List of University of Edinburgh people

List of University of Edinburgh people is a list of notable graduates as well as non-graduate former students, academic staffs, and university officials of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. It also includes those who may be considered alumni by extension, having studied at institutions that later merged with the University of Edinburgh. The University is associated with 20 Nobel Prize winners and three UK Prime Ministers.

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Arthur St. Clair

Alexander Graham Bell

Joseph Black

James Clerk Maxwell

Charles Darwin

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Joseph Lister

Robert Adam

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Robert Louis Stevenson

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Ian Charleson

Michael Mcintyre

David Hume

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James Burnett Lord Monboddo

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John Boyd Dunlop

Sir Chris Hoy

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Gordon Brown

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Piers Sellers

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Heads of state and heads of government

• Najah al-Attar, current Vice President of Syria
• Hastings Banda, former President of Malawi
• Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Jang Taek-sang, former Prime Minister of South Korea
• Julius Nyerere, first President of Tanzania
• Arthur St. Clair, President of the Continental Congress
• Bhagvat Singh, former Maharaja of the princely state of Gondal
• John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Charles Tupper, former Prime Minister of Canada
• William Walker, former President of Nicaragua
• Yun Bo-seon, former President of South Korea

Government and politics

United Kingdom

• Douglas Alexander, former Secretary of State for International Development
• Michael Ancram, 13th Marquess of Lothian, former Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, former Governor of Bengal and Chancellor of the Exchequer
• David Campbell Bannerman, UKIP MEP
• Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby, former Lord Advocate for Scotland
• Henry Brougham, former Lord Chancellor of Great Britain and co-founder of the University College London
• Joanna Cherry, current Scottish Nationalist Party MP for Edinburgh South-West
• Benjamin Constant, writer and politician
• Robin Cook, former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, statesman
• Nicholas Fairbairn, Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party
• Robert Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain
• Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, British Liberal and Labour politician
• Douglas Henderson, influential former Scottish National Party member
• Charles Hendry, Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change from 2010 to 2012
• Tessa Jowell, former Minister for the Olympics
• Jennie Lee, Minister for the Arts and founder of the Open University
• James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, former Lord Chancellor of Great Britain
• Sir James Marjoribanks, orchestrated Britain's successful application to join the European Community in 1967
• Callum McCaig, current Scottish Nationalist Party MP for Aberdeen South
• Stuart McDonald, current Scottish Nationalist Party MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
• Anne McIntosh, Member of Parliament and former Member of European Parliament
• Catherine McKinnell, Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne North
• David McLetchie, former leader of the Scottish Conservative Party
• David Mundell, current Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Scotland
• Ian Murray, current Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
• Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Malcolm Rifkind, former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
• Amber Rudd, current Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
• David Steel, former leader of the Liberal Party and first Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
• Jim Wallace, former Deputy First Minister of Scotland

United States

• Alexander J. Dallas, served as the 6th US Secretary of the Treasury and briefly as both Acting Secretary of War and Acting Secretary of State under the fourth U.S. President, James Madison
• Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 21st governor of Virginia
• Benjamin Rush, signatory, United States Declaration of Independence
• Ike Skelton, former U.S. congressman from Missouri
• Mike Synar, former U.S. congressman from Oklahoma
• William Washington Vance, lawyer and member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1886 to 1892
• James Wilson, signatory, United States Declaration of Independence
• John Witherspoon, signatory, United States Declaration of Independence, President of Princeton University from 1768 to 1794

Africa

• Bandele Omoniyi, Nigerian political activist
• Noah Wekesa, current Kenyan Minister for Forestry and Wildlife

Australia and New Zealand

• Sir Thomas Brisbane, former Governor of New South Wales
• Michael Cullen, former Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand

Asia

• Sir Robert Brown Black, former Governor of Hong Kong and Governor of Singapore
• John Crawfurd, diplomat and one of the early founders of Singapore
• Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
• Lim Chong Eu, former Chief Minister of Penang
• Yun Posun, the second President of South Korea

