100 Notable alumni of
University of Edinburgh
Updated:
The University of Edinburgh is 27th in the world, 9th in Europe, and 5th in the United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Edinburgh sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 3 individuals affiliated with the University of Edinburgh won Nobel Prizes in Physics.
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Charles Darwin
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- In 1825 studied medicine
- Occupations
- travel writerexplorerphilosopherbotanistgeologist
- Biography
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Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.
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Edward VII
- Occupations
- politicianart collectormonarcharistocrat
- Biography
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Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
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Alexander Graham Bell
- Occupations
- inventorphysicistprofessorbusinesspersonelectrical engineer
- Biography
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Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.
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Robbie Coltrane
- Occupations
- film actorscreenwritertelevision actoractor
- Biography
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Anthony Robert McMillan, known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series. He was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. In 1990, Coltrane received the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy. In 2011, he was honoured for his "outstanding contribution" to film at the British Academy Scotland Awards.
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Arthur Conan Doyle
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Studied in 1876-1881
- Occupations
- crime fiction writerphysicianhistorianscience fiction writerplaywright
- Biography
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Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
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David Hume
- Occupations
- philosopherhistorianeconomistwriterlibrarian
- Biography
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David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beginning with A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume strove to create a naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature. Hume followed John Locke in rejecting the existence of innate ideas, concluding that all human knowledge derives solely from experience. This places him with Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and George Berkeley as an empiricist.
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Robert Louis Stevenson
- Occupations
- essayistshort story writerwriterchildren's writernovelist
- Biography
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Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child's Garden of Verses.
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Gordon Brown
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in study of history
- Occupations
- politicianjournalisthistorianautobiographerbiographer
- Biography
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James Gordon Brown is a British politician who has been the UN Special Envoy on Global Education since 2012 and the WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing since 2021. Brown previously served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010, as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005, and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2005 to 2015.
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James Clerk Maxwell
- Occupations
- photographerthermodynamicistinventorphysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism achieved the second great unification in physics, where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton. Maxwell was also key in the creation of statistical mechanics.
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Kevin McKidd
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actortelevision director
- Biography
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Kevin McKidd is a Scottish actor and television director. Before playing the role of Dr. Owen Hunt in Grey's Anatomy, for which he is widely known, McKidd appeared as Tommy Mackenzie in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996).
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Pippa Middleton
- Occupations
- socialitecolumnistwriter
- Biography
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Philippa Charlotte Matthews is a British socialite, author and columnist. She is the younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales.
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Greg Wise
- Occupations
- film produceractorfilm actorstage actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Matthew Gregory Wise is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in several British television programmes and feature films. He played the role of John Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility, which also starred Emma Thompson, whom he later married.
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Marcus Mumford
- Occupations
- film score composersongwriterguitaristsinger
- Biography
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Marcus Oliver Johnstone Mumford is an American-born British singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of the folk band Mumford & Sons. He also plays a number of instruments with the group, including guitar, drums and mandolin. He is married to English actress Carey Mulligan, with whom he has three children.
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Walter Scott
- Occupations
- judgebiographerwriterplaywrightlinguist
- Biography
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Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet FRSE FSAScot, was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature.
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Max Born
- Occupations
- academicscientistnon-fiction writertheoretical physicistphysicist
- Biography
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Max Born was a German-British theoretical physicist who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics and supervised the work of a number of notable physicists in the 1920s and 1930s. Born was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics for his "fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially in the statistical interpretation of the wave function".
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Sophie Cookson
- Occupations
- actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Sophie Cookson is an English actress. She played secret agent Roxy Morton / Lancelot in the 2014 spy film Kingsman: The Secret Service and its 2017 sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and Pippa in the 2016 fantasy film The Huntsman: Winter's War. She played the title role of Christine Keeler in the 2019 BBC One drama television series The Trial of Christine Keeler.
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J. M. Barrie
- Occupations
- screenwriterjournalistnovelistchildren's writerwriter
- Biography
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Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens (first included in Barrie's 1902 adult novel The Little White Bird), then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a 1904 West End "fairy play" about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland.
