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List of Columbia University people

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This is a partially sorted list of notable persons who have had ties to Columbia University. For further listing of notable Columbians see: Notable alumni at Columbia College of Columbia University; Columbia University School of General Studies; Columbia Law School; Columbia Business School; Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science; Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Columbia University School of the Arts; and the School of International and Public Affairs. The following lists are incomplete.

Nobel laureates

As of October 2009, 79 Nobel laureates are affiliated with Columbia University. 40 Nobel laureates are the alumni of Columbia University. 17 of these alumni have also served on the faculty or staff of the University. There are 38 non-alumni Nobel laureates who have been in service—as faculty, research scientists, research or postdoctoral fellows—to the University. Columbia University does not count a Visiting Professor as one of its own. Only those Nobel laureates who have spent a year or more at the University are counted. If Nobel laureates who have spent less than a year at the University were counted, the number of Nobel laureates affiliated with Columbia would be 93, more than any other academic institution. In addition, Columbia ranks third in the number of Nobel Laureates it has graduated compared to other institutions in the world, surpassed only by the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. See List of Nobel Laureates by university affiliation.

Alumni and former students

Chemistry

1932 Irving Langmuir (B.S., 1903; M.A., 1906)  
1946 John H. Northrop (B.S., 1912; M.A., 1913; Ph.D., 1915)  
1972 William H. Stein (Ph.D., 1938)  
1981 Roald Hoffmann (B.A., 1958)  
1985 Herbert A. Hauptman (M.A., 1939)  
1989 Sidney Altman (graduate student, teaching assistant, 1960 to 1962)  
2001 William S. Knowles (Ph.D., 1942)
2005 Robert H. Grubbs (Ph.D., 1968)

Economic science

1971 Simon S. Kuznets (B.S., 1923; M.A., 1924; Ph.D., 1926)  
1972 Kenneth J. Arrow (M.A., 1941; Ph.D., 1951)  
1976 Milton Friedman (Researcher, 1943 to 1945; Ph.D., 1946; faculty member, 1937 to 1940 and 1964 to 1965)  
1993 Robert W. Fogel (M.A., 1960)  
1996 William S. Vickrey (M.A., 1937; Ph.D., 1948; faculty member, 1946 to 1996)  
1997 Robert C. Merton (B.S., 1966)  

Peace

1906 Theodore Roosevelt (Law student, 1880 to 1882)
1931 Nicholas Murray Butler   (B.A., 1882; M.A., 1883; Ph.D., 1884, president of Columbia, 1902 to 1945)  
2009 Barack Obama   (B.A., 1983)

Physics

1923 Robert A. Millikan (Ph.D., 1895)  
1944 I.I. Rabi (Ph.D., 1927; faculty member, 1929 to 1988)  
1965 Julian S. Schwinger (B.A., 1936; Ph.D., 1939)  
1972 Leon N. Cooper (B.A., 1951; M.A., 1953; Ph.D., 1954)  
1975 James Rainwater (M.A., 1941; Ph.D., 1946; faculty member, 1939 to 1986)  
1978 Arno A. Penzias (M.A., 1958; Ph.D., 1962)  
1980 Val L. Fitch (Ph.D., 1954; faculty member, 1953 to 1954)  
1988 Leon M. Lederman (M.A., 1948; Ph.D., 1951; faculty member, 1951 to 1989)  
1988 Melvin Schwartz (B.A., 1953; Ph.D., 1958; faculty member, 1958 to 1966, 1991 to 2006)
1989 Norman F. Ramsey (B.A., 1935; Ph.D., 1940; faculty member, 1941 to 1947)  
1995 Martin L. Perl (Ph.D., 1955)  

Physiology or medicine

1946 Hermann J. Muller (B.A., 1910; M.A., 1911; Ph.D., 1916; faculty member, 1918 to 1920)  
1950 Edward C. Kendall (B.S., 1908; M.A., 1909; Ph.D., 1910)  
1956 Dickinson W. Richards (M.A., 1922; M.D., 1923; faculty member, 1925 to 1973)  
1958 Joshua Lederberg (B.A., 1944; medical student, 1944–1946; faculty member, 1990 to 1999)  
1964 Konrad E. Bloch (Ph.D., 1938; faculty member, 1938 to 1946, 1966)  
1967 George Wald (M.A., 1928)  
1973 Konrad Lorenz (Columbia College, 1922 to 1923)  
1976 Baruch S. Blumberg (Grad student in Mathematics, 1946 to 1947; M.D., 1951; resident, 1951–1953; fellow 1953–1955)  
1978 João Lobo Antunes (MBA 1978-1983)  
1980 Baruj Benacerraf (B.S., 1942; research scientist, 1948 to 1950)  
1989 Harold E. Varmus (M.D., 1966; Presbyterian Hospital staff, 1966 to 1968, University Trustee, 2002 to 2005)  
1998 Louis J. Ignarro (B.S., 1962)  
2004 Richard Axel (A.B., 1967; resident, fellow and research scientist, 1971 to 1978; faculty member, 1978 to present)

