100 Notable alumni of
University of Cambridge
Updated:
The University of Cambridge is 15th in the world, 3rd in Europe, and 2nd in the United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Cambridge sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 20 individuals affiliated with the University of Cambridge won Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
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Stephen Hawking
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- 1962-1966 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- cosmologistwritertheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world.
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Isaac Newton
- Occupations
- philosophermathematician
- Biography
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Sir Isaac Newton was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author who was described in his time as a natural philosopher. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His pioneering book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, consolidated many previous results and established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing infinitesimal calculus, though he developed calculus years before Leibniz. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential scientists in history.
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Robert Oppenheimer
- Occupations
- university teacherscience administratortheoretical physicistengineerart collector
- Biography
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J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist. He was director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II and is often called the "father of the atomic bomb".
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Charles Darwin
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- In 1828 studied theology
- Occupations
- naturalistethologistwritergeologistbotanist
- 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 concept in science. In a joint publication 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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Rachel Weisz
- Occupations
- film actoraudiobook narratortelevision actoractorfilm director
- Biography
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Rachel Hannah Weisz is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received several awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award.
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Tom Hiddleston
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in classics
- Occupations
- stage actorcomedianfilm actorfilm producermusician
- Biography
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Thomas William Hiddleston is an English actor. He gained international fame portraying Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting with Thor in 2011 and most recently headlining the Disney+ series Loki since 2021.
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Freddie Highmore
- Occupations
- voice actortelevision produceractordirectortelevision actor
- Biography
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Alfred Thomas Highmore is an English actor. He is known for his starring roles beginning as a child, in the films Finding Neverland (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Arthur and the Invisibles (2006), August Rush (2007), and The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008). He won two consecutive Critics' Choice Movie Awards for Best Young Performer.
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Emma Thompson
- Occupations
- writertelevision actorcomedianactorstage actor
- Biography
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Dame Emma Thompson is a British actress and screenwriter. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning more than four decades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2018, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to drama.
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Srinivasa Ramanujan
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
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Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions, including solutions to mathematical problems then considered unsolvable.
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Lord Byron
- Occupations
- playwrightdiaristaristocratpoetlyricist
- Biography
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George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron FRS was an English poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as among the greatest of English poets. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narratives Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular.
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Bertrand Russell
- Occupations
- analytic philosopherphilosopher of languageautobiographerepistemologistmathematician
- Biography
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Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British mathematician, philosopher, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic philosophy.
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John Cleese
- Occupations
- voice actortelevision actorfilm directorcomedianstage actor
- Biography
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John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and presenter. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he cofounded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. Along with his Python costars Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in Monty Python films, which include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983).
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Naomie Harris
- Occupations
- film actoractor
- Biography
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Naomie Melanie Harris is an English actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series Simon and the Witch in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film 28 Days Later (2002), the witch Tia Dalma in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films, Winnie Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), and Frances Barrison / Shriek in Sony's Spider-Man Universe film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). She portrayed Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond films Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).
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Niels Bochr
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopher of sciencechemistphysicistassociation football player
- Biography
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Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
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John Maynard Keynes
- Occupations
- professormathematicianauthordiplomatnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes CB, FBA was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in mathematics, he built on and greatly refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles. One of the most influential economists of the 20th century, he produced writings that are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, and its various offshoots. His ideas, reformulated as New Keynesianism, are fundamental to mainstream macroeconomics. He is known as the "father of macroeconomics".
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Sam Mendes
- Occupations
- film producertelevision directortheatrical directorscreenwriterdirector
- Biography
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Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List.
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Rajiv Gandhi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Rajiv Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the 6th Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become at the age of 40 the youngest Indian prime minister. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination.
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Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Occupations
- epistemologistprofessorarchitectural theoreticianmathematicianteacher
- Biography
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Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.
