University of Glasgow Admitted Student Profiles & Alumni

Adam Smith

“Father of Economics”, author of The Wealth of Nations

MA, later Professor

mid-1700s

James Watt

Inventor and mechanical engineer; developed improved steam engine

N/A

18th century

Lord Kelvin (William Thomson)

Physicist; formulated the Kelvin temperature scale

MA, DSc

1840s-1850s

Joseph Black

Chemist and physician; discovered latent heat, specific heat

MD / MD & MA

18th century

John Logie Baird

Inventor of the mechanical television

N/A

early 20th c.

Nicola Sturgeon

First woman to serve as First Minister of Scotland

LLB (Law)

1970s

William Ramsay

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovery of inert gases

PhD (Chemistry)

late 19th c.

Frederick Soddy

Nobel Prize in Chemistry, work on isotopes

PhD (Chemistry)

early 20th c.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Discovered radio pulsars

BSc; DSc

1965, later

Marion Gilchrist

First female graduate of University of Glasgow; early female physician and activist

MBChB or similar medical degree

1894

Dennis Robertson

Economist, known for monetary theory work

MA (Economics)

early 20th c.

John Buchan

Novelist and politician; The Thirty-Nine Steps

MA (Literature)

late 19th/early 20th c.

Donald Dewar

First First Minister of Scotland

MA (Law or similar)

mid-20th century

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Prime Minister of the UK

MA (Law)

late 19th c.

Andrew Bonar Law

Prime Minister of the UK

MA (Law / Political Studies)

early 20th c.

Denise Mina

Crime writer and novelist

English Literature / MA

late 20th c.

Alan Warner

Novelist

English

late 20th c.

Steven Moffat

TV writer / showrunner (Doctor Who, Sherlock)

MA (English or related)

late 20th c.

William Boyd

Novelist, screenwriter

MA (English)

late 20th c.

David W.C. MacMillan

Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2021) for work on asymmetric organocatalysis

PhD (Chemistry)

20th-21st c.