100 Notable alumni of
University of Glasgow
Updated:
The University of Glasgow is 119th in the world, 43rd in Europe, and 9th in the United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Glasgow sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Gerard Butler
- Occupations
- film actorlawyertelevision actoractorfilm producer
- Biography
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Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as Mrs Brown (1997), the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, he starred as Count Dracula in the gothic horror film Dracula 2000 with Christopher Plummer and Jonny Lee Miller.
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Adam Smith
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistFrench moralistpublishernon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Adam Smith was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics" or "The Father of Capitalism", he wrote two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work that treats economics as a comprehensive system and as an academic discipline. Smith refuses to explain the distribution of wealth and power in terms of God's will and instead appeals to natural, political, social, economic, legal, environmental and technological factors and the interactions between them. Among other economic theories, the work introduced Smith's idea of absolute advantage.
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James Watt
- Occupations
- mathematiciantechnicianphysicistentrepreneurchemist
- Biography
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James Watt FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.
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David Livingstone
- Occupations
- geographerphysician writerwriterexplorermissionary
- Biography
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David Livingstone was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. David was the husband of Mary Moffat Livingstone, from the prominent 18th-century missionary family, Moffat. Livingstone came to have a mythic status that operated on a number of interconnected levels: Protestant missionary martyr, working-class "rags-to-riches" inspirational story, scientific investigator and explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of British commercial and colonial expansion. As a result, Livingstone became one of the most popular British heroes of the late 19th-century Victorian era.
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Nicola Sturgeon
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first as an additional member for the Glasgow electoral region, and as the member for Glasgow Southside (formerly Glasgow Govan) from 2007.
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John Logie Baird
- Occupations
- physicistinventornon-fiction writerentrepreneur
- Biography
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John Logie Baird was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first live working television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the first publicly demonstrated colour television system and the first viable purely electronic colour television picture tube.
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Peter Mullan
- Occupations
- film actorscreenwritertelevision actoractorfilm director
- Biography
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Peter Mullan is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role in Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe (1998), The Claim (2000), and all three series of the BBC comedy series Mum, in which he starred as Michael.
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Emeli Sandé
- Occupations
- singersinger-songwriterrecording artist
- Biography
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Adele Emily Sandé,, known professionally as Emeli Sandé, is a Scottish singer and songwriter. Born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, and raised in Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by an English mother and a Zambian father, Sandé rose to prominence after being a featured artist on the 2009 track "Diamond Rings" by rapper Chipmunk. It was the first top 10 single on the UK Singles Chart for both of them. In 2010, she was featured on "Never Be Your Woman" by the rapper Wiley, which was another top ten hit. In 2012, she received the Brit Awards' Critics' Choice Award.
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John Knox
- Occupations
- Christian ministerwriterpoliticiantheologian
- Biography
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John Knox was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
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Steven Moffat
- Occupations
- film directorscience fiction writerteacherexecutive producerscreenwriter
- Biography
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Steven William Moffat is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as the second showrunner and head writer of the 2005 revival of the BBC sci-fi television series Doctor Who (2010–2017) and co-creating and co-writing the contemporary crime drama television series Sherlock, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories (2010–2017). In the 2015 Birthday Honours, Moffat was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama.
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Nikki Cross
- Occupations
- professional wrestler
- Biography
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Nicola Glencross is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Nikki Cross. She is a one-time WWE Raw Women's Champion, three-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion and an 11-time and final WWE 24/7 Champion.
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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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Humza Yousaf
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Humza Haroon Yousaf is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since March 2023. He served under his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as justice secretary from 2018 to 2021 and then as health secretary from 2021 to 2023. He has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Pollok since 2016, having previously been a regional MSP for Glasgow from 2011 to 2016.
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Armando Iannucci
- Occupations
- screenwriterwriterfilm producercomedianlibrettist
- Biography
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Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer and panellist. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University of Oxford. Starting on BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 4, his early work with Chris Morris on the radio series On the Hour transferred to television as The Day Today.
