List of University College London people

This is a list of people associated with University College London, including notable staff and alumni associated with the institution.

Founders and supporters

Founders

Apart from Jeremy Bentham, all these men were named (in Latin) on the Foundation Stone.^[1]

James Abercromby, 1st Baron Dunfermline (1776–1858), Scottish peer and British statesman
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773–1843), Grand Master of English Freemasons (the United Grand Lodge of England), 1813–1843, supporter of UCL; he laid the foundation stone of the new university on 30 April 1827
Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton (1774–1848), British politician and financier
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), English philosopher; a leading advocate for the foundation of UCL
George Birkbeck (1776–1841), British Quaker, doctor, academic, philanthropist, and early *pioneer in adult education; founder of Birkbeck College.
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868), Scottish-born British statesman and slavery abolitionist, leading advocate in Parliament for the foundation of UCL
Thomas Campbell (1777–1844), Scottish poet, founding father of UCL^[2]
Francis Augustus Cox (1783–1853), Baptist Minister, active supporter of the foundation of UCL
George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, British statesman
Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid (1778–1859), financier, promoter of UK Jewry's emancipation; advocate for the foundation of UCL and a very generous benefactor
Olinthus Gregory (1774–1841), English mathematician, author and editor
George Grote (1794–1871), English classical historian
Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk (1791–1856), Catholic peer, and advocate for the foundation of UCL^[3]
Joseph Hume (1777–1855), Scottish doctor and politician
Zachary Macaulay (1768–1838), Scottish-born slavery abolitionist, Governor of Sierra Leone, and active supporter of the foundation of UCL
Sir James Mackintosh (1765–1832), Scottish jurist, politician and historian
James Mill (1773–1836), Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher; advocate for the foundation of UCL
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878), British statesman
Henry Warburton (1784–1858), English merchant and politician, and also an enthusiastic amateur scientist
John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley (1781–1833), British statesman
William Wilkins (1778–1839), original architect of the main campus
Thomas Wilson (1764–1843), Congregationalist benefactor of chapels and educational institutions, founder member of the UCL Council from 1825.

A translation of the Latin text engraved on a metal plate that was buried with the foundation stone reads as follows:^[4]

To God's favour the greatest and best, eternal architect of the universe may it bring you happiness and good fortune at the beginning of the eighth year of the reign of King George IV of Britain the most highest prince Augustus Frederick Duke of Sussex patron of all the fine arts the oldest order of architecture the highest among the English the foundation stone of the London University between city state and brothers standing around will be placed by his hand to applause.
Day before the day before the Kalends of May
The work of God desired by the most fortunate citizens of this town has begun at last in the year of human greeting 1827 and in the year of light 5827.
In the name of these most illustrious men who are present and with the guidance of Henry Duke of Norfolk, Henry Marquis of Lansdown, Lord John Russell, John, Viscount Dudley and Ward, George, Baron Auckland, the Hon. James Abercrombie and Sir James Macintosh, Alexander Baring, Henry Bougham, Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, George Grote, Zachary Macaulay, Benjamin Shaw, William Tooke, Henry Waymouth, George Birkbeck, Thomas Campbell, Olinthus Gregory, Joseph Hume, James Mill, John Smith, Henry Warburton, John Wishaw, Thomas Wilson, and William Wilkins, architect.

Supporters

Benefactors

Sir Herbert Bartlett (1842–1921), civil engineer, enabled the establishment of the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture
Sir Francis Galton, eugenicist and supporter of statistics and eugenics at UCL^[5]
Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid (1778–1859), financier, promoter of UK Jewry's emancipation; advocate for the foundation of UCL and a very generous benefactor

Council members

Timothy Clement-Jones, Baron Clement-Jones, (1949–)
Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather (1934–), British politician, UCL alumna, and the first South Asian woman to receive a peerage
Sir Stephen Wall, British diplomat, leading Catholic layman, chairman of Council (2008–)^[6]
Thomas Wilson (1764–1843),^[7] Congregationalist benefactor of chapels and educational institutions, founder member of the UCL Council from 1825.
Thomas Field Gibson (1803-1889),^[8] Manufacturer and benefactor – on Council 1851–68
Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, UCL alumnus; variously Visitor, Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Council (2005–08), and Chairman of the UCL Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.