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Milton Friedman
- Occupations
- statisticianeconomistuniversity teacheressayist
- Biography
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Milton Friedman was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy. With George Stigler, Friedman was among the intellectual leaders of the Chicago school of economics, a neoclassical school of economic thought associated with the work of the faculty at the University of Chicago that rejected Keynesianism in favor of monetarism until the mid-1970s, when it turned to new classical macroeconomics heavily based on the concept of rational expectations. Several students, young professors and academics who were recruited or mentored by Friedman at Chicago went on to become leading economists, including Gary Becker, Robert Fogel, and Robert Lucas Jr.
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Erasmus
- Occupations
- essayistlatinisttranslatorphilosopherwriter
- Biography
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Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic theologian, educationalist, satirist and philosopher. Through his vast number of translations, books, essays, prayers and letters, he is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the Northern Renaissance and one of the major figures of Dutch and Western culture.
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Ernest Rutherford
- Occupations
- university teacherprofessorchemistphysicistpolitician
- Biography
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Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, PRS, HonFRSE was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both atomic and nuclear physics. Rutherford has been described as "the father of nuclear physics", and "the greatest experimentalist since Michael Faraday". In 1908, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances." He was the first Oceanian Nobel laureate, and the first to perform the awarded work in Canada.
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Sonia Gandhi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician serving as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Raebareli. She had previously served as the President of the Indian National Congress, being the longest-serving in its history. She was married to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi until his assassination in 1991.
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Karl Popper
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teachersociologistphilosopher of sciencephilosopher
- Biography
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Sir Karl Raimund Popper was an Austrian–British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the classical inductivist views on the scientific method in favour of empirical falsification. According to Popper, a theory in the empirical sciences can never be proven, but it can be falsified, meaning that it can (and should) be scrutinised with decisive experiments. Popper was opposed to the classical justificationist account of knowledge, which he replaced with critical rationalism, namely "the first non-justificational philosophy of criticism in the history of philosophy".
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Vladimir Nabokov
- Occupations
- zoologistentomologistlepidopteristnovelistliterary scholar
- Biography
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (Владимир Сирин), was an expatriate Russian and Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian (1926–1938) while living in Berlin, where he met his wife. He achieved international acclaim and prominence after moving to the United States, where he began writing in English. Nabokov became an American citizen in 1945 and lived mostly on the East Coast before returning to Europe in 1961, where he settled in Montreux, Switzerland.
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Lee Kuan Yew
- Occupations
- autobiographerlawyerpoliticianphilosopherstatesperson
- Biography
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Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean statesman and lawyer who served as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party from 1954 to 1992. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tanjong Pagar from 1955 until his death in 2015. Lee is widely recognised as the founding father of the modern Singaporean state, and for his leadership in turning the island into a highly developed city state.
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Peter Paul Rubens
- Occupations
- printmakerarchitectural draftspersonpainterdiplomatgraphic artist
- Biography
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Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens's highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens was a painter producing altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. He was also a prolific designer of cartoons for the Flemish tapestry workshops and of frontispieces for the publishers in Antwerp.
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Richard Ayoade
- Occupations
- screenwritertelevision actorcomediantelevision presenterfilm director
- Biography
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Richard Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, writer and director. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance.
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Constantine II of Greece
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied history of Europe
- Occupations
- sailormonarch
- Biography
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Constantine II was the last King of Greece, reigning from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973.
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James Clerk Maxwell
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacherphysicistinventorthermodynamicist
- Biography
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James Clerk Maxwell FRSE FRS was a Scottish physicist with broad interests 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 have been called the "second great unification in physics" where the first one had been realised by Isaac Newton.
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Margrethe II of Denmark
- Occupations
- paintermonarchscreenwritertextile artist
- Biography
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Margrethe II is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 1972 until her abdication in 2024. Having reigned for exactly 52 years, she was the second-longest reigning monarch after Christian IV and longest-reigning female monarch in Danish history.
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Muhammad Iqbal
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- 1905-1907 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- children's writerwriterlawyerpoetpolitician
- Biography
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Muhammad Iqbal was a South Asian Muslim philosopher, author, and politician. His poetry is considered to be among the greatest of the 20th century, and his vision of a cultural and political ideal for the Muslims of British-ruled India is widely regarded as having animated the impulse for the Pakistan Movement. He is commonly referred to by the honourific Allama (Persian: علامه, transl. "learned").