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Mark Millar
- Occupations
- screenwritercomics writer
- Biography
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Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer who first came to prominence with a run on the superhero series The Authority, published by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. Millar has written extensively for Marvel Comics, including runs on The Ultimates, which has been called "the comic book of the decade" by Time magazine and described as a major inspiration for the 2012 film The Avengers by its screenwriter Zak Penn, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Avengers for Marvel's Ultimate imprint, as well as Marvel Knights Spider-Man and Wolverine. In 2006, Millar wrote the Civil War mini-series that served as the centrepiece for the eponymous company-wide crossover storyline and later inspired the Marvel Studios film Captain America: Civil War. The "Old Man Logan" storyline, published as part of Millar's run on Wolverine, served as the inspiration for the 2017 film Logan.
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Andrew Neil
- Occupations
- journalistbusiness executiveeditorbroadcaster
- Biography
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Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of The Spectator. He was editor of The Sunday Times from 1983 to 1994. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4.
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Susan Calman
- Occupations
- stand-up comediantelevision presentercomedianactor
- Biography
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Susan Grace Calman is a Scottish comedian, television presenter, writer and panellist on a number of BBC Radio 4 shows including The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
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Cotton Mather
- Occupations
- historianwritertheologianpamphleteerChristian minister
- Biography
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Cotton Mather was a Puritan clergyman and author in colonial New England, who wrote extensively on theological, historical, and scientific subjects. After being educated at Harvard College, he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting House in Boston, Massachusetts, where he preached for the rest of his life. He has been referred to as the "first American Evangelical".
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Jocelyn Bell Burnell
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- Studied in 1965
- Occupations
- astrophysicistphysicistastronomer
- Biography
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Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who, as a postgraduate student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. The discovery eventually earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974; however, she was not one of the prize's recipients.
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Maxim Katz
- Occupations
- politicianpoker playertelevision produceractivistYouTuber
- Biography
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Maxim Yevgenyevich Katz is a Russian political and public figure, co-founder of the Urban Projects Foundation, author of the YouTube channel of the same name, Russian champion in sports poker, former deputy of the municipal assembly of the Moscow district Schukino (III convocation 2012–2016) from Party "Yabloko".
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Ruth Davidson
- Occupations
- politicianjournalist
- Biography
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Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links,, is a Scottish politician who served as 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.
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Nicholas Parsons
- Occupations
- actorcomedian
- Biography
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Christopher Nicholas Parsons was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show Just a Minute and hosted the game show Sale of the Century during the 1970s and early 1980s.
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A. J. Cronin
- Occupations
- essayistscreenwriterauthorplaywrightautobiographer
- Biography
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Archibald Joseph Cronin, known as A. J. Cronin, was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is The Citadel (1937), about a Scottish doctor who serves in a Welsh mining village before achieving success in London, where he becomes disillusioned about the venality and incompetence of some doctors. Cronin knew both areas, as a medical inspector of mines and as a doctor in Harley Street. The book exposed unfairness and malpractice in British medicine and helped to inspire the National Health Service.
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Bonar Law
- Occupations
- politicianchess player
- Biography
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Andrew Bonar Law, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
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R. D. Laing
- Occupations
- psychiatristpsychoanalystmilitary physiciannon-fiction writerphysician writer
- Biography
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Ronald David Laing, usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness—in particular, psychosis and schizophrenia. Laing's views on the causes and treatment of psychopathological phenomena were influenced by his study of existential philosophy and ran counter to the chemical and electroshock methods that had become psychiatric orthodoxy. Laing took the expressed feelings of the individual patient or client as valid descriptions of personal experience rather than simply as symptoms of mental illness. Though associated in the public mind with the anti-psychiatry movement, he rejected the label. Laing regarded schizophrenia as the normal psychological adjustment to a dysfunctional social context, although later in life he revised his views.
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Liam Fox
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- Studied in 1983
- Occupations
- physicianpoliticianinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Sir Liam Fox is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Somerset, formerly Woodspring, since 1992.
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Mhairi Black
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mhairi Black is a Scottish politician who has served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons since December 2022.
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Neil Oliver
- Occupations
- historianarchaeologistwritertelevision presenterjournalist
- Biography
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Neil Oliver is a Scottish television presenter and author. He has presented several documentary series on archaeology and history, including A History of Scotland, Vikings and Coast. He is also an author of popular history books and historical fiction.