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Laura Kuenssberg
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Laura Juliet Kuenssberg is a British journalist who presents the BBC's Sunday morning politics show. She was succeeded as Political Editor of BBC News by Chris Mason.
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Syed Ahmed Khan
- Occupations
- judgepoliticianknightlawyertheologian
- Biography
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Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI, FRAS, also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India.
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Michael McIntyre
- Occupations
- presenterwriterstand-up comediancomedian
- Biography
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Michael Hazen James McIntyre is a British comedian, writer, and television presenter from London. In 2012, he was the highest-grossing stand-up comedian in the world. As of 2023, he presents his own Saturday night series, Michael McIntyre's Big Show, and the game show, The Wheel, on BBC One. He also presented the American version of The Wheel on NBC.
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Zhong Nanshan
- Years
- 1936-.. (age 89)
- Occupations
- politicianphysicianresearcherpulmonologist
- Biography
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Zhong Nanshan is a Chinese pulmonologist. He was president of the Chinese Medical Association from 2005 to 2009 and is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Thoracic Disease. Zhong was bestowed the Medal of the Republic, the highest honorary medal of the People's Republic of China, in August 2020.
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Angus Macfadyen
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Angus Macfadyen is a Scottish actor. His roles include Robert the Bruce, both in Braveheart and Robert the Bruce, Komodo in Warriors of Virtue, Vice-Counsel Dupont in Equilibrium, Jeff Denlon in the Saw franchise, Robert Rogers in the AMC historical drama Turn: Washington's Spies, McCreedy in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo, and biologist James Murray in The Lost City of Z. He has made appearances on several television series such as Californication, Criminal Minds, Chuck and Superman & Lois.
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Amber Rudd
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Studied history
- Occupations
- politicianbusinesspersonjournalistinvestment banker
- Biography
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Amber Augusta Rudd is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, first elected in 2010, representing the Conservative Party, and stood down from parliament in 2019. She identifies herself as a one-nation conservative, and has been associated with both socially liberal and economically liberal policies.
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Sal Khan
- Occupations
- YouTuberwriterentrepreneurtelevision producermathematician
- Biography
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Salman "Sal" Amin Khan is an American educator and the founder of Khan Academy, a free online non-profit educational platform with which he has produced over 6,500 video lessons teaching a wide spectrum of academic subjects, originally focusing on mathematics and science. He is also the founder of Khan Lab School, a private in-person school in Mountain View, California.
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Thomas Carlyle
- Occupations
- translatorhistorianphilosopherteachernovelist
- Biography
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Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
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Max Richter
- Occupations
- composerpianistfilm score composer
- Biography
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Max Richter is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and studied with Luciano Berio in Italy.
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Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. A member of the Tory, Whig and Liberal parties, Palmerston was the first Liberal prime minister. He dominated British foreign policy from 1830 to 1865, when Britain stood at the height of its imperial power.
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Mako Komuro
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- 2012-2013 studied art history
- Occupations
- researcheraristocrat
- Biography
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Mako Komuro, formerly Princess Mako of Akishino (眞子内親王, Mako Naishinnō), is a Japanese art historian and former member of the Japanese imperial family. She is the eldest child of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko, niece of Emperor Naruhito, and granddaughter of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and his wife, Empress Emerita Michiko. After marrying outside the imperial family in October 2021, she gave up her title as required by the Imperial Household Law.
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Geoffrey Hinton
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- In 1978 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in artificial intelligence
- Occupations
- psychologistneuroscientistuniversity teacherartificial intelligence researchercomputer scientist
- Biography
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Geoffrey Everest Hinton is a British-Canadian computer scientist, cognitive scientist, cognitive psychologist, and Nobel Prize winner in Physics, known for his work on artificial neural networks which earned him the title as the "Godfather of AI".
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Eric Liddell
- Occupations
- rugby union playermissionarysprinter
- Biography
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Eric Henry Liddell was a Scottish sprinter, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended boarding school near London, spending time when possible with his family in Edinburgh, and afterwards attended the University of Edinburgh.