Faculty, research fellows and others

Chemistry

1934 Harold C. Urey (faculty member, 1929 to 1945)  
1960 Willard Libby (research scientist, 1941 to 1944)  
2008 Martin Chalfie (William R Kenan Jr. Professor, current Chair of Biological Sciences)  

Economic science

1982 George J. Stigler (research scientist, 1942 to 1945; faculty member, 1947 to 1958)  
1987 Robert Solow (fellowship year, 1949 to 1950)  
1992 Gary S. Becker (faculty member, 1957 to 1970)  
1999 Robert Mundell (faculty member, 1974 to present)  
2000 James J. Heckman (faculty member, 1970 to 1974)
2001 Joseph Stiglitz (faculty member, 2001 to present)
2006 Edmund Phelps (faculty member, 1971 to present)

Literature

1983 Colette Inez (faculty member, 1983 to present)
1987 Joseph Brodsky (faculty member, 1978 to 1985)  
1991 Nadine Gordimer (faculty member, 1971 to 1972, 1976 to 1978, 1983)  
1992 Derek Walcott (faculty member, 1979, 1981 to 1983, 1984)
2006 Orhan Pamuk (visiting scholar, 1985 to 1988; fellow, 2006 to present)

Peace

Physics

1938 Enrico Fermi (faculty member, 1939 to 1945)  
1949 Hideki Yukawa (faculty member, 1949 to 1954)  
1955 Polykarp Kusch (faculty member, 1937 to 1972)  
1955 Willis E. Lamb (faculty member, 1938 to 1952, 1960 to 1961)  
1957 Tsung Dao Lee (faculty member, 1953 to present)
1963 Maria Goeppert Mayer (faculty member, 1940 to 1946)
1964 Charles H. Townes (faculty member, 1948 to 1961)  
1975 Aage Bohr (faculty member, 1949 to 1950)  
1976 Samuel C.C. Ting (faculty member, 1964 to 1967)  
1979 Steven Weinberg (faculty member, 1957 to 1959)  
1981 Arthur L. Schawlow (faculty member, 1949 to 1951, 1960)  
1984 Carlo Rubbia (postdoc at Nevis Laboratories, 1958 to 1960)  
1988 Jack Steinberger (faculty member, 1950 to 1970, 1985 to 1986, 1988 to 1998)  
1998 Horst L. Stormer (faculty member, 1998 to present)
2006 John C. Mather (postdoc in Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 1974 to 1976)

Physiology or medicine

1933 Thomas Hunt Morgan (faculty member, 1904 to 1928)  
1956 Andre F. Cournand (faculty member, 1935 to 1988)  
1969 Salvador E. Luria (faculty member, 1940 to 1942)  
1976 D. Carleton Gajdusek (postgraduate training, 1946 to 1947)  
1978 Daniel Nathans (intern and medical resident, 1954 to 1959)  
1982 Sune Bergström (research fellowship, 1940 to 1941)  
1990 E. Donnall Thomas (faculty member, 1955 to 1963)  
2000 Eric Kandel (faculty member, 1972 to present)
2004 Linda Buck (postdoctoral fellow, 1980 to 1984; research scientist, 1984 to 1991)

Fields Medalists

Crafoord Prize

Founding Fathers of the United States

Founding Fathers of the United States are the political leaders who signed the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution, or otherwise participated in the American Revolution as leaders of the Patriots.