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J. J. Thomson
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicistmathematician
- Biography
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Sir Joseph John Thomson was a British physicist and Nobel Laureate in Physics, credited with the discovery of the electron, the first subatomic particle to be found.
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Rosalind Franklin
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- In 1945 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in physical chemistry
- Occupations
- crystallographerbiochemistuniversity teacherphysicistbiologist
- Biography
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Rosalind Elsie Franklin was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal, and graphite. Although her works on coal and viruses were appreciated in her lifetime, Franklin's contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA were largely unrecognized during her life, for which Franklin has been variously referred to as the "wronged heroine", the "dark lady of DNA", the "forgotten heroine", a "feminist icon", and the "Sylvia Plath of molecular biology".
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Thandiwe Newton
- Occupations
- film actor
- Biography
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Melanie Thandiwe Newton, formerly credited as Thandie Newton, is a British actress. She has received various awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award, and a BAFTA TV Award, in addition to nominations for two Golden Globe Awards. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to film and charity.
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Amartya Sen
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teachereconomistsociologistphilosopher
- Biography
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Amartya Kumar Sen is an Indian economist and philosopher, who has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States since 1972. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economic and social justice, economic theories of famines, decision theory, development economics, public health, and measures of well-being of countries.
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Derek Jacobi
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directorstage actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Sir Derek George Jacobi is an English actor. Jacobi is known for his work at the Royal National Theatre and for his film and television roles. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
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Thomas Robert Malthus
- Occupations
- writermathematicianAnglican prieststatisticianeconomist
- Biography
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Thomas Robert Malthus was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography.
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A. A. Milne
- Occupations
- essayistscreenwriterpoetauthorplaywright
- Biography
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Alan Alexander Milne was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-the-Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. Milne served in both World Wars, as a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the First World War and as a captain in the Home Guard in the Second World War.
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Homi Jehangir Bhabha
- Occupations
- nuclear physicist
- Biography
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Homi Jehangir Bhabha, FNI, FASc, FRS, Hon.FRSE was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely credited as the "father of the Indian nuclear programme". He was the founding director and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), as well as the founding director of the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) which was renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. TIFR and AEET served as the cornerstone of the Indian nuclear energy and weapons programme. He was the first chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy. By supporting space science projects which initially derived their funding from the AEC, he played an important role in the birth of the Indian space programme.
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James Mason
- Occupations
- autobiographerwriteractormanufacturerstage actor
- Biography
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James Neville Mason was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films included The Seventh Veil (1945) and The Wicked Lady (1945). He starred in Odd Man Out (1947), the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
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Marshall McLuhan
- Occupations
- university teachersociologistwriterrhetoricianliterary critic
- Biography
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Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his teaching career as a professor of English at several universities in the United States and Canada before moving to the University of Toronto in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life. He is known as the "father of media studies".
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Jin Yong
- Occupations
- science fiction writerwriternewspaper proprietorjournalistfilm director
- Biography
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Louis Cha Leung-yung, better known by his pen name Jin Yong (Chinese: 金庸), was a Chinese wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong daily newspaper Ming Pao in 1959 and served as its first editor-in-chief. He was Hong Kong's most famous writer, and is named along with Gu Long and Liang Yusheng as the "Three Legs of the Tripod of Wuxia". He is also known as one of the "Four Great Talents of Hong Kong".
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Lee Hsien Loong
- Occupations
- mathematicianpoliticianinternational forum participantmilitary officer
- Biography
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Lee Hsien Loong is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as the third Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Teck Ghee division of Ang Mo Kio GRC since 1991, and previously Teck Ghee SMC between 1984 and 1991.
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Vikram Sarabhai
- Occupations
- engineerphysicist
- Biography
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Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai Jain was an Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped to develop nuclear power in India.
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Carrie Lam
- Occupations
- politicianjustice of the peaceinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022, after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years.