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William Ramsay
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- Studied in 1868-1871
- Occupations
- professorhistorianchemistarchaeologist
- Biography
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Sir William Ramsay was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" along with his collaborator, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year for their discovery of argon. After the two men identified argon, Ramsay investigated other atmospheric gases. His work in isolating argon, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon led to the development of a new section of the periodic table.
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Vince Cable
- Occupations
- economistpolitician
- Biography
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Sir John Vincent Cable is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010 to 2015.
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James George Frazer
- Occupations
- anthropologistwriterclassical scholartheologianhistorian
- Biography
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Sir James George Frazer was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion.
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Charles Kennedy
- Occupations
- politicianjournalist
- Biography
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Charles Peter Kennedy was a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 to 2015.
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Masataka Taketsuru
- Occupations
- politicianbusinesspersonengineer
- Biography
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Masataka Taketsuru was a Japanese chemist and businessman. He is known as the founder of Japan's whisky industry and Nikka Whisky Distilling.
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Regina Ip
- Occupations
- politicianHong Kong civil servant
- Biography
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Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a Chinese politician. She is currently the Convenor of the Executive Council (ExCo) and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), as well as the founder and current chairperson of the New People's Party. She was formerly a prominent government official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and was the first woman to be appointed the Secretary for Security to head the disciplinary service. She is also the founder and Chairwoman of Savantas Policy Institute, a think-tank in Hong Kong.
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Aamer Anwar
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Aamer Anwar is a British political activist and lawyer of Pakistani origin. He was an active participant in the Stop the War Coalition, and campaigned against the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles. He has been a longstanding critic of the Dungavel Detention Centre for failed asylum seekers, and is a trustee of the Time for Inclusive Education charity for LGBT-inclusive education in Scottish schools.
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Henry Campbell-Bannerman
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was a British statesman and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. He also served as Secretary of State for War twice, in the cabinets of Gladstone and Rosebery. He was the first first lord of the treasury to be officially called the "prime minister", the term only coming into official usage five days after he took office. He remains the only person to date to hold the positions of Prime Minister and Father of the House at the same time, and the last Liberal leader to gain a UK parliamentary majority.
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James Boswell
- Occupations
- lawyerwriterdiaristbiographer
- 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 his friend and older contemporary, the English writer 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 ongoing publication by Yale University has transformed his reputation.
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John Buchan
- Occupations
- novelistdiplomatbarristerjournalistpoet
- Biography
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John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
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Donald Ewen Cameron
- Occupations
- psychiatrist
- Biography
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Donald Ewen Cameron was a Scottish-born psychiatrist. He is largely known today for his central role in unethical medical experiments, and development of psychological and medical torture techniques for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He served as president of the American Psychiatric Association (1952–1953), Canadian Psychiatric Association (1958–1959), American Psychopathological Association (1963), Society of Biological Psychiatry (1965) and the World Psychiatric Association (1961–1966).
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William Boyd
- Occupations
- writerfilm directordirectornovelistscreenwriter
- Biography
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William Andrew Murray Boyd is a Scottish novelist, short story writer and screenwriter.
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Shereen Nanjiani
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Shereen Nanjiani is a Scottish radio presenter with BBC Radio Scotland.
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Hardeep Singh Kohli
- Occupations
- television presenterentertainer
- Biography
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Hardeep Singh Kohli is a British presenter, writer and director of Sikh heritage who has appeared on various radio and television programmes. Having moved to Scotland at a young age he has had a long association with the arts in Scotland, he is known more widely across the United Kingdom as a presenter on the BBC across television and radio, and Channel 4. He was also a finalist on Celebrity MasterChef in 2006 and a contestant in Celebrity Big Brother in 2018. Kohli was arrested and charged in 2023, in connection with alleged non-recent sexual offences and is awaiting a trial date.
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Joseph Black
- Occupations
- physicistacademicuniversity teacherchemist
- Biography
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Joseph Black was a Scottish 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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Katherine Grainger
- Occupations
- rower
- Biography
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Dame Katherine Jane Grainger is a British 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. 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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Lloyd Cole
- Occupations
- singersinger-songwritercomposer
- Biography
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Lloyd Cole is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was lead vocalist of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989 and subsequently worked solo.
