academia and industry. He is generally regarded as the father of the modern strategy field. He is also regarded as one of the world's most influential thinkers on management and competitiveness as well as one of the most influential business strategists. His work has been recognized by governments, non-governmental organizations and universities.
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Jared Polis
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1992-1996 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in political science
- Occupations
- businesspersonentrepreneurpolitician
- Biography
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Jared Schutz Polis is an American politician, entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 2001 to 2007 as well as five terms as the United States representative from Colorado's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2019. He was the only Democratic member of the libertarian conservative Liberty Caucus, and was the third-wealthiest member of Congress, with an estimated net worth of $122.6 million. He was elected governor of Colorado in 2018 and reelected in a landslide in 2022.
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Edward Witten
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1976 studied physics
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicisttheoretical physiciststring theoristmathematician
- Biography
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Edward Witten is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, and various areas of mathematics. He is a professor emeritus in the school of natural sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetric quantum field theories, and other areas of mathematical physics. Witten's work has also significantly impacted pure mathematics. In 1990, he became the first physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal by the International Mathematical Union, for his mathematical insights in physics, such as his 1981 proof of the positive energy theorem in general relativity, and his interpretation of the Jones invariants of knots as Feynman integrals. He is considered the practical founder of M-theory.
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George Shultz
- Occupations
- entrepreneureconomistuniversity teacherdiplomatpolitician
- Biography
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George Pratt Shultz was an American economist, businessman, diplomat, and statesman who served in various positions under Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. A member of the Republican Party, he is one of the only two persons to have held four different Cabinet-level posts, the other being Elliot Richardson. As United States Secretary of State, Shultz played a major role in shaping the foreign policy of the Reagan administration, and conservative foreign policy thought thereafter.
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Tim Ferriss
- Occupations
- investororatortechnology evangelistconsultantwriter
- Biography
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Timothy Ferriss is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He is known for his 4-Hour self-help book series — including The 4-Hour Work Week, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef — that focused on lifestyle optimizations, but he has since reconsidered this approach. He also supports scientific research into psychedelic treatments.
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Daphne Oz
- Occupations
- television presenterwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Daphne Nur Oz is an American television host, food writer, and chef. She was one of five co-hosts on the ABC daytime talk show The Chew for the show's first six seasons and was a co-host of the syndicated talk/cooking show The Good Dish.
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John C. Bogle
- Occupations
- economistinvestorfinancierbusinessperson
- Biography
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John Clifton "Jack" Bogle was an American investor, business magnate and philanthropist and founder. He was the founder and chief executive of The Vanguard Group and is credited with popularizing the index fund. An avid investor and money manager himself, he preached investment over speculation, long-term patience over short-term action, and reducing broker fees as much as possible. An ideal investment vehicle for Bogle was a low-cost index fund representing the entire US market, held over a lifetime with dividends reinvested.
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Chloe Kim
- Occupations
- freestyle skiersnowboarder
- Biography
-
Chloe Kim is an American professional snowboarder and two-time Olympic gold medalist. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal when she won gold in the women's snowboard halfpipe at 17 years old.
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Moe Berg
- Occupations
- spybaseball player
- Biography
-
Morris Berg was an American professional baseball catcher and coach in Major League Baseball who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He played 15 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely for four American League teams, though he was never more than an average player and was better known for being "the brainiest guy in baseball." Casey Stengel once described Berg as "the strangest man ever to play baseball."
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Wolfgang Pauli
- Occupations
- theoretical physicist
- Biography
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Wolfgang Ernst Pauli was an Austrian–Swiss theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum mechanics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle". The discovery involved spin theory, which is the basis of a theory of the structure of matter.
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Nicholas Hammond
- Occupations
- screenwriterstage actortelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Nicholas Hammond is an American-Australian actor and writer who is best known for his roles as Friedrich von Trapp in the film The Sound of Music and as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 1970s television series The Amazing Spider-Man. He also appeared in the film Spider-Man (1977) and its two sequels, Spider-Man Strikes Back and Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge.
