A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
List of University of California, Berkeley alumni
...This page lists notable alumni and students of the University of California, Berkeley. Alumni who also served as faculty are listed in bold font, with degree and year.
Notable faculty members are in the article List of University of California, Berkeley faculty.
Nobel laureates
Alumni of the University of California, Berkeley
Steve Wozniak, BS 1986, co-founder of Apple Computer
Gordon Moore, BS 1950, co-founder of semiconductor company Intel
Carol Greider, PhD 1987, Nobel laureate (2009, Physiology or Medicine)
Hamilton O. Smith, BA 1952, Nobel laureate (1978, Physiology or Medicine)
Robert Laughlin, BA 1972, Nobel laureate (1998, Physics)
Thomas Schelling, BA 1944, Nobel laureate (2005, Economics)
Andrew Fire, BA 1978, Nobel laureate (2006, Physiology or Medicine)
Thomas J. Sargent, BA 1964, Nobel laureate (2011, Economics)
David J. Wineland, BA 1965, Nobel laureate (2012, Physics)
Barry Barish, BS 1957, PhD 1962, Nobel laureate (2017, Physics)
Dana Scott, BS 1954, Turing Award laureate (1976)
1983 Turing Award laureate Ken Thompson (left), BS 1965, MS 1966, with fellow laureate and colleague Dennis Ritchie (right); together, they created Unix
The computer mouse was invented by 1997 Turing Award laureate Doug Engelbart, B. Eng. 1952, Ph.D. 1955
Barbara Liskov, BA Math 1961, Turing Award laureate (2008)
Jim Gray, B.S. 1966, Ph.D. 1969, Turing Award laureate (2001)
Charles P. Thacker, BA Physics 1967, Turing Award laureate (2009)
Leonard Adleman, BA Math 1969, PhD EECS 1976, Turing Award laureate (2002)
Academy Award-winning actor Gregory Peck, BA 1942
Academy Award-winning documentary director Freida Lee Mock, BA 1961
Will Vinton, B.A. 1970, Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning pioneer of Claymation
Scott Adams, MBA 1986, creator of the comic strip Dilbert
14th Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren, BA 1912, LL.B. 1914
.jpg)
Singer Susanna Hoffs, BA 1980, of The Bangles
Stephan Jenkins, BA 1987, of Third Eye Blind
Guitarist Jade Puget, BA 1996, of AFI
.jpg)
Natalie Coughlin, BA 2005, Olympic gold medalist; first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics[1]
Jonny Moseley, BA 2007, Olympic gold medalist
.jpg)
Alex Morgan, BA 2010, Olympic gold medalist
Tom Anderson, BA 1998, Co-founder and president of MySpace
Astronaut James van Hoften, BS 1966
Astronaut F. Drew Gaffney, BA 1968
Astronaut Margaret Rhea Seddon, BS 1970
Astronaut Rex Walheim, BS 1984, member of the "Final Four"[3][4] astronauts who flew on the very last Space Shuttle flight of STS-135
Roxann Dawson, BA 1980, actress (B'Elanna Torres on the television series Star Trek: Voyager), director, author, and playwright
Chris Pine, BA 2002, actor (Captain James T. Kirk in the 2009 Academy Award-winning[6] film Star Trek)
John Cho, BA 1996, actor (portrayed Hikaru Sulu in the 2009 Academy Award-winning[6] film Star Trek and portrayed Harold Lee in the Harold & Kumar film series)
Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm, BA 1984
Captain Glen Edwards, BS 1941, namesake of Edwards Air Force Base (where the Space Shuttle has landed 53 times[7])
Norman Mineta, BS 1953; Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Commerce; namesake of the Mineta San Jose International Airport; the first Asian American to serve in the Cabinet of the United States[8]
Lillian Moller Gilbreth, BA 1900, MA 1902, industrial/organizational psychologist and subject of the book (and film) Cheaper by the Dozen
Alice Waters, BA 1967, celebrity chef, founder of restaurant Chez Panisse, originator of California cuisine; 2015 National Humanities Medal recipient
GTK was created by Peter Mattis, BS 1997
Mark Anchor Albert, BA 1984, lawyer, philanthropist, founder of the Queen of Angels Foundation
| Name | Degree(s) | Prize year | Prize field | Reason (prize citation) | Additional notability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frances H. Arnold | Ph.D. 1985[9] | 2018 | Chemistry | "for the directed evolution of enzymes"[10] | also listed in §National Medal of Technology; Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biochemistry at Caltech[11][12] |
| Barry Barish | B.S. 1957, Ph.D. 1962[13] | 2017 | Physics | "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves"[14] | |
| Carolyn R. Bertozzi | Ph.D. 1993 | 2022 | Chemistry | "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry"[15] | |
| Thomas Cech | Ph.D. 1975 | 1989 | Chemistry | "for the discovery of catalytic properties of RNA"[16] | |
| Owen Chamberlain | Attended (1941-42) |
1959 | Physics | "for the discovery of the antiproton"[17] | |
| Steven Chu | Ph.D. 1976 | 1997 | Physics | "for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light"[18] | Secretary of Energy in the Obama administration |
| Robert Curl | Ph.D. 1957 | 1996 | Chemistry | "for the discovery of fullerenes"[19] | |
| Joseph Erlanger | B.S. 1895 | 1944 | Medicine | "for discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres"[20] | |
| Andrew Fire | B.A. 1978 | 2006 | Medicine[21] | "for the discovery of RNA interference – gene silencing by double–stranded RNA"[22] | |
| William F. Giauque | B.S. 1920, Ph.D. 1922 | 1949 | Chemistry | "for his contributions in the field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures"[23] | |
| Carol W. Greider | Ph.D. 1987 | 2009 | Medicine | "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"[24] | Daniel Nathans Professor and the Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University |
| David Gross | Ph.D. 1966 | 2004 | Physics | "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction"[25] | |
| Alan Heeger | Ph.D. 1961 | 2000 | Chemistry | "for the discovery and development of conductive polymers"[26] | |
| David Julius | Ph.D. 1984 | 2021 | Medicine | "for the discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch"[27] | |