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Michaela Tabb
- Occupations
- pool playersnooker referee
- Biography
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Michaela Tabb is a Scottish snooker and pool referee. She established significant milestones for female officials in professional cue sports, beginning in pool, where she officiated at top tournaments such as the WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the Mosconi Cup. She qualified in 2001 to referee on the World Snooker Tour and was the sport's highest profile female referee for the next 14 years. She became the first woman to officiate at a professional ranking snooker tournament at the 2002 Welsh Open, and the first woman to referee a ranking tournament final at the 2007 Welsh Open. As of 2022, she is the only woman to have refereed the World Snooker Championship final, which she did twice, in 2009 and 2012.
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Peter Murrell
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Peter Tierney Murrell is a former chief executive of the Scottish National Party (SNP). He is married to Nicola Sturgeon, the former leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland.
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Faia Younan
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Faia Younan is an Syrian-Assyrian singer, considered the first Middle Eastern artist ever to crowdfund her debut.
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Anas Sarwar
- Occupations
- politiciandentist
- Biography
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Anas Sarwar is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2016, having been Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Central from 2010 to 2015.
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Ron Donachie
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Ronald Eaglesham Porter, known professionally as Ron Donachie, is a Scottish actor. He is known for starring as DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the Ian Rankin "Rebus" detective novels and for his supporting roles in films The Jungle Book (1994), Titanic and television series Doctor Who and Game of Thrones.
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Dawda Kairaba Jawara
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- Studied veterinary medicine
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara was a Gambian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1970, and then as the first President of The Gambia from 1970 to 1994, when he was deposed.
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Menzies Campbell
- Occupations
- politicianlawyersprinter
- Biography
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Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, CH, CBE, PC, KC, often known as Ming Campbell, is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from 1987 to 2015 and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.
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Hugh Grant
- Occupations
- international forum participantentrepreneur
- Biography
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Hugh Grant is a Scottish business executive, who was the last CEO of Monsanto until its acquisition by Bayer.
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Donald Dewar
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Donald Campbell Dewar was a Scottish statesman and politician who served as the inaugural first minister of Scotland and leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. He previously served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997 to 1999. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Anniesland (formerly Glasgow Garscadden) from 1978 to 2000. Dewar was also Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the equivalent seat from 1999 to 2000.
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Colin MacLaurin
- Occupations
- physicistastronomermathematician
- Biography
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Colin Maclaurin was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. He is also known for being a child prodigy and holding the record for being the youngest professor. The Maclaurin series, a special case of the Taylor series, is named after him.
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Cosmo Gordon Lang
- Occupations
- politicianpriest
- Biography
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William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth, GCVO, GCStJ, PC was a Scottish Anglican prelate who served as Archbishop of York (1908–1928) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942). His elevation to Archbishop of York, within 18 years of his ordination, was the most rapid in modern Church of England history. As Archbishop of Canterbury during the abdication crisis of 1936, he took a strong moral stance, his comments in a subsequent broadcast being widely condemned as uncharitable towards the departed king.
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Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Occupations
- explorerbryologistmycologistwriterbotanist
- Biography
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Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker, and was awarded the highest honours of British science.
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Fazle Hasan Abed
- Occupations
- charity workerinternational forum participantchartered accountantsocial worker
- Biography
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Sir Fazle Hasan Abed was the founder of BRAC, one of the world's largest non-governmental organizations.
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Tobias Smollett
- Occupations
- historiantranslatorsurgeonwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Tobias George Smollett was a Scottish novelist, surgeon, critic and playwright. He was best known for picaresque novels such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), which influenced later novelists, including Charles Dickens. His novels were liberally altered by contemporary printers; an authoritative edition of each was edited by Dr O. M. Brack Jr and others.
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Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli
- Occupations
- autobiographerpoliticianteacher
- Biography
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Albert John Luthuli was a South African anti-apartheid activist, traditional leader, and politician who served as the President-General of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967.
