List of University of Chicago alumni

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Nobel laureates

• Luis Alvarez (S.B.’32, S.M.’34, Ph.D.’36) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1968)
• Gary Becker (A.M.’53, Ph.D.’55) University Professor in Economics and Sociology; Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1992); John Bates Clark Medalist (1967), National Medal of Science for Behavioral and Social Science (2002)
• Saul Bellow (X.’39) Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and in English (1962-93); Nobel Laureate in Literature (1976); winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the novel Humboldt's Gift (1976); National Medal of Arts (1988)
• Herbert Brown (S.B.’36, Ph.D.’38) Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1979)
• James Buchanan (Ph.D.’48) Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1986)
• Owen Chamberlain (Ph.D.’49) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1959)
• James Cronin (S.M.’53, Ph.D.’55) University Professor Emeritus in Physics; Nobel Laureate in Physics (1980); National Medal of Science for Physical Sciences (1999)
• Clinton Davisson (S.B.’09) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1937)
• Jerome Friedman (A.B.’50, S.M.’53, Ph.D.’56) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1990)
• Milton Friedman (A.M.’33) Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Economics; Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1976); John Bates Clark Medalist (1951)
• Ernest Lawrence (X.’23) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1939)
• Tsung-Dao Lee (Ph.D.’50) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1957)
• Robert Lucas (A.B.’59, Ph.D.’64) John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the College; Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1995)
• Harry Markowitz (Ph.B.’47, A.M.’50, Ph.D.’55) Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1990)
• Robert Millikan (X'1894) Nobel Laureate in Physics, (1923)
• Robert Mulliken (Ph.D.’21) Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1966)
• Irwin Rose (S.B.'48, Ph.D.'52) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2004)
• F. Sherwood Rowland (S.M.’51, Ph.D.’52) Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1995)
• Paul Samuelson (A.B.’35) Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1970); John Bates Clark Medalist (1947)
• Myron Scholes (M.B.A.’64, Ph.D.’70) Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1997)
• Herbert Simon (A.B.’36, Ph.D.’43) Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1978)
• Roger Sperry (Ph.D.’41) Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (1981)
• Jack Steinberger (S.B.’42; Ph.D.’49) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1988
• George Stigler (S.B.’42, Ph.D.’49) Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (1982); National Medal of Science for Behavioral & Social Science (1987)
• Edward Lawrie Tatum (X.’31) Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (1958)
• Daniel Tsui (S.M.’63; Ph.D.’67) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1998)
• James Dewey Watson (Ph.B.’46, S.B.’47) Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (1962)
• Frank Wilczek (A.B. '70) Nobel Laureate in Physics (2004)
• Chen Ning Yang (Ph.D.’48) Nobel Laureate in Physics (1957)

Pulitzer Prize winners

• David Auburn (A.B.’91) Pulitzer Prize winner and Tony Award winner for the play Proof (2001)
• David Broder (A.B.’47, A.M.’51) Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary (1973); political correspondent and columnist for the Washington Post
• Roger Ebert (X’70) Pulitzer Prize winner for film criticism (1975); columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times
• Katharine Graham (A.B.’38) Chairman of the executive committee of the Washington Post; Pulitzer Prize winner for her memoir Personal History (1998)
• Seymour Hersh (A.B.’58) Pulitzer Prize winner for international reporting (1970)
• Dan Hertzberg (A.B.’68) Pulitzer Prize winner (1988) for reporting on the 1987 stock market crash; Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal
• Philip Roth (A.M.’55) Author; Pulitzer Prize winner for the novel American Pastoral (1998); National Medal of Arts (1998)
• Studs Terkel (Ph.B.’32, J.D.’34) Oral historian and radio host; Pulitzer Prize winner for The Good War: An Oral History of World War II (1985); National Humanities Medal (1997)