Fields Medallists

The Fields Medal is often described as the "Nobel Prize in Mathematics". The UCL mathematical community has produced three Fields Medallists,^[9]

1998: Timothy Gowers

Faculty member of the Department of Mathematics (1991–1995)

1970: Alan Baker

BSc (1961), Professor (1964–1965)

1958: Klaus Roth

MSc (1948), PhD (1950), Professor (1948–1966)

Former staff

Art, architecture, and design

Dame Phyllida Barlow, Sculptor
Tancred Borenius (1885–1948), art historian, diplomat and British wartime spy
Sir Peter Cook (1936–), architect, The Bartlett Professor of Architecture^[10]
Stuart Brisley, performance artist
Thorold Dickinson (1903–84), film maker; Britain's first Professor of Film Studies^[11]
Thomas Leverton Donaldson (1795–1885), architect, first UCL Professor of Architecture
Lucian Freud (1922–2011), painter^[12]
Roger Fry (1866–1934), painter, art critic
Christine Hawley, architect, first female Head of the Barlett
John Hooper Harvey (1911–97), architectural historian, Bartlett School of Architecture, 1950–59.
Tim Head, artist
John Hilliard, artist
Otto Königsberger (1908–1999), architect
Michael (Edward) Parsons (1938–), avant-garde composer, and lecturer in fine art
Cameron Sinclair (1973–), co-founder of Architecture for Humanity

Engineering sciences

Eric Ash (1928-2021), Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering , Pender Chair from 1979 to 1986
Harold Barlow, staff then Pender Chair in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (1950–1966)
Thomas Hudson Beare (1859–1940), chair of engineering from 1889 to 1901
Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver of Cranfield (1926–), 1961–69
Wellesley Curram Clinton (1871-1934), Pender Chair from 1926 to 1934
Jon Crowcroft, Professor of Networked Systems in Computer Science
Alexander Lamb Cullen, Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Pender Chair from 1967 to 1980
Sir David Davies, Head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (1985–1988)
John William Draper - pioneer astro-photographer who also took the oldest surviving picture of a woman
Anthony Finkelstein, Head of Computer Science and Dean of the UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences until 2015
John Fleming (1849–1945)
William Edward Gibbs (1890-1934), Ramsay Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering
Eaton Hodgkinson, Professor of the mechanical principles of engineering (appointed in 1847)
Reginald Otto Kapp (1885-1966), Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering , Pender Chair from 1935 to 1945
Peter T. Kirstein (1933-2020), Head of Computer Science department from 1980 to 1994
John Edwin Midwinter (1938-2021), Pender Professor of Electronic Engineering from 1991 to 2004, Vice Provost from 1994-1999
John Millington (1779-1868), the UK's first Civil Engineering Professor, appointed in 1827
Sir John O'Reilly, Head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (1997–2001)
William Pole (1813–1900), 1859–76
William Ramsay (1852-1916), Chair of Chemistry (appointed 1887)
H. E. Watson (1886-1980), Ramsay Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering
E. C. Williams, first Ramsay Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering (1923-1927)

Interdisciplinary studies

Carl Gombrich – founding programme director of the UCL Arts and Sciences programme and co-founder of the London Interdisciplinary School