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John Niven
- Occupations
- writerscreenwriterediting staffguitarist
- Biography
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John Niven is a Scottish author and screenwriter. His books include Kill Your Friends, The Amateurs, and The Second Coming.
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Fraser Nelson
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Fraser Andrew Nelson is a British political journalist and editor of The Spectator magazine.
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Francis Hutcheson
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- Studied in 1710-1716
- Occupations
- writertheologianuniversity teachereconomistphilosopher
- Biography
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Francis Hutcheson LLD was an Irish philosopher born in Ulster to a family of Scottish Presbyterians who became known as one of the founding fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment. He was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University and is remembered as author of A System of Moral Philosophy.
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Andrew Watson
- Occupations
- physicistengineermathematicianassociation football player
- Biography
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Andrew Watson was a Scottish footballer who is widely considered to be the first black person to play association football at international level. He played three matches for Scotland between 1881 and 1882. Arthur Wharton was previously commonly thought to be the first black player, as he was the first black professional footballer to play in the Football League, but Watson's career predated him by over a decade. There is evidence that Watson was paid professionally when at Bootle in 1887, two years prior to Wharton becoming a professional with Rotherham Town; however, the Merseyside club did not play in the Football League at the time Watson played there.
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Ewen MacAskill
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Ewen MacAskill is a Scottish journalist. He worked for 22 years on The Guardian, ending his career in September 2018 as the newspaper's defence and intelligence correspondent. MacAskill was involved in preparing the publication disclosures from Edward Snowden of the activities of the American National Security Agency (NSA).
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Takamine Jōkichi
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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Takamine Jōkichi was a Japanese chemist. He is known for being the first to isolate epinephrine in 1901.
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Denise Mina
- Occupations
- university teachercomics writernovelistplaywrightwriter
- Biography
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Denise Mina is a Scottish crime writer and playwright. She has written the Garnethill trilogy and another three novels featuring the character Patricia "Paddy" Meehan, a Glasgow journalist. Described as an author of Tartan Noir, she has also written for comic books, including 13 issues of Hellblazer.
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William Cullen
- Occupations
- academicpsychiatristsurgeonwriterfarmer
- Biography
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William Cullen was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and professor at the Edinburgh Medical School. Cullen was a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment: He was David Hume's physician, and was friends with Joseph Black, Henry Home, Adam Ferguson, John Millar, and Adam Smith, among others.
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Derek Mackay
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Derek Mackay is a former Scottish politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work from 2016 to 2020. A former member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Renfrewshire North and West from 2011 to 2021. Mackay served as a government minister from 2011 to 2020 under the administrations of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
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Thomas Campbell
- Occupations
- journalistpoetmusicologistwriter
- Biography
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Thomas Campbell was a Scottish poet. He was a founder and the first President of the Clarence Club and a co-founder of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland; he was also one of the initiators of a plan to found what became University College London. In 1799 he wrote Pleasures of Hope, a traditional 18th-century didactic poem in heroic couplets. He also produced several patriotic war songs— "Ye Mariners of England", "The Soldier's Dream", "Hohenlinden" and, in 1801, The Battle of the Baltic, but was no less at home in delicate lyrics such as "At Love's Beginning".
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David MacMillan
- Occupations
- chemistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Sir David William Cross MacMillan is a Scottish chemist and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University, where he was also the chair of the Department of Chemistry from 2010 to 2015. He shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Benjamin List "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis". MacMillan used his share of the $1.14 million prize to establish the May and Billy MacMillan Foundation.
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Richard Price
- Occupations
- writertheologianactuarymathematicianphilosopher
- Biography
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Richard Price was a Welsh moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer, pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French and American Revolutions. He was well-connected and fostered communication between many people, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, Mirabeau and the Marquis de Condorcet. According to the historian John Davies, Price was "the greatest Welsh thinker of all time".
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Lauri Love
- Occupations
- security hacker
- Biography
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Lauri Love is a British activist who was previously charged by the United States for his alleged activities with the hacker collective Anonymous. Love's case has been cited as precedent in the Julian Assange extradition proceedings.
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James McCune Smith
- Occupations
- physicianpharmacistwriter
- Biography
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James McCune Smith was an American physician, apothecary, abolitionist and author. He was the first African American to earn a medical degree. His M.D. was awarded by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. After his return to the United States, he also became the first African American to run a pharmacy in the nation.
