Most famous alumni

[jack]

A thread on a message board asked, if you went to a university, who was the most famous person who studied there[1]. There were similar questions for "who's the most famous person from the town you were born in"?[2]

I thought "there must be really good answers for Cambridge". And then I hesitated -- who is the most famous? Especially considering that people I consdier famous other people often have never heard of and vice versa.

Hawking? Newton? Darwin? I think Darwin is probably one of the most famous scientists

Cromwell? I'd think so, but I bet he's comparatively unknown outside Britain and Ireland.

Prince Charles? Is he more famous than Charles Darwin? He probably is in Britain, but I don't think he'd win outside if he's not King yet. There must have been other famous monarchs, but which?

Is there an obvious best answer?

What about other famous universities?

Footnotes

[1] I think you can count "taught there". But not "had a college named after them" else Jesus and Wolfson would win every time :)

[2] I think Worcester is most famous for (1) being pronounced differently to how it looks, (2) Worcester sauce and (3) the end of the british monarchy. Except no-one seemed to have heard of #3 :)

Comments

[pseudomonas]

I'm not sure going to university was standard practice for monarchs before the C20.

[jack]

OK, you're right, there doesn't need to be, but there still may be famous royal alumni from C20.

[pseudomonas]

Are there? I'd be surprised; I don't think of many monarchs as being academics.

(Oh, you said from C20, not from before C20).

[jack]

Well, there's already prince charles, who (i) went to Cambridge (ii) is royal (iii) is somewhat famous. I already admitted that I was wrong to extrapolate that back in time. But it seems a common thing for heirs to do now, not because they're academics, but because it's the done thing. I don't know how far back that goes. But when you disagree with "there may be" do you mean "it's impossible that there are any other royalty who went to university other than prince charles" or just that I'm over-estimating how many?

[pseudomonas]

I think that you're over-estimating, is all.

[jack]

Ah, sorry, I didn't see your edit. I would generally agree.

[simont]

I'd certainly expect Prince Charles to be a shoe-in if you were considering just fame among Britons. If you want wider acclaim, perhaps current celebrities might be a direction worth looking in? A quick trawl of Wikipedia's top level section on the subject (on the assumption that anyone for whom you have to follow the link to the dedicated page listing Cambridge alumni clearly isn't in the running) suggests, for instance, Ian McKellen.

Or perhaps, as an outside contender, C. S. Lewis? I'm not really sure how widely known Narnia might be outside the UK, but it seems at least possible that the answer could be 'very'.

Then again, perhaps it doesn't count as proper fame if you know of their work but can't recall their name, so that someone who's watched Lord of the Rings but doesn't remember actors' names can't be counted as knowing of Ian McKellen.

[redbird]

I suspect at this point the most famous person who went to my university is George Bush (though there is no evidence that he studied there); at one point I would have said Jodie Foster.

[jack]

Ouch. But yeah, currently it's hard to imagine many people more well known.

[ceb]

I'd say Newton. They talk about him on punt tours so he must be famous!

[katieastrophe]

I don't know how many people would actually recognise names on the list of people from my hometown... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Stockport

University isn't much better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Derby#Notable_alumni

[jack]

No, I'm embarrassed to say I'm not sure if I recognise any.

I'm also a little embarrassed to belong to a species that listed "big brother contestant" before "prime minister of malawi", although I admit, I probably am more likely to have heard of the first one...

[redbird]

For my home city, the people are listed in alphabetical order, so we get Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before Eamon de Valera or Robert Oppenheimer. It looks as though that's what they're doing for the University of Derby, as well.

[katieastrophe]

Yes, I think it's meant to be alphabetical order, except for the person at the end (who probably added themselves; I'm guessing the linked-to Wiki page was deleted for breaking all kinds of rules...)

[jack]

Ah, yeah, that would make sense. Oops.

In fact, it wouldn't be surprising that a legitimate addition might be added at the end automatically, and then someone tidy the list into order later, although the fact there's nothing saying who that entry was suggests it was gratuitous.

[jack]

Ah, yeah, that would make sense. Oops.

[ptc24]

For that list, it seems that the ones further up in the list have the shortest Wikipedia entries, although as redbird says, alphabetical order also applies.

[ceb]

What, not even Horace Lamb (maybe not unless you're a physicist, I suppose) or Norman Foster, Gherkinmeister?

Ooh, I didn't realise Lamb was buried at Ascension.

Leigh's most famous inhabitant is the man who is locally supposed to have invented a type of Spinning Jenny.

[jack]

I had a feeling I should know Lamb, but I couldn't actually remember if I had the right name or not, let alone what he was famous for. I really should know mathematicians, but apparently I don't, alas.

Edit: At least, he's an almnus I'd be proud to have :)

[fluffymormegil]

I was born in a maternity ward in London (officially, in the City of Westminster). I'm not even going to try this one.

[jack]

LOL.

[fluffymormegil]

That said, the most famous person born in the town my parents were living in (Crowborough, East Sussex) at the time would have to be Arthur Conan Doyle.

Stupid wikipedia page listing residents instead of persons born in :)