Languages and literature

Chimen Abramsky – Emeritus Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Celia Britton – Emeritus Professor of French
A. S. Byatt – Senior Lecturer in English and American Literature (1972–83); winner of the 1990 Booker Prize
Sir Hermann Gollancz – Professor of Hebrew; British Rabbi (1902–24)
Alan Hollinghurst – Lecturer in English; deputy editor, The Times Literary Supplement; later winner of the 2004 Booker Prize
A. E. Housman – Professor of Latin; poet most famous as author of A Shropshire Lad
Dan Jacobson – Professor of English; author; winner of the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award
Sir Frank Kermode – Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature (1967–74); literary critic
David Masson – Professor of English Literature; Scottish writer
Karl Miller – Lord Northcliffe Professor of English Literature (1976–92); first editor, The London Review of Books
Arnaldo Momigliano – Professor of History (1951–75)
Henry Morley – Professor of English Literature
Dadabhai Naoroji – Professor of Gujarati (1856–1865) credited as the first British Asian UK Member of Parliament, also known as the "Grand Old Man of India"
Sir Anthony Panizzi – Professor of Italian
Stephen Spender – Lecturer in English; Gresham Professor of Rhetoric; English poet
John Sutherland – Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature; columnist for The Guardian
Jeremy Treglown – Professor of English; editor, The Times Literary Supplement; author
D. P. Walker – Reader in French, musicologist, composer (1945–61)^[13]
Stanley Wells – Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies, Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Moira Yip – Professor of Linguistics

Law

Mathematical, physical, and space sciences

Jim Al-Khalili – post-doctoral fellow
Alan Baker, (mathematics) – winner of the 1970 Fields Medal
William Henry Bragg inventor of x-ray crystallography and Nobel laureate^[14]
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, (astronomy) – discovered radio pulsars
Charles Bungay Fawcett – Professor of Geography
Paul Cohn – Astor Professor of Mathematics
Marianna Csörnyei – Professor of Mathematics
Harold Davenport – Astor Professor of Mathematics, number theory
Philip Dawid – Professor of Statistics, President of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis
Augustus DeMorgan – Professor of Mathematics, noted for his law of sets
Sir Francis Galton – 'Father of fingerprinting'
Tim Gowers – Professor of Mathematics; winner of the 1998 Fields Medal
Otto Hahn – pioneer of nuclear chemistry, discoverer of nuclear fusion and Nobel laureate^[14]
Peter Higgs – theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate^[15]
James Joseph Sylvester – Professor of Mathematics, algebra and matrix theory
Norman Lloyd Johnson – Reader in Statistics
Sir James Lighthill – Lecturer; predecessor to Stephen Hawking as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University
Dennis Lindley, statistician
Sir Harrie Massey – Goldsmid Professor of Applied Mathematics, world expert on atomic and molecular collisions
Egon Pearson – Professor of Statistics
Karl Pearson – eugenicist, Goldsmid Professor of Applied Mathematics; founder of the Department of Applied Statistics
Eugene Rabinowitch – worked in the Manhattan Project and co-founded the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Klaus F. Roth – Professor of Mathematics, winner of the 1958 Fields Medal
Edward Teller – 'Father of the Hydrogen Bomb'
Patrick du Val
Alfred North Whitehead – Professor of Physics