MacArthur Fellows

• Robert Axelrod (A.B.'64) MacArthur Fellow and “genius grant” winner (1990). Professor of Public Policy (Michigan).
• Bette Howland (A.B.'55) MacArthur Fellow and “genius grant” winner (1984), Writer
• Robert W. Kates (A.M.'60, Ph.D. '62) MacArthur Fellow and “genius grant” winner (1981). Professor Emeritus of Geography and Director Emeritus, World Hunger Program (Brown)
• Stephen Lee (Ph.D. '86) MacArthur Fellow and “genius grant” winner (1983). Professor of Chemistry (Michigan)
• Richard Rorty (A.B.'49, A.M.'52) MacArthur Fellow and “genius grant” winner (1981). Professor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature (Stanford)
• Michael Woodford (A.B.'77) MacArthur Fellow and “genius grant” winner (1981). Professor of Economics (Princeton)
• Henry Tutwiler Wright (A.M.'65, Ph.D. '67) MacArthur Fellow and "genius grant" winner (1983). Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology (Michigan)

Government, Social Service, Politics

• John Ashcroft (J.D.’67) Attorney General of the United States (2000 - 2004)
• Hastings Kamuzu Banda (Ph.B. '31) Primer Minister of Malawi (1963-1966). President of Malawi(1966-1971). Life President of Malawi (1971-1997).
• Marek Belka (born 1952), Prime Minister of Poland since March 2004
• Robert H. Bork (A.B.’48, J.D.’53) Attorney General of the United States (1973-1974); U.S. Court of Appeals Judge (1982-88); nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan (1987)
• Barbara Bowman (A.M. ’52) President and founder of Chicago’s Erickson Institute for Advanced Study in Child Development (1966); President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (1980-82)
• William Holmes Brown (J.D. ’54) House Parliamentarian, House of Representatives (1974-94)
• Ramsey Clark (A.M.’50, J.D.’51) Human rights activist; former U.S. Attorney General (1967-69)
• Jon S. Corzine (M.B.A.’73) U.S. Senator (D, NJ); University trustee
• Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. (X.’33) First African American General of the Air Force (1954); Commander of the Tuskegee Airmen; Assistant Secretary of Transportation under Richard Nixon
• Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (A.B.’52) Former President of the Republic of Bolivia
• Andrew M. Greeley (A.M.’61, Ph.D.’62) Senior Study Director at the National Opinion Research Center; Priest
• Charles V. Hamilton (A.M. ’57, Ph.D. ’64) Civil rights leader; Author, with Stokley Carmichael, of Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America (1967); Professor of Political Science (Columbia)
• Donald Hopkins (M.D. ’66) Deputy Director of International Health, Centers for Disease Control; recipient of the MacArthur fellowship award
• James Hormel (J.D.’58) First openly gay U.S. ambassador
• Jesse Jackson ( X.’67) Civil Rights Leader; Political Activist; Founder of Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition
• Patricia Kabbah (A.M’63) Former first lady of Sierra Leone
• Jewel Lafontant (J.D. ’46) First African-American woman to receive a degree from the University of Chicago Law School; United Nations delegate
• Edward Levi (A.B.’32, J.D.’35) President of the University of Chicago (1968-75); U.S. Attorney General (1975-77)
• Omar Ramadhan Mapuri (A.M.’85) Minister of Education and Minister for Home Affairs of the United Republic of Tanzania
• Ulysses G. Mason (M.D. ’36) Founder of first integrated hospital in Cleveland during the 1950's
• Abner J. Mikva (J.D.’51) Visiting Professor in Law; Illinois Congressman (1956-66); U.S. Congressman (1969-73, 1975-79); U.S. Court of Appeals Judge (1979-94)
• Patsy Mink (J.D.’51) First Asian-American woman elected to U.S. House of Representatives (D, HI) (1965-77 and 1990-2002)
• Carol Moseley-Braun(J.D.’72) First African-American woman elected to U.S. Senate (D, Il) (1992-1998); U.S. Ambassador (1999-2001); Democratic Presidential Primary Cantidate (2004)
• John Paul Stevens (A.B.’41) U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• Paul Wolfowitz (Ph.D.’72) Deputy Secretary of Defense