Canada

• Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia
• Kirsty Duncan, MP of Etobicoke North in Canada
• Robert James Manion, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada from 1938 to 1940

Middle East

• Mehmet Aydın, Turkish Minister
• Hikmat Abu Zayd, first female cabinet minister of Egypt

Royalty

• Princess Margarita of Romania
• Princess Tsuguko of Takamado
• Albert, 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
• Princess Raiyah of Jordan
• Princess Salha bint Asem
• Princess Mako of Akishino
• Prince Dashkov of Russia

Judges and lawyers

• Henry Thomas Cockburn, former Scottish Solicitor General and judge
• Unity Dow, former judge on the High Court of Botswana
• Sir David Edward, former European Court of First Instance Judge
• George Emslie, Lord Emslie, former judge on the Supreme Courts of Scotland
• Charles Erskine, Scottish judge and professor of Private Law
• Brian Gill, Lord Gill, Scotland's second most senior judge
• Charles John Guthrie, Baron Guthrie
• Arthur Hamilton, Lord Hamilton, Scotland's most senior judge
• David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• Alexander Mackenzie Stuart, Baron Mackenzie-Stuart, former President of the European Court of Justice
• Frank Mulholland, MBA, Lord Advocate and Solicitor General of Scotland
• Ronald King Murray, Labour politician and judge
• Michael Ramodibedi, Chief Justice of Swaziland

Natural sciences, engineering and medicine

Astronomy

• John A. Peacock, astronomer, Shaw Prize winner in 2014
• Anneila Sargent, astronomer
• Charles Piazzi Smyth, astronomer

Chemistry

• Thomas Anderson, discoverer of pyridine
• Joseph Black, discoverer of carbon dioxide, latent heat and specific heat
• John Davy, discoverer of phosgene
• James Dewar, inventor of the Dewar flask
• David Leigh, Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at Edinburgh University from 2001 to 2012, Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology winner in 2007
• Guy Lloyd-Jones, Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at Edinburgh University (2012–)
• Christina Cruickshank Miller, synthesized phosphorus trioxide
• Dai Rees, CEO of the Medical Research Council from 1987 to 1996
• Prafulla Chandra Roy, distinguished chemist and founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals
• Daniel Rutherford, discovered nitrogen while he was studying at Edinburgh University in 1772
• Sir James Fraser Stoddart, supramolecular chemist
• Lesley Yellowlees CBE, first female president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Vice-President of the University of Edinburgh

Geology

• Robert Bell, geologist
• Sir John William Dawson, geologist
• Archibald Geikie, geologist
• James Hector, geologist
• James Hutton, "father of modern geology"
• Robert Jameson, naturalist and mineralist
• Sir William Edmond Logan, geologist
• Stan Paterson, glaciologist

Informatics

• Samson Abramsky FRS, computer scientist
• Christopher Bishop, computer scientist, Assistant Director of Microsoft Research, Cambridge
• Andrew Blake FRS, computer scientist
• Bob Boyer, computer scientist, mathematician, philosopher
• Alan Bundy CBE, FRS, FREng, FRSE, mathematician and artificial intelligence researcher
• Peter Buneman MBE FRS, computer scientist
• Luca Cardelli FRS, computer scientist, Assistant Director of Microsoft Research, Cambridge
• Ian Clarke, computer scientist
• Michael Gordon FRS, computer scientist
• Richard Gregory FRS, cognitive scientist
• Geoffrey Hinton FRS, informatician
• Robert Kowalski, logician, computer scientist
• Lǐ Wèi 李未, mathematician and computer scientist, President of Beihang University
• Christopher Longuet-Higgins FRS, cognitive scientist
• Donald Michie, FRS, FRSE, artificial intelligence pioneer
• Robin Milner FRS, computer scientist, winner of the Turing Award
• J Strother Moore, computer scientist
• Timothy O'Shea, computer scientist; principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh
• Gordon Plotkin FRS, computer scientist
• Nigel Shadbolt, computer scientist, Chairman of the Open Data Institute
• Aaron Sloman, philosopher, cognitive scientist
• Leslie Valiant FRS, informatician and computer scientist, winner of the Turing Award
• Judith Good, computer scientist