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Christopher Marlowe
- Occupations
- poetplaywrighttranslatorwriter
- Biography
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Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the "many imitations" of his play Tamburlaine, modern scholars consider him to have been the foremost dramatist in London in the years just before his mysterious early death. Some scholars also believe that he greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was baptised in the same year as Marlowe and later succeeded him as the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright. Marlowe was the first to achieve critical reputation for his use of blank verse, which became the standard for the era. His plays are distinguished by their overreaching protagonists. Themes found within Marlowe's literary works have been noted as humanistic with realistic emotions, which some scholars find difficult to reconcile with Marlowe's "anti-intellectualism" and his catering to the prurient tastes of his Elizabethan audiences for generous displays of extreme physical violence, cruelty, and bloodshed.
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Dominic Raab
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Dominic Rennie Raab is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Esher and Walton since 2010. From 2019 to 2023, with a brief period out of office during the Truss premiership, Raab was deputy to prime ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak - as First Secretary of State until 2021 then as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom until 2023. Additionally he has served in the cabinet positions of Brexit Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor.
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Eric Idle
- Occupations
- screenwriterwritercomedianactorfilm director
- Biography
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Eric Idle is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined Cambridge University Footlights. He reached stardom when he co-created and acted in the sketch series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) and the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983) with John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman.
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Roger Penrose
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1955-1958
- Occupations
- university teacherastronomerastrophysicistphysicistphilosopher
- Biography
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Sir Roger Penrose is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and an honorary fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and University College London.
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Matt Hancock
- Occupations
- politicianinternational forum participanteconomist
- Biography
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Matthew John David Hancock is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 2018, and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2018 to 2021. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2010. He is a member of the Conservative Party, but now sits in the House of Commons as an independent, having had the whip suspended since November 2022.
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Paul Dirac
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1923-1926
- Occupations
- engineerprofessormathematicianphysicistacademic
- Biography
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Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was an English mathematical and theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He is credited with laying the foundations of quantum field theory. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a professor of physics at Florida State University and the University of Miami, and a 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics recipient.
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Sophie Winkleman
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm actorsingeractor
- Biography
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Sophie Lara Winkleman, styled as Lady Frederick Windsor, is an English actress. She is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the second cousin of King Charles III and son of Prince Michael of Kent.
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John Donne
- Occupations
- writersongwriterChristian ministerpoetpolitician
- Biography
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John Donne was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London (1621–1631). He is considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His poetical works are noted for their metaphorical and sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs and satires. He is also known for his sermons.
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Rina Sawayama
- Occupations
- modelwritersingeractormusician
- Biography
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Rina Sawayama is a Japanese and British singer, actress and model. Born in Niigata, Japan, she immigrated to London with her parents at the age of five. In 2017, she self-released her debut extended play, Rina. After signing to Dirty Hit in 2020, she released her debut studio album, Sawayama, to critical acclaim. Her second studio album, Hold the Girl, was released on 16 September 2022. Known for her musical versatility, Sawayama has also modelled for fashion campaigns, and made her film acting debut in the action film John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023).
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Georges Lemaître
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1923-1924
- Occupations
- university teachercosmologistCatholic priestphysicistmathematician
- Biography
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Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître was a Belgian Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Louvain. He was the first to theorize that the recession of nearby galaxies can be explained by an expanding universe, which was observationally confirmed soon afterwards by Edwin Hubble. He first derived "Hubble's law", now called the Hubble–Lemaître law by the IAU, and published the first estimation of the Hubble constant in 1927, two years before Hubble's article. Lemaître also proposed the "Big Bang theory" of the origin of the universe, calling it the "hypothesis of the primeval atom", and later calling it "the beginning of the world".
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Francis Crick
- Occupations
- writerbiochemistuniversity teacherphysicistbiologist
- Biography
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Francis Harry Compton Crick was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA molecule.