Life sciences

Caroline Austin, British molecular biologist
Sir Thomas Barlow, royal physician known for his research on infantile scurvy (Barlow's disease)
William Bayliss, physiologist who, along with his brother-in-law Ernest Starling, first discovered the existence and function of hormones while working at University College London^[16]
Dame Carol Black, Professor of Rheumatology; National Director for Health & Work; formerly president of the Royal College of Physicians
Patricia H. Clarke née Greene, FRS, (1919–2010), Professor of Microbial Biochemistry
David Clary, FRS, Director of the UCL Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry; Chief Scientific Advisor, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 2009-^[17]
Alex Comfort, Faculty of Medicine; author of the seminal sex guide, The Joy of Sex
Jack Drummond, biochemist known for his work on nutrition
George Viner Ellis, prominent anatomist. He studied Medicine at UCL Medical School and later became a Professor of Anatomy
Sir Martin Evans, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine-winning biologist for his work with stem cells
Lesley Fallowfield, Professor of Psycho-Oncology (1997–2001)
Suzi Gage, psychologist, science blogger
C. Robin Ganellin, Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, co-discoverer of cimetidine
Andrew J Goldberg, Clinical Senior Lecturer in orthopaedic surgery
J. B. S. Haldane, Professor of Genetics (1933–57). He was one of the founders of population genetics
Archibald Hill, Professor of Physiology (1922–51), winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Victor Horsley, Professor of Clinical Surgery co-inventor of Horsley–Clarke apparatus
Andrew Huxley, Nobel laureate^[14]
Ian Jacobs, Dean of Medicine
Roland Levinsky, Hugh Greenwood Professor of Immunology.
Avrion Mitchison, Professor of Zoology
Santa Ono, GlaxoSmithKline Professor of Biomedical Sciences
Richard Quain, Chair of Anatomy (?–1850), having also studied Medicine at UCL Medical School, and later physician-extraordinary to Queen Victoria
Dunkinfield Henry Scott, Botanist
Anthony Segal, Professor of Medicine
John Maynard-Smith, Lecturer in Zoology (1952–65)
David Morley, Professor of child health, a pioneer in child healthcare
Bert Sakmann, Nobel Prize-winning cell physiologist and former researcher at UCL Department of Biophysics (1970–1973)
Sir Edward Henry Sieveking, former Physician Extraordinary to King Edward VII
Charles Spearman, Professor of Psychology; noted for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient
Bernard Spilsbury, Britain's first forensic scientist.
Ernest Starling, Physiologist, noted for the Frank–Starling law of the heart, producing the Starling equation, and for the discovery of hormones at UCL alongside his brother-in-law William Bayliss
Patrick Wall, Professor of Neurophysiology, noted for the influential gate theory of pain with Ronald Melzack at McGill University
David J Werring, Professor of Clinical Neurology, noted for influential research in stroke
Alexander Williamson – noted for the chemical synthesis of ether
Lewis Wolpert, Professor of Biology
John (J-Z)Young, Professor of Anatomy

Philosophy

A. J. Ayer, Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic (1946–59)
Myles Burnyeat, Lecturer in Philosophy
Gerald Cohen, Reader in Philosophy; later Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford University
S.V. Keeling, Lecturer and Reader in Philosophy, scholar of J. M. E. McTaggart and Descartes (after whom the annual Keeling lectures on Ancient Philosophy at UCL are named).^[18]
Stuart Hampshire, Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic
W. D. Hart
Ted Honderich, Emeritus Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic
John Macmurray, Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic; BBC broadcaster
Carveth Read, Professor of Moral Philosophy
Bernard Williams, Lecturer in Philosophy; later Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University
Richard Wollheim, Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic

Social sciences, geography, and history

Michael Crawford, Professor of Ancient History
Wendy Davies, Professor of Medieval Celtic History
Romesh Chunder Dutt (রমেশচন্দ্র দত্ত), student and later Professor of Indian History who translated the Ramayana and Mahabharata. He served as President of the Indian National Congress in 1899.
G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, Marxist historian of Greek Antiquity, author of The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World
Sir Andrew Dilnot, Economist; Principal, St. Hugh's College Oxford; Pro Vice-Chancellor, Oxford
Dame Mary Douglas, Professor of Anthropology; noted for her Cultural Theory of Risk
Hugh Gaitskell, lecturer in Political Economy (1928–1939), former leader of the Labour Party
Georgina Herrmann, Reader in the Archaeology of Western Asia (1994-2002)
Albert Pollard, Professor of Constitutional History; major contributor to the Dictionary of National Biography
Conrad Russell, Professor of Early Modern British History
Sir Eric Turner, Professor of Papyrology
Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, taught Economics at UCL, authored the "Big Push" Theory, later Assistant Director of the Economic Department in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 1947-1953.^[19]
Philip Wicksteed, economist and theologian