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Scott Manley
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- 1990-1995 graduated with Master of Science in computational physics
- Occupations
- YouTuberastronomerscience communicatorprogrammer
- Biography
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Scott Park Manley is a Scottish science communication YouTuber, gamer, astrophysicist, and programmer. On his YouTube channel, he makes videos discussing space-related topics and news, mainly concerning up-to-date rocket science developments. He also plays space-themed video games, most notably Kerbal Space Program, while using his physics background to teach science concepts.
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James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce
- Occupations
- writerdiplomathistorianuniversity teacherbarrister
- Biography
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James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FBA, was a British academic, jurist, historian, and Liberal politician. According to Keoth Robbins, he was a widely traveled authority on law, government, and history whose expertise led to high political offices culminating with his successful role as ambassador to the United States, 1907–13. His intellectual influence was greatest in The American Commonwealth (1888), an in-depth study of American politics that shaped the understanding of America in Britain and in the United States as well.
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Robert Caldwell
- Occupations
- Dravidologistindologistmissionary
- Biography
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Robert Caldwell was a missionary for London Missionary Society. He arrived in British India at age 24, and studied the local language to spread the word of the Bible in a vernacular language, studies that led him to author a text on comparative grammar of the South Indian languages. In his book, Caldwell proposed that there are Dravidian words in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the archaic Greek language, and the places named by Ptolemy.
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Kevin Sneader
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- In 1988 studied law
- Occupations
- business executiveinternational forum participantbusiness consultant
- Biography
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Kevin Sneader is a Canadian-born British management consultant. He was McKinsey & Company's global managing partner from July 2018 to July 2021. He failed to secure a second term in that position in early 2021, becoming the first global managing partner since 1976 not to win such an election. He was hired by Goldman Sachs as co-president for the Asia-Pacific region in September 2021.
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Ken McCallum
- Occupations
- intelligence officercivil servant
- Biography
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Kenneth Douglas McCallum is a British intelligence officer who has been serving as the Director General of MI5 since 2020.
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Gail Honeyman
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Gail Honeyman is a Scottish writer whose debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award.
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Alan Sked
- Occupations
- politicianhistorian
- Biography
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Alan Sked is a British Eurosceptic academic. He founded the Anti-Federalist League (in order to oppose the Maastricht Treaty) and its successor the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He is Professor Emeritus of International History at the London School of Economics and has stood as a candidate in several parliamentary elections.
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Catherine Calderwood
- Occupations
- gynaecologist
- Biography
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Catherine Jane Calderwood FRCOG FRCPE is Northern-Irish born Scottish consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, who has served as the National Clinical Director for Sustainable Delivery at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital since 2021. She previously served as the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland from 2015 to 2020, having advised the Scottish Government's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.
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John Grierson
- Occupations
- film editordirectorscreenwriterproducerfilm producer
- Biography
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John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. In 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert J. Flaherty's Moana.
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John Toland
- Occupations
- theologianwriterphilosopher
- Biography
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John Toland was an Irish rationalist philosopher and freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, which are early expressions of the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment. Born in Ireland, he was educated at the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leiden and Oxford and was influenced by the philosophy of John Locke.
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Sir Thomas Munro, 1st Baronet
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Major-General Sir Thomas Munro, 1st Baronet KCB was a Scottish soldier and British colonial administrator. He served as an East India Company Army officer and statesman, in addition to also being the governor of Madras Presidency.
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Charles Mackay
- Occupations
- journalistwriterpoet
- Biography
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Charles Mackay was a Scottish poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter, remembered mainly for his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
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Robert Stirling
- Occupations
- inventorengineerclergycleric
- Biography
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Robert Stirling was a Scottish clergyman and engineer. He invented the Stirling engine and was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Jenny Gilruth
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jennifer Madeleine Gilruth is a Scottish politician who has served as the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Mid Fife and Glenrothes since 2016.