Journalism

• David Brooks (A.B.’83) Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times
• Thomas Frank (A.M.’89, Ph.D. ’94) Editor-in-chief of The Baffler
• Nathan Hare (A.M. ’57, Ph.D. ’62) Author, activist, and sociologist; founding publisher of The Black Scholar, later cited as, "the most important journal devoted to black issues since the Crisis," by the New York Times
• Joshua Cooper Ramo (A.B.’92) Senior Editor of Time magazine
• Brent Staples (A.M.’76, Ph.D.’82) Editorial writer for the New York Times (1990-present); winner of the Anisfield Wolff Book Award for his memoir Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White (1994)
• Ray Suarez (A.M.’93) Senior Correspondent on PBS news program The NewsHour

Academia

• Richard C. Atkinson (Ph.B.’48) Former President of the University of California
• Marguerite Ross Barnett (A.M.’66, Ph.D.’72) First African-American, female President of the University of Houston (1990-92); first African-American Chancellor of the University of Missouri (1986-90)
• Henry Bienen (A.M.’62, Ph.D.’66) President of Northwestern University
• Leon Botstein (A.B.’67) President of Bard College; Principal Conductor of American Symphony Orchestra
• Marvin L. Goldberger (Ph.D.’48) Former President of Caltech (1978-87); Physicist
• Dennis Keller (M.B.A.’68) Chairman and CEO of DeVry Inc.; University trustee
• Benjamin E. Mays (A.M ’25, Ph.D. ’35) President of Morehouse College (1940-1967); Recipient of the American Educator Award (1980); Civil Rights Activist
• Chimere Ikoku (S.M.’52, Ph.D.’64) Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria

Science and Technology

• Robert McCormick Adams (Ph.B.’47, A.M.’52, Ph.D.’56) Archeologist; Secretary Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution
• Robert Bell (S.M. ’73) Research Scientist at AT&T Research Labs and AT&T Science and Technology Medalist (2003)
• George Birkhoff (Ph.D.’07) Mathematician; winner of the first Bôcher Memorial Prize for his memoir Dynamical Systems with Two Degrees of Freedom (1917)
• Martin Gardner(A.B.’36) Author and columnist of “Mathematical ” in the magazine Scientific American
• Mack Gipson, Jr. (S.M. ’61, Ph.D. ’63) First African American to obtain a Ph.D. in Geology; Founding advisor of the National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists (1981)
• Warren E. Henry (Ph.D. ’41) Physicist and Professor in magnetism and superconductivity; developed video amplifiers used in portable radar systems on warships in World War II for the Allies; his demonstration of the proof of non-interacting paramagnetic ions is used in a number of physics texts
• Edwin Hubble (S.B.’10, Ph.D.’17) Astronomer who found first evidence for the big bang theory
• Donald Johanson (A.M.’70, Ph.D.’74) Paleoanthropologist who discovered “Lucy,” a link between primates and humans
• Ernest Everett Just (Ph.D. ’16) Zoologist, Biologist, Physiologist, Research Scientist
• Carl Sagan (A.B.’54, S.B.’55, S.M.’56, Ph.D.’60) Astronomer; author of Contact; famous public television educator and personality
• Isadore Singer (Ph.D' 1955 ) Winner of the 2004 Abel Prize in Mathematics.