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Peter Higgs
- Occupations
- particle physicistuniversity teacherphysicisttheoretical physicistresearcher
- Biography
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Peter Ware Higgs was a British theoretical physicist, professor at the University of Edinburgh, and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the mass of subatomic particles.
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Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince Father
- Occupations
- politicianphysicianmilitary personnel
- Biography
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Mahitala Dhibesra Adulyadej Vikrom, the Prince Father, formerly Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkhla (Thai: สมเด็จเจ้าฟ้ามหิดลอดุลยเดช กรมหลวงสงขลานครินทร์) or Mahidol Songkla, was the father of King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) of Thailand, and the paternal grandfather of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X). He was also regarded as the father of modern medicine and public health in Thailand. He also founded the House of Mahidol or the present Royal Family of Thailand. His two sons reigned for more than eight decades, longer than the Ibn Saud siblings of Saudi Arabia, and the Nahyan siblings of Abu Dhabi.
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Julius Nyerere
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- In 1952 graduated with Master of Arts in economics and history
- Occupations
- politicianlinguistwritertranslatorteacher
- Biography
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Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician, anti-colonial activist, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, after which he led its successor state, Tanzania, as president from 1964 to 1985. He was a founding member and chair of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) party and of its successor, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, from 1954 to 1990. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he promoted a political philosophy known as Ujamaa.
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Princess Tsuguko of Takamado
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Studied in 2004-2008
- Occupations
- aristocrat
- Biography
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Princess Tsuguko of Takamado is a member of the Imperial House of Japan and the eldest daughter of Norihito, Prince Takamado, and his wife Hisako, Princess Takamado.
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Maria Bamford
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Studied in 1992
- Occupations
- film actorscreenwritertelevision actorcomedianvoice actor
- Biography
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Maria Bamford is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depression, anxiety, suicide and mental illness.
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Tom Chaplin
- Occupations
- recording artistsingerguitaristcomposerpianist
- Biography
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Thomas Oliver Chaplin is an English musician, best known as the co-founder and lead singer of the British alternative rock band Keane.
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Elton Mayo
- Occupations
- psychologistsociologistprofessor
- Biography
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George Elton Mayo was an Australian born psychologist, industrial researcher, and organizational theorist. Mayo was formally trained at the University of Adelaide, acquiring a Bachelor of Arts Degree graduating with First Class Honours, majoring in philosophy and psychology, and was later awarded an honorary Master of Arts Degree from the University of Queensland (UQ).
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Iain Stirling
- Occupations
- stand-up comediantelevision presentercomedian
- Biography
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Iain Andrew Stirling is a Scottish comedian, writer, television presenter, narrator and Twitch streamer from Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Ash Carter
- Occupations
- physicistpolitician
- Biography
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Ashton Baldwin Carter was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.
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Philippa Gregory
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
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Philippa Gregory CBE is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987. The best known of her works is The Other Boleyn Girl (2001), which in 2002 won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association and has been adapted into two films.
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William Walker
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Studied medicine
- Occupations
- politicianadventurerwriterfilibusterjournalist
- Biography
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William Walker was an American physician, lawyer, journalist, and mercenary. In the era of the expansion of the United States, driven by the doctrine of "manifest destiny", Walker organized unauthorized military expeditions into Mexico and Central America with the intention of establishing colonies. Such an enterprise was known at the time as "filibustering".
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Thomas Young
- Occupations
- anthropologistentomologistphilosopherarchaeologistastronomer
- Biography
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Thomas Young FRS was a British polymath who made notable contributions to the fields of vision, light, solid mechanics, energy, physiology, language, musical harmony, and Egyptology. He was instrumental in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, specifically the Rosetta Stone.
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Miles Jupp
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actoractorcomedianradio personality
- Biography
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Miles Hugh Barrett Jupp is an English actor and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children's television series Balamory. He also played John Duggan in The Thick of It, Nigel in the sitcom Rev and appeared on many comedy panel shows. Between 2015 and 2019, Jupp was the host of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4, replacing Sandi Toksvig.