Current staff

Art, architecture, and design

Iain Borden
David Burrows
Susan Alexis Collins
Melanie Counsell
Peter Davies
Tom Dyckhoff, broadcaster and teaching fellow at The Bartlett
Simon Faithfull
Murray Fraser (architect)
Judith Goddard
Dryden Goodwin
Nadia Hebson
Jonathan Hill (architect)
Amy Kulper
C.J. Lim
Lisa Milroy
Jayne Parker
Barbara Penner
Sarah Pickering
Jane Rendell
Liz Rideal
Jon Thomson
Carey Young

Engineering sciences

Polina Bayvel, Professor of Optical Communications & Networks
Ann Blandford, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction
Helen Czerski, Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering
George Danezis, Professor of Security and Privacy Engineering
Mark Handley, Professor of Networked Systems, Computer Science
Zoe Laughlin, Materials Engineer and co-founder of the Institute of Making
Paola Lettieri, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Director of UCL East
Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials & Society, co-founder of the Institute of Making
Peter O'Hearn, Professor of Computer Science
Michael Pepper, Pender Chair of Nanoelectronics (2009-)
Yvonne Rogers, Professor of Interaction Design and director of UCLIC
Angela Sasse, Professor of Human-Centred Technology
John Shawe-Taylor, Director of the Centre for Computational Statistics
Rebecca Shipley, Professor of Healthcare Engineering
David Silver, Professor of Computer Science
Eva Sorensen, 11th Ramsay Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering
Sarah Spurgeon, Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Jose L. Torero, Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

History, languages and literature

Rosemary Ashton, OBE, Quain Professor of English Language and Literature
John Dickie, Professor in Italian Studies
John Fletcher, Laplanche scholar, literary theorist
Mark Ford, Professor of English
Mary Fulbrook, Professor of German History
Julian Hoppit FBA, Astor Professor of British History
Philip Horne, Professor of English
John Mullan, Professor of English
Li Wei, Chair of Applied Linguistics and Director of the UCL Centre for Applied Linguistics

Mathematical, physical and space sciences

Tim Broyd, Professor of Built Environment Foresight and Honorary Professor of Civil Engineering
Hannah Fry, Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at the UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis
David Kemp, physicist at the UCL Ear Institute who discovered otoacoustic emission
Alan Sokal, Professor of Mathematics

Helen Wilson, Professor of Mathematics

Life sciences

Peter Butler, Professor of Surgery
David Colquhoun, notable for predicting the single Ion channel function, later verified by Bert Sakmann
Martin Elliott, Professor of Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery
Rob Horne, Professor of Behavioural Medicine, School of Pharmacy
Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics
Nick Lane, Winner of the 2015 biochemical society award and influential science writer
Sammy Lee, expert in in vitro fertilisation
John O'Keefe (neuroscientist), winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Janet Radcliffe-Richards, Director, Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Philosophy
Martin Raff, Professor of Zoology, Former Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology
Sarah Tabrizi, Professor of Neuroscience
Klara Valko, Honorary professor at University College London School of Pharmacy
Robin Weiss, Director of the Wohl Virus Research Centre, discovered that CD4 is the co-receptor for HIV
Semir Zeki, Professor of Neurology, proponent for the role of Visual area 4 in cognitive colour construction

Social sciences, geography, and history

John Adams, Professor of geography and authority on risk compensation
Richard Blundell, Ricardo Professor of Political Economy; Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Catherine Hall, Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History
Gordon Hillman, Honorary Visiting Professor in Archaeobotany (Palaeoethnobotany)
Simon Hornblower, Grote Professor of ancient history and editor of the Oxford Classical Dictionary
Amélie Kuhrt, Historian of the ancient Near East.
Martyn Rady, Professor of Central European History
John Reid, Chairman of the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies at UCL, and a member of the UK Parliament.
Christopher Tilley, Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology, he is known as one of the pioneers of the post-processual archaeology movement.
Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science