Presidents of the United States

Vice-Presidents of the United States

Presidents and Prime Ministers (international)

Notable alumni and attendees

Politics, military and law

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Law School (Government, Legal academia), Columbia College of Columbia University (Political and diplomatic figures, Legal and judicial figures, Military leaders), School of International and Public Affairs. This partial list does not include all of the numerous Columbia alumni who have served as the heads of foreign governments, in the U.S. Presidential Cabinet, the U.S. Executive branch of government, the Federal Courts, or as U.S. Senators, U.S. Congresspersons, Governors, diplomats, mayors (or other notable local officials), or as prominent members of the legal profession or the military.

Governors

Cabinet members and presidential advisors

Solicitors general

Supreme Court Justices

Judges

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Law School (Federal judges and State government) and Columbia College of Columbia University (Legal and judicial figures) for additional listing of more than 69 federal judge positions and 20 state supreme court justices (total more than 79 federal and 28 state judgeships)

Legislators

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Law School (Legislative branch) and Columbia College of Columbia University (United States Political figures) for additional listing of more than 25 U.S. Senators and more than 65 U.S. Congresspersons (total of more than 40 senators and more than 95 congresspersons)

Diplomats

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Law School (Diplomats), Columbia College of Columbia University (United States Diplomatic figures), School of International and Public Affairs for separate listing of more than 40 diplomats

Soldiers

Attorneys

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Law School (Miscellaneous U.S. government; Non-U.S. government; State government; and Private legal practice) for separate listing of more than 120 attorneys in U.S. government service, non-U.S. government service, state government, and private practice

Mayors

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (United States Political figures) and Columbia Law School (City government) for additional listing of 15 mayors

Commentators

Candidates

Spies (or alleged)

Other

Business

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Business School, Columbia Law School (Business and Philanthropy), Columbia College of Columbia University (Businesspeople) for separate listing of more than 100 businesspersons

Religion and ministry

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (Religious figures) for separate listing of 10 religious figures

Arts and literature

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (Artists and architects; and Writers) and Columbia Law School (Arts and Letters) for separate listing of more than 75 architects, artists, and writers

Performing arts

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (Actors; Musicians, composers, lyricists; Playwrights, screenwriters, and directors), Columbia University School of the Arts

Journalism

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia College of Columbia University (Journalism and media figures; and Publishers), and Columbia Law School (Journalists) for separate listing of more than 175 journalists, media figures, and publishers

National Book Awards

Pulitzer prizes

Science and technology

See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (Scientists and inventors) for additional listing of 15 scientists and inventors

Astronauts and aviators

Academics and theorists

See also: above at Nobel Laureates (Alumni) for separate listing of 39 academics and theorists, Notable alumni at Columbia College of Columbia University (Academicians), Columbia Law School (Academia: University presidents and Legal Academia), and Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Economists-Natural Scientists, Social Scientists) for separate listing of more than 163 academics and theorists

Sports

captain and MVP of Rose Bowl winning squad, Silver Star recipient in U.S. Navy

Activists

See also: notable alumni of Columbia Law School (Activism) and Columbia College (Miscellaneous) for a separate listing of more than 50 activist

Notable faculty

See also above at Nobel Laureates ("Alumni" and "Faculty") for separate listing of 41 notable faculty

References

  1. ^ Halbfinger, David M. "Man in the News; Flexibility in Victory; James Edward McGreevey", The New York Times, November 7, 2001. Accessed December 4, 2007. "He spent three semesters at Catholic University in Washington before transferring to Columbia University, where he majored in political science and graduated in 1978."
  2. ^ via Associated Press. "Joseph F. Finnegan, Ex-Director Of U.S. Mediation Service, Dies; Lawyer Held Federal Post From 1955 to 1961, Then Headed State Board", The New York Times, February 13, 1964. Accessed July 9, 2009.
  3. ^ De Witt Clinton Flanagan, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed September 5, 2007.
  4. ^ Lord, Richard (2009-09-11). "Patricia Robinson passes away". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
  5. ^ London Times obituary of Jim Carroll; 15 September 2009
  6. ^ Pearce, Jeremy. "Dr. Ira B. Black, 64, Leader in New Jersey Stem Cell Effort, Dies", The New York Times, January 12, 2006. Accessed August 13, 2009.
  7. ^ Ross Registry
  8. ^ Burkhart, Ford. "Aaron D. Wyner, 58; Helped Speed Data Around the Globe", The New York Times, October 13, 1997. Accessed November 9, 2007.
  9. ^ Hevesi, Dennis. "Carl F. Hovde, Former Columbia Dean, Dies at 82", The New York Times, September 10, 2009. Accessed September 11, 2009.
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