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James Barry
- Occupations
- military physiciansurgeon
- Biography
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James Barry was a military surgeon in the British Army. Originally from the city of Cork in Ireland, Barry obtained a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, then served first in Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently in many parts of the British Empire. Before retirement, Barry had risen to the rank of Inspector General (equivalent to Brigadier) in charge of military hospitals, the second-highest medical office in the British Army. Barry not only improved conditions for wounded soldiers, but also the conditions of the native inhabitants, and performed the first recorded caesarean section by a European in Africa in which both the mother and child survived the operation.
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Chris Hoy
- Occupations
- racing automobile driversport cyclistautobiographer
- Biography
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Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy is a former track cyclist and racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
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Ian Rankin
- Occupations
- crime fiction writernovelistwriter
- Biography
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Sir Ian James Rankin OBE DL FRSE FRSL FRIAS is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
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Margareta of Romania
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania is the eldest daughter of King Michael I and Queen Anne of Romania. She assumed her father's duties in March 2016, upon his retirement, and has claimed the headship of the House of Romania since his death on 5 December 2017. She also heads the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation.
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Robert Liston
- Occupations
- inventorsurgeon
- Biography
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Robert Liston FRCSE FRCS FRS was a British surgeon. Liston was noted for his speed and skill in an era prior to anaesthetics, when speed made a difference in terms of pain and survival. He was the first Professor of Clinical Surgery at University College Hospital in London and performed the first public operation utilising modern anaesthesia in Europe.
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Benjamin Constant
- Occupations
- diaristscientistpoliticianwriterphilosopher
- Biography
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Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque, or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
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Ruth Davidson
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links, PC, is a Scottish politician. A member of the House of Lords since 2021, she was Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish Parliament from 2020 to 2021. She served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow from 2011 to 2016 and for Edinburgh Central from 2016 to 2021. She has been a member of the House of Lords since 2021. Davidson is co-host of Sky News podcast Electoral Dysfunction alongside Beth Rigby and Baroness Harman.
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JJ Chalmers
- Occupations
- television presenter
- Biography
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John-James Chalmers is a Scottish television presenter and Invictus Games medallist. He was injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2011, while serving as a Royal Marine.
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Amelia Windsor
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Studied Italian and French
- Occupations
- aristocratediting stafffashion editorphilanthropistmodel
- Biography
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Lady Amelia Sophia Theodora Mary Margaret Windsor is a British fashion model and relative of the British royal family. As of February 2025, she is 44th in the line of succession to the British throne. She is a granddaughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, so she is consequently a great-great-granddaughter of George V and Queen Mary; she is a second cousin once removed of Charles III.
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Bruce Chatwin
- Occupations
- authortravelernovelistwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Charles Bruce Chatwin FRSL was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, In Patagonia (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, interested in bringing to light unusual tales. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill (1982), while his novel Utz (1988) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2008 The Times ranked Chatwin as number 46 on their list of "50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945".
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Ed Stoppard
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
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Edmund Stoppard is an English actor. He is the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and doctor Miriam, Lady Hogg. his credits include The Pianist (2002), Joy Division (2006), Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006), Tchaikovsky (2007), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Britain's Greatest Codebreaker (2011), The Politician's Husband (2013), Cilla (2014), Blackwood (2014), Angelica (2015), Home Fires (2015), The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015–2017), Genius (2017), Knightfall (2017–2019), Brave New World (2020), The Princess (2022), and Golda (2023).
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Alexander McCall Smith
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterchildren's writernovelist
- Biography
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Sir Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith CBE FRSE is a Scottish legal scholar and author of fiction. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and was formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and bioethics and served on related British and international committees. He has since become known as a fiction writer, with sales in English exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is known as the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. The "McCall" derives from his great-great-grandmother Bethea McCall, who married James Smith at Glencairn, Dumfries-shire, in 1833.
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Prafulla Chandra Ray
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Graduated with Doctor of Science
- Occupations
- chemistprofessor
- Biography
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Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray CIE FNI FRASB FIAS FCS was an Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. He established the first modern Indian research school in chemistry (post classical age) and is regarded as the Father of Indian Chemistry.
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John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866.