Mathematics, physics and engineering

• Alexander Aitken, mathematician, worked in Hut 6 Bletchley Park decrypting the ENIGMA code, known for the Aitken's delta-squared process
• Sir Michael Atiyah FRS, mathematician, Fields Medallist in 1966, winner of Abel Prize in 2004 (Maths' equivalent of the Nobel Prize)
• Charles Glover Barkla, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (1917) for his work in X-ray spectroscopy and related areas in the study of X-rays (Roentgen rays)
• Thomas Bayes, mathematician, known for Bayes' theorem
• Sir Thomas Hudson Beare, engineer
• Alexander Graham Bell, engineer and inventor of the telephone
• Max Born, Nobel laureate, pioneer in quantum mechanics, Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1936 to 1953
• David Brewster, scientist and inventor
• J. W. S. Cassels, mathematician
• Cheng Kaijia, physicist and pioneer of nuclear technology in China
• James Alfred Ewing, physicist and engineer
• Klaus Fuchs, theoretical physicist
• Peter Higgs, Nobel laureate, theoretical physicist, Emeritus Professor of Physics and discoverer of the Higgs Mechanism
• W. V. D. Hodge, mathematician
• Archie Howie, physicist
• Charles Hutton, mathematician
• Fleeming Jenkin, engineer, inventor of telpherage
• Philip Kelland, mathematician
• Tom W. B. Kibble, theoretical physicist, Sakurai Prize winner in 2010
• Sir John Leslie, mathematician and physicist
• Colin Maclaurin, mathematician
• James Clerk Maxwell, physicist, "father of electromagnetism"
• John Playfair, mathematician
• William John Macquorn Rankine, engineer and physicist, early contributor to the development of thermodynamics
• Marion Ross (physicist)
• John Shepherd-Barron, inventor of the automated teller machine (ATM)
• Peter Guthrie Tait, physicist
• Edmund Whittaker, mathematician