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Pedro Pablo Kuczynski
- Occupations
- bankerpoliticianeconomist
- 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 59th 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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Har Gobind Khorana
- Occupations
- university teacherbiologistgeneticist
- Biography
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Har Gobind Khorana was an Indian-American biochemist. While on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that showed the order of nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell and control the cell's synthesis of proteins. Khorana and Nirenberg were also awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in the same year.
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Sophia Myles
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Sophia Myles is an English actress. She is best known in film for portraying Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds (2004), Isolde in Tristan & Isolde (2006), Darcy in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Erika in Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Freya in Outlander (2008).
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Kwasi Kwarteng
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 2000
- Occupations
- politicianhistorian
- Biography
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Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng is a British politician who served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 6 September to 14 October 2022 under Liz Truss and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2021 to 2022 under Boris Johnson. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Spelthorne since 2010.
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Arianna Huffington
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1968-1972
- Occupations
- writerbiographervoice actorjournalistbusinessperson
- Biography
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Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington is a Greek American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of The Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books. She has been named to Time magazine's list of the worlds 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list.
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Francis Galton
- Occupations
- philosopherpsychologistinventorsociologistmathematician
- Biography
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Sir Francis Galton was a British polymath and the originator of the behavioral genetics movement during the Victorian era.
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Andrew Wiles
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- In 1980 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Sir Andrew John Wiles is an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, specialising in number theory. He is best known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem, for which he was awarded the 2016 Abel Prize and the 2017 Copley Medal and for which he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000. In 2018, Wiles was appointed the first Regius Professor of Mathematics at Oxford. Wiles is also a 1997 MacArthur Fellow.
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Motilal Nehru
- Occupations
- barristerpolitician
- Biography
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Motilal Nehru was an Indian lawyer, activist, and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He served as the Congress President twice, from 1919 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1929. He was a patriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family and the father of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister.
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David Frost
- Occupations
- broadcastercomediantelevision presenterwriterscreenwriter
- Biography
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Sir David Paradine Frost was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme That Was the Week That Was in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on American television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them the Nixon interviews with US president Richard Nixon in 1977 which were adapted into a stage play and film. Frost interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving from 1964 to 2016, from Alec Douglas-Home to David Cameron, and all eight American presidents in office from 1969 to 2008, from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush.
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Peter II of Yugoslavia
- Occupations
- kingmonarch
- Biography
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Peter II Karađorđević was the last king of Yugoslavia, reigning from October 1934 until he was deposed in November 1945. He was the last reigning member of the Karađorđević dynasty.
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G.H. Hardy
- Occupations
- university teacheracademicmathematician
- Biography
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Godfrey Harold Hardy was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of population genetics.
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Richard Blumenthal
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1967-1968
- Occupations
- politicianlawyereditor-in-chief
- Biography
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Richard Blumenthal is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, with a net worth over $100 million. He was Attorney General of Connecticut from 1991 to 2011.
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Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC, FRS, known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period 1830 to 1865, when Britain stood at the height of its imperial power. He held office almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865. He began his parliamentary career as a Tory, defected to the Whigs in 1830, and became the first prime minister from the newly formed Liberal Party in 1859. He was highly popular with the British public. David Brown argues that "an important part of Palmerston's appeal lay in his dynamism and vigour".
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Tara Westover
- Occupations
- writerhistorian
- Biography
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Tara Westover is an American memoirist, essayist and historian. Her memoir Educated (2018) debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list and was a finalist for a number of national awards, including the LA Times Book Prize, PEN America's Jean Stein Book Award, and two awards from the National Book Critics Circle Award. The New York Times ranked Educated as one of the 10 Best Books of 2018. Westover was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019.
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Freeman Dyson
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1946
- Occupations
- professortheoretical physicistphysiciststatisticianmathematician
- Biography
-
Freeman John Dyson was a British-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics, condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, and engineering. He was professor emeritus in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a member of the board of sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
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Françoise Gilot
- Occupations
- art criticwritermodelpainterillustrator
- Biography
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Françoise Gaime Gilot was a French painter. Gilot was an accomplished artist, notably in watercolors and ceramics, and a bestselling memoirist of the book Life with Picasso.
