Notable Berkeleyans
Over the 100 plus years of its history Berkeley has had its share of famous people. We offer here a brief look at some of them.
Nobel Prize Winners
For starters, 19 professors at UC Berkeley have been awarded a Nobel Prize.
Current Faculty Nobel Laureates
- 2006 - George F. Smoot (Physics)
- 2001 - George A. Akerlof (Economics)
- 2000 - Daniel L. McFadden (Economics)
- 1997 - Steven Chu (Physics)
- 1986 - Yuan T. Lee (Chemistry)
- 1964 - Charles H. Townes (Physics)
- 1960 - Donald A. Glaser (Physics)
- 1959 - Owen Chamberlain (Physics)
Faculty Nobel Laureates - deceased or no longer at UC Berkeley
- 1994 - John C. Harsanyi (Economics)
- 1983 - Gerard Debreu (Economics)
- 1980 - Czeslaw Milosz (Literature)
- 1968 - Luis Alvarez (Physics)
- 1961 - Melvin Calvin (Chemistry)
- 1959 - Emilio G. Segre (Physics)
- 1951 - Edwin M. McMillan (Chemistry)
- 1951 - Glenn T. Seaborg (Chemistry)
- 1949 - William F. Giauque (Chemistry)
- 1946 - John H. Northrop (Chemistry)
- 1946 - Wendell M. Stanley (Chemistry)
- 1939 - Ernest O. Lawrence (Physics)
Further information on Berkeley's Nobel tradition is available from the Office of Public Affairs at UC Berkeley.
Other Notable Berkeleyans
Here is a sample of some of the famous people who have lived and/or worked in Berkeley for at least part of their lives. Each name is linked to a non-Berkeley Public Library website That is to say, when you click on a name, you will be leaving this website.
Berkeleyans in Politics, Government, Ecology
- David Brower
- Eldridge Cleaver
- Mario Savio
- Tom Bates
- Shirley Dean
- Ron Dellums
- Loni Hancock
- Don Perata
Berkeleyans in the Arts
- John Adams
- Peter Apfelbaum
- Richard Diebenkorn
- David Lance Goines
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Country Joe McDonald
- Bernard Maybeck
- Julia Morgan
- Kent Nagano
- Johnny Otis
- Joshua Redman
Berkeley Authors
- Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Michael Chabon
- Philip K. Dick
- Robert Duncan
- Allen Ginsberg
- Robert Hass
- Pauline Kael
- Ursula K. LeGuin
- Jack London
- Josephine Miles
- Czeslaw Milosz
- John Muir
- Thornton Wilder