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Gita Gopinath
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- economist
- Biography
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Gita Gopinath is an Indian-American economist who is currently serving as the Gregory and Ania Coffey professor of Economics at Harvard University and previously served as the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from 21 January 2022 to 31 August 2025. Before that she also served as chief economist of the IMF between 2019 and 2022.
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John Foster Dulles
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1908
- Occupations
- politiciantrusteelawyerdiplomatchairperson
- Biography
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John Foster Dulles was an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat who served as United States secretary of state under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 until his resignation in 1959. A member of the Republican Party, he was briefly a U.S. senator from New York in 1949. Dulles was a significant figure in the early Cold War era who pushed for an aggressive rollback campaign against communist regimes and their allies throughout the world.
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Mark Feuerstein
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Mark Feuerstein is an American actor. He had an early, recurring role on the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City, playing the title character's boyfriend, and later gained notice in a guest appearance on an episode of Season 2 of Sex and the City. Following Caroline in the City, he went on to star on three NBC sitcoms–Fired Up, Conrad Bloom, and Good Morning, Miami!. He also made appearances on Ally McBeal (2000), Once and Again (2000–2001), The West Wing (2001–2005), Nurse Jackie (2015), Prison Break (2017), and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017).
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Craig Robinson
- Occupations
- investment bankerbasketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
-
Craig Malcolm Robinson is an American college basketball coach, basketball executive, and broadcaster. He is a former head men's basketball coach at Oregon State University and Brown University. He was a star forward as a player at Princeton University in the early 1980s and a bond trader during the 1990s. He currently is the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He is the brother of former First Lady Michelle Obama and brother-in-law of former President of the United States Barack Obama.
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Marvin Minsky
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1951-1954 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics
- Occupations
- computer scientistartificial intelligence researcheruniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
-
Marvin Lee Minsky was an American cognitive and computer scientist concerned largely with research in artificial intelligence (AI). He co-founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AI laboratory and wrote extensively about AI and philosophy.
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Chai Ling
- Occupations
- businesspersonhuman rights defender
- Biography
-
Chai Ling is a Chinese-American psychologist. She rose to prominence while studying at Peking University as one of the leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. After moving to the US, she founded All Girls Allowed, an organization dedicated to ending China's one-child policy, and Jenzabar, an enterprise resource planning software firm for educational institutions.
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Jonathan Safran Foer
- Occupations
- university teachernovelistwriter
- Biography
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Jonathan Safran Foer is an American novelist. He is known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated (2002), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2005), Here I Am (2016), and for his non-fiction works Eating Animals (2009) and We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast (2019). He teaches creative writing at New York University.
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Edoardo Agnelli
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
-
Edoardo Agnelli was the eldest child and only son of Gianni Agnelli, the industrialist patriarch of Fiat S.p.A., and of Marella Agnelli, who was born Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto. He converted to Islam when he was living in New York City, and changed his name to Hisham Aziz and later to Mahdi after converting to Shia Islam. In mid-November 2000, he was found dead under a bridge on the outskirts of Turin.
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Tamon Yamaguchi
- Occupations
- soldiermilitary officer
- Biography
-
Tamon Yamaguchi was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy who served during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and in the Pacific War during World War II. Yamaguchi′s carrier force was part of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He subsequently participated in the Battle of Midway, where he was killed in action, choosing to go down with the aircraft carrier Hiryū when she was scuttled after being crippled by aircraft from USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown.
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Craig Mazin
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorpodcasterfilm produceractor
- Biography
-
Craig Mazin is an American filmmaker. He is best known for creating, writing, and producing the HBO historical disaster drama miniseries Chernobyl (2019) and co-creating, co-writing, and executive producing the HBO post-apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us (2023–present), the latter alongside Neil Druckmann. For the former, he won Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Limited Series.