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Benjamin Rush
- Occupations
- politicianphysicianchemistwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Dr. Benjamin Rush was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educator, and the founder of Dickinson College. Rush was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress. He later described his efforts in support of the American Revolution, saying: "He aimed well." He served as surgeon general of the Continental Army and became a professor of chemistry, medical theory, and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Elize du Toit
- Occupations
- film directorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Elize du Toit is a South African-born English former actress best known for playing the role of Izzy Davies in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks from 2000 to 2004, with a brief return in 2007.
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Erasmus Darwin
- Occupations
- writerphysicianpoetphilosopherphysician writer
- Biography
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Erasmus Robert Darwin FRS was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, freemason, and poet.
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James Hutton
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- 1740-1743 studied mathematics and metaphysics
- 1744-1746 studied medicine
- Occupations
- physicianindustrialistmeteorologistgeologistfarmer
- Biography
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James Hutton FRSE was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the "Father of Modern Geology," he played a key role in establishing geology as a modern science.
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Robin Cook
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003.
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John William Polidori
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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John William Polidori was a British writer and physician. He is known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. His most successful work was the short story "The Vampyre" (1819), the first published modern vampire story. Although the story was at first erroneously credited to Lord Byron, both Byron and Polidori affirmed that the author was Polidori.
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Joseph Bell
- Occupations
- university teachersurgeonphysicianpathologist
- Biography
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Joseph Bell FRCSE was a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is best known as an inspiration for the literary character, Sherlock Holmes.
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Oliver Goldsmith
- Occupations
- writerphysicianpoetpolygraphphysician writer
- Biography
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Oliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish writer best known for his works The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), The Good-Natur'd Man (1768), The Deserted Village (1770) and She Stoops to Conquer (1771). He is thought by some to have written the classic children's tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765).
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Gregor MacGregor
- Occupations
- military personnelexplorer
- Biography
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General Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and confidence trickster who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; more than half of them died. Seen as a contributory factor to the "Panic of 1825", MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.
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Richard Owen
- Occupations
- anatomistpaleontologistpaleoanthropologistuniversity teachercurator
- Biography
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Sir Richard Owen KCB FRMS FRS was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils.
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John Boyd Dunlop
- Occupations
- entrepreneurveterinarianinventor
- Biography
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John Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish inventor and veterinary surgeon who spent most of his career in Ireland. Familiar with making rubber devices, he invented the first practical pneumatic tyres for his child's tricycle and developed them for use in cycle racing. He sold his rights to the pneumatic tyres to a company he formed with the president of the Irish Cyclists' Association, Harvey du Cros, for a small cash sum and a small shareholding in their pneumatic tyre business. Dunlop withdrew in 1896. The company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, was not incorporated until later and, despite its name, was Du Cros's creation.
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Judy Murray
- Occupations
- tennis coachcoachtennis player
- Biography
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Judith Mary Murray is a Scottish tennis coach. She is the mother of professional tennis players Jamie and Sir Andy Murray.
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Tessa Jowell
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, DBE, PC was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from 1992 to 2015.
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Mungo Park
- Occupations
- geographerphysician writerphysicianbotanistexplorer
- Biography
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Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer of West Africa. After an exploration of the upper Niger River around 1796, he wrote a popular and influential travel book titled Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa in which he theorized the Niger and Congo merged to become the same river, though it was later proven that they are different rivers. He was killed during a second expedition, having successfully travelled about two-thirds of the way down the Niger.
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Gillian McKeith
- Occupations
- nutritionisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Gillian McKeith is a Scottish television personality and writer. She is known for her promotion of various pseudoscientific ideas about health and nutrition. She is the former host of Channel 4's You Are What You Eat (2004–2006), Granada Television's Dr Gillian McKeith's Feel Fab Forever (2009–2010), and W Network's Eat Yourself Sexy (2010). In 2008, McKeith regularly appeared on the E4 health show Supersize vs Superskinny, and in 2010, she was a contestant on the tenth series of the ITV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
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Anneliese Dodds
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Anneliese Jane Dodds is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and public policy analyst serving as Minister of State for Development and Minister of State for Women and Equalities since July 2024. She previously served as Chair of the Labour Party from 2021 to 2024. She was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 2020 to May 2021, the first woman to hold the position, and Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities from 2021 to 2024. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford East since 2017 and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2017.