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Jerome Bruner
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1947
- Occupations
- university teacherpsychologistpedagogue
- Biography
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Jerome Seymour Bruner was an American psychologist who made significant contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology. Bruner was a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law. He received a BA in 1937 from Duke University and a PhD from Harvard University in 1941. He taught and did research at Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and New York University. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Bruner as the 28th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
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William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacherphysicistastronomerwriter
- Biography
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William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FRSE was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. He was the Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, where he undertook significant research and mathematical analysis of electricity, the formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and contributed significantly to unifying physics, which was then in its infancy of development as an emerging academic discipline. He received the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1883, and served as its president from 1890 to 1895. In 1892, he became the first British scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords.
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Germaine Greer
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- In 1967 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- broadcasterwomen's rights activistuniversity teacherjournalistscreenwriter
- Biography
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Germaine Greer is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the second-wave feminism movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
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James Chadwick
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1919
- Occupations
- nuclear physicistuniversity teacherphysicist
- Biography
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Sir James Chadwick, CH, FRS was an English physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. In 1941, he wrote the final draft of the MAUD Report, which inspired the U.S. government to begin serious atom bomb research efforts. He was the head of the British team that worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He was knighted in Britain in 1945 for his achievements in physics.
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Thomas Cranmer
- Occupations
- priesttheologiancanon law juristCatholic bishop
- Biography
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Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm.
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Alfred Marshall
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosophereconomist
- Biography
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Alfred Marshall was an English economist, and was one of the most influential economists of his time. His book Principles of Economics (1890) was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years. It brought the ideas of supply and demand, marginal utility, and costs of production into a coherent whole. He is known as one of the founders of neoclassical economics.
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Bjarne Stroustrup
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- computer scientistwriteruniversity teacherprogrammerengineer
- Biography
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Bjarne Stroustrup is a Danish computer scientist, most notable for the invention and development of the C++ programming language. Stroustrup served as a visiting professor of computer science at Columbia University beginning in 2014, where he has been a full professor since 2022.
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Norbert Wiener
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1913-1914
- Occupations
- university teacherautobiographercomputer scientistfounderpsychologist
- Biography
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Norbert Wiener was an American computer scientist, mathematician and philosopher. He became a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and mathematical noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.
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Roger Scruton
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in philosophy
- Graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, FBA, FRSL was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views.
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Henry Cavendish
- Occupations
- chemistphysicistmathematician
- Biography
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Henry Cavendish was an English natural philosopher and scientist who was an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "inflammable air". He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper, On Factitious Airs. Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment and gave the element its name.
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Edsger W. Dijkstra
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1951-1951
- Occupations
- computer scientistphysicistuniversity teacherengineermathematician
- Biography
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Edsger Wybe Dijkstra was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, software engineer, and science essayist.
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Abdus Salam
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicisttheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Mohammad Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist. He shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg for his contribution to the electroweak unification theory. He was the first Pakistani and the first Muslim from an Islamic country to receive a Nobel Prize in science and the second from an Islamic country to receive any Nobel Prize, after Anwar Sadat of Egypt.
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William Makepeace Thackeray
- Occupations
- novelistprose writerwriter
- Biography
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William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1847–1848 novel Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of British society, and the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, which was adapted for a 1975 film by Stanley Kubrick.
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Justin Welby
- Occupations
- Anglican priesttheologianbusinesspersonChristian ministerinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Justin Portal Welby is a British Anglican bishop who, since 2013, has served as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury. Welby was previously the vicar of Southam in Warwickshire, and later served as Dean of Liverpool and Bishop of Durham. As Archbishop of Canterbury he is the Primate of All England and the symbolic head primus inter pares of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
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Joey Batey
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Graduated with French
- Occupations
- stage actorsingerfilm actoractorguitarist
- Biography
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Joey Batey is an English actor, musician, singer, and songwriter. He portrays the bard Jaskier in the fantasy series The Witcher, where he sang "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher", as well as other songs featured in the series.