Medicine and biology

See also: List of University of Edinburgh medical people

• Thomas Addis, pioneer in nephrology
• Nick Barton, evolutionary biologist, winner of the Darwin-Wallace Medal in 2008
• Sir David Baulcombe, plant scientist, discovered SiRNA and its role in gene silencing in plants, winner of the Lasker Award in 2008
• John Beddington, population biologist, UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser
• Charles Bell, anatomist, surgeon
• Joseph Bell, medicine
• Seneka Bibile, influential Sri Lankan pharmacologist
• Adrian Peter Bird, PhD 1970, geneticist, discovered the protein MeCP2 involved in DNA methylation, awarded the 2011 Gairdner Foundation International Award for discoveries in DNA methylation and gene expression; Buchanan Professor of Genetics (1990-present)
• James Braid, surgeon, hypnotist
• James A.C. Brown, psychiatrist
• Robert Brown, botanist
• Thomas Brown, medicine and philosophy
• William Budd, physician and epidemiologist
• John Murray Carnochan, neurosurgeon, performed first successful surgery for trigeminal neuralgia
• Brian Charlesworth, professor of evolutionary biology 1997–, winner of the Darwin-Wallace Medal in 2010
• Deborah Charlesworth, professor of evolutionary biology 1997–, expert on the genetic self-incompatibility of plants
• Eustace Chesser, psychiatrist
• Sarah Cleaveland, professor and veterinary epidemiologist
• Richard A Collins, biochemist and author
• Hilary Critchley, obstetrician and gynaecologist
• William Cullen, physician and professor of medicine
• Charles Darwin, naturalist, author of The Origin of Species
• Erasmus Darwin, physician and Enlightenment thinker
• James Douglas, physician and anatomist; the Douglas pouch and Douglas line are named for him
• Cuthbert Dukes, pathologist and author
• Richard Eastell, professor of bone medicine
• John Elliotson, physician, mesmerist
• James Esdaile, surgeon, mesmerist
• John Haldane, physiologist
• Richard Henderson, biologist
• Thomas Hodgkin, physician
• James Africanus Beale Horton, medicine
• Sophia Jex-Blake, pioneer of medical education for women in Britain
• Steve Jones, biologist
• George Kelly, psychologist
• Sir John Liddell, physician and director-general of the Medical Department of the Royal Navy
• Joseph Lister, introduced antiseptics into surgery
• John Claudius Loudon, botanist
• William Sutherland Macdonald, physician and soldier
• Aubrey Manning, zoologist
• Gilean McVean, post-doctoral fellow, evolutionary biologist, member of the steering committee for the 1000 Genomes Project
• John Keith Moffat - Guggenheim Fellow, biologist and former Deputy Provost at University of Chicago, noted for Advanced Photon Source and Time resolved crystallography
• Alexander Monro (primus), (secundus) and (tertius), anatomists
• Richard Owen, biologist and palaeontologist
• Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, physiologist and neuroscientist
• Robert Sibbald, Professor of Medicine
• James Young Simpson, pioneered the use of chloroform in midwifery
• Jeremy Smith, biological scientist
• Edwin Southern, biomedical scientist, invented Southern blot, winner of the 2005 Lasker Award and Gairdner Foundation International Award
• John Walker, naturalist
• Robert Whytt, medicine
• Ian Wilmut, embryologist and former supervisor of the team that cloned Dolly the Sheep, Shaw Prize winner in 2008
• Nairn Wilson, dental surgeon
• William Withering, physician
• Robert Ramsay Wright, biologist, helped to re-establish the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1887
• Charles Wyville Thomson, naturalist and chief scientist on the Challenger expedition
• Yao Zhen, biologist

Nobel laureates

Main article: List of Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Edinburgh

Social sciences, arts and business

Architecture

• Robert Adam, architect
• A. R. Hye, architect
• Robert Lorimer, architect
• Robert Matthew, architect
• Richard Murphy, architect
• Deborah Saunt, architect

Business

• William Denholm Barnetson, Chairman of United Newspapers, Reuters and Thames Television
• Chris Beard, CEO of Mozilla
• Crawford W. Beveridge, Executive Vice President Sun Microsystems
• Donald Brydon, Chairman of the Royal Mail, Sage Group and Medical Research Council and Patron of the British Postal Museum and Archive
• John Boyd Dunlop, founder of Dunlop Rubber
• Nicholas Ferguson, Chairman of BskyB
• John Ritchie Findlay, owner of The Scotsman newspaper
• Hugh Grant, Chairman, President & CEO of Monsanto Company
• Tony Hayward, Chairman of Glencore Xstrata and former CEO of BP
• William Jardine, merchant, surgeon, and co-founder of global conglomerate Jardine Matheson
• Christopher Lovelock, business school professor and services marketing pioneer
• James Matheson, MP for the Ross and Cromarty constituency and co-founder of global conglomerate Jardine Matheson
• Chris Montgomery, former CEO of mp3.com Europe
• Nigel Stein, Chief Executive of GKN plc
• Lord Swann, Chairman BBC
• George Touche, co-founder of Deloitte
• Sir David Tweedie, Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
• Arthur Young, founder of Ernst & Young

Economics

• Kenneth E. Boulding, economist, John Bates Clark Medal winner in 1949
• John Grahl, economist
• John Kay, economist
• James Mirrlees, economist, Nobel laureate
• John Hardman Moore, economist, Yrjö Jahnsson Award winner in 1999
• John Rae, economist
• Gavin Clydesdale Reid, economist
• Jerzy Żyżyński, prominent Polish economist