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James Mill
- Occupations
- editorpoliticianhistorianeconomistliterary critic
- Biography
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James Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote The History of British India (1817) and was one of the prominent historians to take a colonial approach. He was the first writer to divide Indian history into three parts: Hindu, Muslim and British, a classification which has proved surpassingly influential in the field of Indian historical studies.
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Bill Moyers
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Bill Moyers is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, from 1967 to 1974. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years. Moyers has been extensively involved with public broadcasting, producing documentaries and news journal programs, and has won many awards and honorary degrees for his investigative journalism and civic activities. He has become well known as a trenchant critic of the corporately structured U.S. news media.
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John Swinney
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John Ramsay Swinney is a Scottish politician who has served as first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on two occasions, since 2024 and between 2000 and 2004. He has held various roles within the Scottish Cabinet from 2007 to 2023 under First Ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. Swinney was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North Tayside from 1999 to 2011 and, following boundary changes, has been MSP for Perthshire North since 2011. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tayside North from 1997 to 2001.
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Hastings Banda
- Occupations
- physicianpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
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Hastings Kamuzu Banda was a Malawian politician and statesman who served as the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He served as Prime Minister from independence in 1964 to 1966, when Malawi was a Dominion/Commonwealth realm. In 1966, the country became a republic and he became the first president as a result, ruling until his defeat in 1994.
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Danny Kruger
- Enrolled in the University of Edinburgh
- Studied history
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Daniel Rayne Kruger MBE is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Wiltshire, previously Devizes, since 2019. He has been Shadow Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence since July 2024.
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Kaye Adams
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presenterradio personality
- Biography
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Kaye Adams is a Scottish television presenter and journalist. She was an anchor on ITV topical discussion show Loose Women from 1999 to 2006 and again from 2013 and was a regular panellist on Channel 5's daily morning show The Wright Stuff from 2007 until 2012.
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Eric Melrose Brown
- Occupations
- writertest pilotmilitary officer
- Biography
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Captain Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Navy officer and test pilot who flew 487 types of aircraft, more than anyone else in history.
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Humphrey Ker
- Occupations
- actorcomediantelevision actor
- Biography
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David Humphrey Rivers Ker is a British actor, comedian, writer and football executive, who is a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls.
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James Boswell
- Occupations
- biographerdiaristwriterlawyer
- Biography
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James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, Life of Samuel Johnson, which is commonly said to be the greatest biography written in the English language. A great mass of Boswell's diaries, letters, and private papers were recovered from the 1920s to the 1950s, and their publication by Yale University has transformed his reputation.
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Margot Käßmann
- Occupations
- university teachertheologianpastorparson
- Biography
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Margot Käßmann is a Lutheran theologian, who was Landesbischöfin (bishop) of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover in Germany. On 28 October 2009, she was also elected to lead the Protestant Church in Germany, a federation of Protestant church bodies in Germany. She stepped down from both offices on 24 February 2010 following a drink-driving incident. After serving as a "Reformation Ambassador" for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, she retired in 2018.
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Kezia Dugdale
- Occupations
- bloggerpolitician
- Biography
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Kezia Alexandra Ross Dugdale is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 to 2017. A former member of the Scottish Labour Party and Co-operative Party, she was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region from 2011 to 2019.
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David Rintoul
- Occupations
- stage actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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David Rintoul is a Scottish stage and television actor. Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
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Yun Posun
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Yun Po-sun was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the second president of South Korea from 1960 to 1962. He was the only president of the short-lived Second Republic of Korea, and served as little more than a figurehead due to its nature as a parliamentary system.
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Katherine Grainger
- Occupations
- rower
- Biography
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Dame Katherine Jane Grainger is a Scottish former rower and current Chair of UK Sport. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion for Great Britain. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University between 2015 and 2020 and is currently Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
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Christy Clark
- Occupations
- radio personalitypolitician
- Biography
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Christina Joan Clark is a Canadian politician who served as the 35th premier of British Columbia from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female premier in Canada to lead her party to a plurality of seats in two consecutive general elections.