Business

• Casey Cowell (A.B.’75) Co-founder of U.S. Robotics Corporation; Chairman and President of Durandal Inc.; University trustee
• John H. Johnson (X.’42) Founder of Johnson Publishing Company; publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines
• Karen Katen (A.B.’70, M.B.A.’74) President of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group; University trustee
• Michael Klingensmith (A.B.’75, M.B.A.’76) Executive Vice President of Time Inc.; University trustee
• Sherry Lansing (LAB’62) Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures
• James B. Parsons (A.M.’46, J.D.’49) First African-American Federal District Court Judge (1991-92)
• Peter G. Peterson (M.B.A.’51) Chairman of merchant banking firm The Blackstone Group; U.S. Secretary of Commerce (1972-73)
• David Rockefeller (Ph.D.’40) Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank (1969-81); University trustee
• John Rogers (LAB’76) Chairman and CEO of Ariel Capital Management; University trustee
• Dean Valentine (A.B.’76) Former President of Walt Disney Television and UPN
• B. Kenneth West (M.B.A.’60) Former Chairman and CEO of Harris Bankcorp
• Clifford R. Wharton, Jr. (Ph.D. ’58) Chairman and chief executive officer of TIAA CREF (1987-93); President of Michigan State University (1970-78); Chancellor of the State University of New York System (1978-87); Deputy Secretary of State under President Clinton (1993)

Historians

• Henry Steele Commager (Ph.B.’23, A.M.’24, Ph.D.’28) U.S. historian
• Luther H. Foster (A.M. ’41, Ph.D. ’51) Former President of the Tuskegee Institute (1953-1981)
• Carter G. Woodson (A.B. ’08, A.M. ’08) Historian and founder of Negro History Week (1926), which evolved into Black History Month

Literature

• Allan Bloom (Ph.B.’49, A.M.’53, Ph.D.’55) Charles Frankel Prize (1992); Professor in the Committee on Social Thought (1979-92); author of The Closing of the American Mind
• Norman Maclean (Ph.D.'40), William Rainey Harper Professor of English, University of Chicago, author of A River Runs Through It and Young Men and Fire
• Mu Dan (A.M.’51), Chinese poet and literary translator
• Susan Sontag (A.B.’51) Social critic and author
• George Steiner (A.B.’48) Literary critic
• Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (A.M.’71) Author of Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions

National Humanities Medallists

• Luis Leal (A.M.’41; Ph.D.’50) National Humanities Medal (1997); Literary scholar
• Martin Marty (Ph.D.’56) National Humanities Medal (1997); national figure in non-sectarian religous studies
• Thomas Sowell (Ph.D. ’68) Economist; Winner of the National Humanities Medal (2003); Senior Fellow in the Hoover Institution at Stanford University (1980-present)
• Eileen Southern (A.B. ’40, Ph.D. ’41) First African-American female professor at Harvard University; National Humanities Medal (2001)

Arts and entertainment

• Ed Asner (X.’48) Actor and social activist
• Katherine Dunham (Ph.B.’36) National Medal of Arts ((1989); Dancer and choreographer
• Philip Glass (A.B.’56) Composer and musician
• Mark Hollmann (A.B.’85) Composer of the score of Tony-award winning musical Urinetown
• Philip Kaufman (A.B.’58) Director of films The Right Stuff and The Unbearable Lightness of Being
• Greg Kotis (A.B.’88) Playwright of Tony-award winning musical Urinetown
• Eliot Ness (X’25) Co-author and inspiration of The Untouchables
• Mike Nichols (X.’53) Director of films Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate; co-founder of comedy troupe Second City
• Sara Paretsky (A.M.’69, M.B.A.’77, Ph.D.’77) Author of V.I. Warshawski detective novels
• Kimberly Peirce (A.B.’90) Director of Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

John Bates Clark Medallists

• Zvi Griliches (A.M.'55; Ph.D.'57) John Bates Clark Medalist (1965)
• Sanford J. Grossman (A.B.'73, M.A.'74, Ph.D.'75). John Bates Clark Medalist (1987).
• Kevin M. Murphy (Ph.D.'86) John Bates Clark Medalist (1997). George J. Stigler Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Graduate School of Business
• Marc Leon Nerlove (A.B.'52) John Bates Clark Medalist (1969)

Athletics

• Jay Berwanger (A.B.’36) First Heisman Trophy winner (1935)
• Willie D. Davis (M.B.A.’68) Pro Football Hall of Fame member (1981); President of All Pro Broadcasting; University trustee