Literature

• Edward Abbey, author
• J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan
• James Boswell, lawyer, author and biographer of Samuel Johnson
• Maoilios Caimbeul, Gaelic poet
• Thomas Carlyle, essayist and historian
• Bliss Carman, Canadian poet
• George Chalmers, antiquarian and political writer
• Bruce Chatwin, author and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
• Richard A Collins, author and scientist
• David Daiches, literary historian and critic
• E. S. Dallas, author and journalist
• Thomas Dick, writer
• Angus Donald, author and journalist
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author and creator of Sherlock Holmes
• Robert Garioch, poet and translator
• Oliver Goldsmith, writer and physician
• Michael Grant, writer and historian
• Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Boleyn Girl
• Ella Hickson, award-winning playwright
• Ku Hung-ming, writer and polyglot
• Harold Jenkins (Shakespeare scholar)
• Sorley MacLean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain), Gaelic poet
• Joel McIver, author
• Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff, writer and translator
• Kole Omotosho, writer
• Neil Paterson, footballer, author and screenwriter
• John William Polidori, writer and physician
• Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus series
• Peter Mark Roget, author of the first Thesaurus
• J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series
• Professor Andrew Rutherford CBE, Regious Prof. of English Literature, Aberdeen University; Vice-Chancellor, London University
• Sir Walter Scott, author and poet
• Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and professor of medical law
• Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped

Media and the arts

• Maria Bamford, comedian
• Mitch Benn, comedian, songwriter and broadcaster
• Elizabeth Blackadder, artist
• Jamie Borthwick, sports reporter for STV News
• Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company
• Tom Bradby, journalist and novelist
• Tom Chaplin, musician and singer in the English piano rock band Keane
• Ian Charleson, actor
• Rawdon Christie, Television New Zealand producer/presenter
• Hamish Clark, actor
• Robbie Coltrane, actor
• Quentin Cooper, science journalist and broadcaster
• Darius Danesh, musician and singer
• Anthony d'Offay, art dealer
• Daisy Donovan, actor and broadcaster
• Rona Dougall, broadcaster, journalist and presenter (Scotland Tonight)
• Elize du Toit, actress
• Jimmy Finlayson, actor and comedian
• Iain Gale, journalist and author
• Ella Hickson, playwright
• Sam Holcroft, playwright
• Jay Jopling, art dealer
• Miles Jupp, comedian
• Lucy Kirkwood, playwright
• Laura Kuenssberg, editor, BBC Politics
• Allan Little, BBC Foreign Correspondent
• Angus Macfadyen, actor
• Ewen MacIntosh, actor, The Office, Little Britain
• Sally Magnusson, BBC journalist
• Kirsty McCabe, GMTV weather presenter
• Michael McIntyre, comedian
• Gillian McKeith, television presenter and writer
• Hilton McRae, actor
• Judith Miller, antiques expert, writer and broadcaster
• Steve Morrison, TV producer; Rector of the university as of 2015
• Marina O'Loughlin, restaurant critic
• David Rintoul, actor
• Alastair Sim, actor
• Iain Stirling, comedian
• Rachael Stirling, actress
• Ed Stoppard, actor
• Bill Turnbull, journalist and television presenter
• Kirsty Wark, broadcaster

Music

• Tom Chaplin, lead singer of Keane
• James Douglas, composer
• Kenneth Leighton, composer
• James MacMillan, classical composer
• Stuart MacRae, composer
• Marcus Mumford, lead singer of Mumford & Sons
• Nigel Osborne, composer
• Mike Scott, founder of The Waterboys
• John Thomson, composer
• Donald Francis Tovey, composer, pianist, musicologist
• Julian Wagstaff, composer
• William Wordsworth, composer