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James McGill
- Occupations
- politicianbusinesspersonmerchant
- Biography
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James McGill was a Scottish-Canadian businessman, fur trader, land speculator, and philanthropist best known for being the founder of McGill University in Montreal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Montreal West and appointed to the Executive Council of Lower Canada in 1792. He was the honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Battalion, Montreal Militia, a predecessor unit of The Canadian Grenadier Guards. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique and one of the original founding members of the Beaver Club. His summer home stood within the Golden Square Mile.
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Kazimierz Kuratowski
- Enrolled in the University of Glasgow
- Studied in 1913-1914
- Occupations
- mathematiciantopologistuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Kazimierz Kuratowski was a Polish mathematician and logician. He was one of the leading representatives of the Warsaw School of Mathematics. He worked as a professor at the University of Warsaw and at the Mathematical Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IM PAN). Between 1946 and 1953, he served as President of the Polish Mathematical Society.
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William McIlvanney
- Occupations
- journalistwriterpoet
- Biography
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William Angus McIlvanney was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was known as Gus by friends and acquaintances. McIlvanney was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch, and Walking Wounded are all known for their portrayal of Glasgow in the 1970s. He is regarded as "the father of Tartan Noir" and as Scotland's Camus.
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Gus O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell
- Occupations
- diplomatinternational forum participanteconomist
- Biography
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Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell, GCB, FBA, FAcSS is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 (under three Prime Ministers) served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the British Civil Service.
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Ken MacLeod
- Occupations
- science fiction writerwriterblogger
- Biography
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Kenneth Macrae MacLeod is a Scottish science fiction writer. His novels The Sky Road and The Night Sessions won the BSFA Award. MacLeod's novels have been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Campbell Memorial awards for best novel on multiple occasions. A techno-utopianist, MacLeod's work makes frequent use of libertarian socialist themes; he is a three-time winner of the libertarian Prometheus Award. Prior to becoming a novelist, MacLeod studied biology and worked as a computer programmer. He sits on the advisory board of the Edinburgh Science Festival. MacLeod has been chosen as a Guest of Honor at the 82nd Worldcon, Glasgow 2024
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Shona Robison
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Shona McRory Robison is a Scottish politician serving as Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Finance since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dundee City East since 2003 and was an additional member for the North East Scotland region from 1999 to 2003.
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James Wilson
- Occupations
- politicianjudge
- Biography
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James Wilson was a Scottish-born American Founding Father, legal scholar, jurist, and statesman who served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 1798. Wilson was elected twice to the Continental Congress, was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and was a major participant in drafting the U.S. Constitution becoming one of only six people to sign both documents. A leading legal theorist, he was one of the first four Associate Justices appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington. In his capacity as the first professor of law at the College of Philadelphia (later to become the University of Pennsylvania), he taught the first course on the new Constitution to President Washington and his Cabinet in 1789 and 1790.
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Alberto Costa
- Occupations
- politicianlawyersolicitor
- Biography
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Alberto Castrenze Costa is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Leicestershire since the 2015 general election.
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John Maclean
- Occupations
- politicianschool teacher
- Biography
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John Maclean was a Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary socialist of the Red Clydeside era. He was notable for his outspoken opposition to World War I, which caused his arrest under the Defence of the Realm Act and loss of his teaching post, after which he became a full-time Marxist lecturer and organiser. In April 1918 he was arrested for sedition, and his 75-minute speech from the dock became a celebrated text for Scottish left-wingers. He was sentenced to five years' penal servitude, but was released after the November armistice.
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David Douglas
- Occupations
- explorergardenerbotanistornithologist
- Biography
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David Douglas was a Scottish botanist, best known as the namesake of the Douglas fir. He worked as a gardener, and explored the Scottish Highlands, North America, and Hawaii, where he died. The standard author abbreviation Douglas is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
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Paul Sweeney
- Occupations
- economistpolitician
- Biography
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Paul John Sweeney FIES VR is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, he currently serves as Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region in the 6th Scottish Parliament, elected in May 2021. He previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North East from 2017 to 2019.
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John L. Hall
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicist
- Biography
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John Lewis "Jan" Hall is an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics. He shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics with Theodor W. Hänsch and Roy Glauber for his work in precision spectroscopy.