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Siegfried Sassoon
- Occupations
- military personnelpoetreporterwriter
- Biography
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Siegfried Loraine Sassoon was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirized the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war with his "Soldier's Declaration" of July 1917, which resulted in his being sent to the Craiglockhart War Hospital. During this period he met and formed a friendship with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume, fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the Sherston trilogy.
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Nick Hornby
- Occupations
- film producernovelistwriterscreenwriteressayist
- Biography
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Nicholas Peter John Hornby is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir Fever Pitch (1992) and novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for An Education (2009), and Brooklyn (2015).
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M. S. Swaminathan
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- administratorgeneticistpoliticianagronomist
- Biography
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Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was an Indian agronomist, agricultural scientist, plant geneticist, administrator, and humanitarian. Swaminathan was a global leader of the green revolution. He has been called the main architect of the green revolution in India for his leadership and role in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice. Swaminathan's collaborative scientific efforts with Norman Borlaug, spearheading a mass movement with farmers and other scientists and backed by public policies, saved India and Pakistan from certain famine-like conditions in the 1960s. His leadership as director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines was instrumental in his being awarded the first World Food Prize in 1987, recognized as one of the highest honours in the field of agriculture. The United Nations Environment Programme has called him "the Father of Economic Ecology". He was recently conferred the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the Republic of India, in 2024.
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Henry Louis Gates, Jr
- Occupations
- historianwritergenealogistuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels and has published extensively on the recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon.
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Alfred North Whitehead
- Occupations
- theologianwriterphysicistphilosophermathematician
- Biography
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Alfred North Whitehead was an English mathematician and philosopher. He created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology.
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Christian Coulson
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Christian Peter Coulson is an English actor known for playing young Tom Marvolo Riddle in the 2002 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
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Liz Kendall
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Elizabeth Louise Kendall is a British Labour politician who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since 2023. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010.
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Louise Brealey
- Occupations
- film actorscreenwriteractorfilm producerjournalist
- Biography
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Louise Brealey, also credited as Loo Brealey, is an English actress, writer and journalist. She played Molly Hooper in Sherlock, Cass in Back, Scottish professor Jude McDermid in Clique, Gillian Chamberlain in A Discovery of Witches and Donna Harman in Death in Paradise.
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Ronald Fisher
- Enrolled in the University of Cambridge
- Studied in 1909-1912
- Occupations
- biologistastronomerstatisticiangeneticistmathematician
- Biography
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Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science" and "the single most important figure in 20th century statistics". In genetics, his work used mathematics to combine Mendelian genetics and natural selection; this contributed to the revival of Darwinism in the early 20th-century revision of the theory of evolution known as the modern synthesis, being the one to most comprehensively combine the ideas of Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin. For his contributions to biology, Richard Dawkins proclaimed Fisher as "the greatest of Darwin’s successors". He is considered one of the founding fathers of Neo-Darwinism.
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Sam Houser
- Occupations
- writervideo game developervideo game producerscreenwriterbusinessperson
- Biography
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Sam Houser is an English video game producer. He is a co-founder and the current president of Rockstar Games, and is one of the creative driving forces behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, having been its producer since the third game. His brother Dan was Rockstar's vice president of creativity until 2020.
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Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teachereconomiststatisticianmathematician
- Biography
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Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis OBE, FNA, FASc, FRS was an Indian scientist and statistician. He is best remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure, and for being one of the members of the first Planning Commission of free India. He made pioneering studies in anthropometry in India. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute, and contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys. For his contributions, Mahalanobis has been considered the Father of statistics in India.
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Simon Russell Beale
- Occupations
- writertelevision actoractorhistorianstage actor
- Biography
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Sir Simon Russell Beale is an English actor. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". He has received two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awards, and a Tony Award. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam
- Occupations
- international forum participantpolitician
- Biography
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam, also known mononymously as Tharman, is a Singaporean politician and economist who has served as the ninth president of Singapore since 2023.