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Meg Whitman
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- 1973-1977 graduated with Bachelor of Science in economics
- Occupations
- business executiveentrepreneurpolitician
- Biography
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Margaret Cushing Whitman is an American business executive, diplomat and politician. She served as the United States Ambassador to Kenya from July 2022 to November 2024 under the Presidency of Joe Biden.
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Paul Volcker
- Occupations
- bankereconomistpolitician
- Biography
-
Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended the high levels of inflation seen in the United States throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, with measures known as the Volcker shock. He previously served as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975 to 1979.
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George F. Kennan
- Occupations
- historianuniversity teachergeopolitical analystdiplomatpolitical scientist
- Biography
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George Frost Kennan was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histories of the relations between the USSR and the United States. He was also one of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men".
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David Blatt
- Occupations
- coachbasketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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David Michael Blatt is an Israeli-American professional basketball executive. He is also a former coach and player.
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William Clay Ford
- Occupations
- taekwondo athleteentrepreneurbusiness executive
- Biography
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William Clay Ford Jr., commonly known as Bill Ford, is an American businessman, serving as the executive chair of Ford Motor Company since 1999. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, Ford joined the board in 1988, and also served as CEO of the company from 2001 to 2006. He also serves as the vice chair of the Detroit Lions NFL franchise, and as chair of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.
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Bill Bradley
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- Studied in 1965
- Occupations
- senior advisorpoliticianwriterbasketball playerbusinessperson
- Biography
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William Warren Bradley is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a United States senator from New Jersey from 1979 to 1997 and a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the 2000 election, which he lost to Vice President Al Gore.
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John McCarthy
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1951 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics
- Occupations
- university teacherartificial intelligence researchercomputer scientistmathematicianengineer
- Biography
-
John McCarthy was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. He was one of the founders of the discipline of artificial intelligence, and part of just a small group of artificial intelligence researchers in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored the proposal for the Dartmouth workshop which coined the term "artificial intelligence" (AI), led the development of the symbolic programming language family Lisp and had a large influence in the language ALGOL, popularized time-sharing, and created garbage collection.
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Larry Kudlow
- Occupations
- writerpunditbusinesspersoneconomistradio personality
- Biography
-
Lawrence Alan Kudlow is an American conservative broadcast news analyst, economist, columnist, journalist, political commentator, and radio personality. He is a financial news commentator for Fox Business and served as the director of the National Economic Council during the Trump administration from 2018 to 2021. He assumed that role after his previous employment as a CNBC television financial news host. He is the vice chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank founded to promote an America First public policy agenda.
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Pete Conrad
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1953 graduated with Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering
- Occupations
- astronautmilitary officerracing automobile driveraircraft pilot
- Biography
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Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer, aviator, and test pilot who commanded the Apollo 12 mission, on which he became the third person to walk on the Moon. Conrad was selected for NASA's second astronaut class in 1962.
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Robert Nozick
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitical scientistphilosopher
- Biography
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Robert Nozick was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University, and was president of the American Philosophical Association. He is best known for his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), a libertarian answer to John Rawls' A Theory of Justice (1971), in which Nozick proposes his minimal state as the only justifiable form of government. His later work Philosophical Explanations (1981) advanced notable epistemological claims, namely his counterfactual theory of knowledge. It won Phi Beta Kappa society's Ralph Waldo Emerson Award the following year.
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Jodi Picoult
- Occupations
- editorteacherwriterprimary school teachernovelist
- Biography
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Jodi Lynn Picoult is an American writer. Picoult has published 28 novels and short stories, and has also written several issues of Wonder Woman. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide and have been translated into 34 languages. In 2003, she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction.
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John Bardeen
- Enrolled in Princeton University
- In 1936 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in physics
- Occupations
- inventorphysicistelectrical engineeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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John Bardeen was an American condensed matter physicist. He is the only person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for their invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Cooper and Robert Schrieffer for their microscopic theory of superconductivity, known as the BCS theory.