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George Leslie Mackay
- Occupations
- missionarypriest
- Biography
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George Leslie Mackay was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary. He was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Taiwan (then Formosa), serving with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. Mackay is among the best known and most influential Westerners to have lived in Taiwan.
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Robert Stephenson
- Occupations
- civil engineerpoliticianrailway engineer
- Biography
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Robert Stephenson FRS, HonFRSE, FRSA, DCL was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father. Robert has been called the greatest engineer of the 19th century. Stephenson's death was widely mourned, and his funeral afforded marks of public honour. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
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Igor Tamm
- Occupations
- university teachertheoretical physicistinventorphysicist
- Biography
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Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm was a Soviet physicist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, for their 1934 discovery and demonstration of Cherenkov radiation. He also predicted the quasi-particle of sound: the phonon; and in 1951, together with Andrei Sakharov, proposed the Tokamak system.
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Kirsty Wark
- Occupations
- journalistbusinessperson
- Biography
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Kirsteen Anne "Kirsty" Wark FRSE is a Scottish television presenter and journalist with a long career at the BBC.
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A. S. Neill
- Occupations
- psychologistnon-fiction writerjournalistphilosopherpedagogue
- Biography
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Alexander Sutherland Neill was a Scottish educator and author known for his school, Summerhill, and its philosophy of freedom from adult coercion and community self-governance. Raised in Scotland, Neill taught at several schools before attending the University of Edinburgh in 1908–1912. He took two jobs in journalism before World War I, and taught at Gretna Green Village School in the second year of the war, writing his first book, A Dominie's Log (1915), as a diary of his life there as head teacher. He joined a Dresden school in 1921 and founded Summerhill on returning to England in 1924. Summerhill gained renown in the 1930s and then in the 1960s–1970s, due to progressive and counter-culture interest. Neill wrote 20 books. His top seller was the 1960 Summerhill, read widely in the free school movement from the 1960s.
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Jimmy Finlayson
- Occupations
- film actorstage actoractorcomedian
- Biography
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James Henderson Finlayson was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Balding, with a fake moustache, he had many trademark comic mannerisms—including his squinting, outraged double-take reactions, and his characteristic exclamation: "D'ooooooh!" He is the best remembered comic foil of Laurel and Hardy.
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Robert Indiana
- Occupations
- graphic artistpostage stamp designerprintmakercostume designersculptor
- Biography
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Robert Indiana was an American artist associated with the pop art movement.
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Joseph Black
- Occupations
- university teacheracademicphysicistchemist
- Biography
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Joseph Black was a British physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry at the University of Glasgow for 10 years from 1756, and then Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh from 1766, teaching and lecturing there for more than 30 years.
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Darius Campbell Danesh
- Occupations
- autobiographersongwriteropera singeractor
- Biography
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Darius Campbell Danesh was a Scottish singer-songwriter, actor and film producer. He first came to prominence as Darius Danesh when he appeared in the first series of Popstars in 2001, and the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol.
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Clifton Wrottesley, 6th Baron Wrottesley
- Occupations
- bobsledderpoliticianskeleton racer
- Biography
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Clifton Hugh Lancelot de Verdon Wrottesley, 6th Baron Wrottesley is an Irish and British peer and Conservative member of the House of Lords. He represented Ireland in men's skeleton at the 2002 Winter Olympics, finishing fourth.
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Prakash Karat
- Occupations
- writerpoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Prakash Karat is an Indian Communist politician. He is serving as interim co-ordinator of CPM. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015.
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Reginald Johnston
- Occupations
- Hofmeistersinologistuniversity teacherwriterdiplomat
- Biography
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Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston KCMG CBE was a Scottish diplomat and colonial official who served as the tutor and advisor to Puyi, the last emperor of China. He was also the last British Commissioner of Weihaiwei. Johnston's book Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934) was used as a source for Bernardo Bertolucci's film dramatization of Puyi's life The Last Emperor.