History, philosophy, sociology and theology

• John Baillie, theologian
• S. Barry Barnes, philosopher and sociologist of science
• David Bloor, philosopher and sociologist of science
• Thomas Brown, medicine and philosophy
• James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, naturalist, philosopher, linguist
• Andy Clark, philosopher of mind and cognition
• Ligon Duncan, theologian
• Adam Ferguson, philosopher and historian, contributed to the initial development of sociology
• Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet, philosopher
• David Hume, philosopher and historian
• Michael Ingham, Anglican bishop and author
• Norman Kemp Smith, philosopher
• Arthur Marwick, historian
• K. V. Mathew, Biblical scholar from India
• John McIntyre, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and Dean of the Thistle
• James Mill, historian and utilitarianist philosopher
• Keith O'Brien, current Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh
• George Newlands, theologian
• David George Ritchie, philosopher
• William Robertson, Historiographer Royal and Principal of the University of Edinburgh
• Timothy Sprigge, philosopher
• Dugald Stewart, philosopher
• John Toland, philosopher
• Iain Torrance, theologian and President of Princeton Theological Seminary
• Géza Vermes, historian and theologian
• Asher Wade, American-born international lecturer and psychotherapist
• Timothy Williamson, philosopher
• Michael Worton, current Vice Provost of University College of London

Others

• Chris Atton, University Professor and musician
• Edwin Feulner, President of the Heritage Foundation
• John Fraser, distinguished soldier and attorney, sole receiver of GC from the university
• Alan M. Leslie, psychologist
• David MacRitchie, archaeologist
• Roger Mercer, archaeologist
• A.S. Neill, educationalist
• Madsen Pirie, founder and President of the Adam Smith Institute

Sports

• Leslie Balfour-Melville, outstanding all-round sportsman
• Zbigniew Czajkowski, fencing master, "father of the Polish School" of fencing
• Gemma Gibbons, Olympic Judo silver medallist
• Katherine Grainger, Olympic rowing gold medallist
• Stuart Grimes, international professional rugby player
• Peter Heatly, diver and former Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation
• Sir Chris Hoy, the most successful British Olympian in history with six Olympic track cycling gold medals
• Andy Irvine, rugby player and president of the Scottish Rugby Union
• Michael Jamieson, 200m breaststroke Olympic silver medallist
• Eric Liddell, men's Olympic 400m gold medallist, and Scottish Rugby international
• Alistair Potts, Commonwealth and British World Champion rower
• Micky Steele-Bodger, English rugby international and Chairman IRB
• Robert Strang, English cricketer who played once for Scotland
• Simon Taylor, international professional rugby player

Miscellaneous

• John Aikin, physician and writer
• John (Ian) Bartholomew, cartographer and former principal of John Bartholomew and Son Ltd.
• Thomas Spencer Baynes, publisher and writer
• James Blair, founder of the College of William & Mary
• John Brown, physician and author
• Archibald Cameron of Locheil, jacobite
• Ashton Carter, American physicist, Harvard University professor, and United States Secretary of Defense
• Robert Felkin, medical missionary; ceremonial magician, member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; author on Africa; explorer and anthropologist
• James Gall, clergyman and astronomer, founder of the Carrubbers Close Mission
• Reginald Johnston, diplomat and pedagogue of Pu Yi, the last emperor of China
• Rev Bruce Kenrick, writer, minister, social activist and founder of Shelter
• Sheila McKechnie, Scottish trade unionist and 1991 Alumnus of the Year
• James Middleton, businessman and younger brother of the Duchess of Cambridge
• Pippa Middleton, socialite and younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge
• Macvey Napier, encyclopedist
• Mungo Park, explorer
• George Percy, Earl Percy, heir apparent to the Dukedom of Northumberland
• Lord Playfair, scientist and parliamentarian
• Daphne Pochin Mould, photographer, writer, geologist
• Stella Rimington, former head of MI5
• Piers Sellers, astronaut
• William Smellie, encyclopedist
• Samuel Smiles, author and reformer
• Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, heir apparent to the Spencer earldom and first cousin of the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry

University officials

• The Rt Hon Sir Winston Churchill, former Rector of the University (1929–1932)
• Sir Alexander Fleming, former Rector of the University (1951–1953)
• The Rt Hon David Lloyd George, former Rector of the University (1920–1923)
• Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Chancellor of the University (1953–2011)