| Daniel Kahneman | Ph.D. 1961 | 2002 | Economics | "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision–making under uncertainty"[28] | |
| Lawrence Klein | B.A. 1942 | 1980 | Economics | "for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies"[29] | |
| Willis Lamb | B.S. 1934, Ph.D. 1938 | 1955 | Physics | "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum"[30] | |
| Robert Laughlin | B.A. 1972 | 1998 | Physics | "for the discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations"[31] | |
| Yuan T. Lee | Ph.D. 1962 | 1986 | Chemistry | "for contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes"[32] | Professor of Chemistry; Principal Investigator, Materials and Molecular Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory |
| Willard Libby | B.S. 1931, Ph.D. 1933 | 1960 | Chemistry | "for his method to use carbon–14 for age determination in archaeology, geology, geophysics, and other branches of science"[33] | Professor of Chemistry |
| Robert Lucas Jr. | Attended (1959-60) |
1995 | Economics | "for having developed and applied the hypothesis of rational expectations, and thereby having transformed macroeconomic analysis and deepened our understanding of economic policy."[34] | |
| John C. Mather | Ph.D. 1974 | 2006 | Physics | "for the discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation"[35] | |
| Mario Molina | Ph.D. 1972 | 1995 | Chemistry | "for work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone"[36] | |
| Kary Mullis | Ph.D. 1973 | 1993 | Chemistry | "for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method"[37] | |
| Douglass North | B.A. 1942, Ph.D. 1952 | 1993 | Economics | "for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change"[38] | |
| Saul Perlmutter | Ph.D. 1986 | 2011 | Physics | "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae"[39] | Professor of Physics at UC Berkeley; co–discoverer of dark energy as head of the Supernova Cosmology Project |
| Thomas J. Sargent | B.A. 1964[40] | 2011 | Economics | "for empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"[41] | William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at New York University[42] |
| Thomas Schelling | B.A. 1944 | 2005 | Economics | "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game–theory analysis"[43] | |
| Glenn T. Seaborg | Ph.D. 1937 | 1951 | Chemistry | "for discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements"[44] | University Professor of Chemistry; Associate Director, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; Chancellor, Berkeley campus (1958–1961) |
| William F. Sharpe | Attended (1951-52) |
1990 | Economics | "for pioneering work in the theory of financial economics."[45] | |
| Christopher A. Sims | Attended (1963-64) |
2011 | Economics | for "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"[46] | |
| Hamilton O. Smith | B.A. 1952 | 1978 | Medicine | "for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics"[47] | |
| Otto Stern | L.L.D 1930 | 1943 | Physics | "for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton"[48] | |
| Henry Taube | Ph.D. 1940 | 1983 | Chemistry | "for his work on the mechanisms of electron transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes"[49] | |
| Harold Urey | Ph.D. 1923 | 1934 | Chemistry | "for his discovery of heavy hydrogen"[50] | |
| Selman Waksman | Ph.D. 1918 | 1952 | Medicine | "for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis"[51] | |
| David J. Wineland | BA Physics 1965[52] | 2012 | Physics | "for ground–breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems"[53] |
Turing Award laureates
The Turing Award is considered to be the "Nobel Prize" of computer science.
| Name | Degree(s) | Prize year | Reason (prize citation) | Additional notability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leonard Adleman | B.A. 1968, Ph.D. 1976,[54] | 2002 | for the "ingenious contribution for making public–key cryptography useful in practice" | co-author of the RSA encryption algorithm for computer security |
| Douglas C. Engelbart | B.Eng. 1952,[55] Ph.D. 1955 | 1997 | "for an inspiring vision of the future of interactive computing and the invention of key technologies to help realize this vision" | inventor of the computer mouse; recipient of the National Medal of Technology in 2000, pioneer in hypertext and networked computers |
| Shafi Goldwasser | M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1983 | 2012 | "for transformative work that laid the complexity–theoretic foundations for the science of cryptography and in the process pioneered new methods for efficient verification of mathematical proofs in complexity theory"[56] | professor of computer science and the mathematical sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science;,[57] recipient of two Gödel Prizes (1993, "for the development of interactive proof systems" and 2001 "for the PCP theorem and its applications to hardness of approximation"); RSA Professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT[57] |
| Jim Gray | B.S. 1966, Ph.D. 1969 | 2001[58] | "for seminal contributions to database and transaction processing research and technical leadership in system implementation" | |
| Butler Lampson | Ph.D. 1967 | 1992[59] | "for contributions to the development of distributed, personal computing environments and the technology for their implementation: workstations, networks, operating systems, programming systems, displays, security and document publishing" | founding member of Xerox PARC, major contributor to the development of the personal computer |
| Barbara Liskov | B.A. 1961 | 2008[60][61] | "for contributions to practical and theoretical foundations of programming language and system design, especially related to data abstraction, fault tolerance, and distributed computing" | first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Computer Science (in 1968 at Stanford), creator of CLU, professor at MIT |
| Silvio Micali | Ph.D. 1982 | 2012 | "for transformative work that laid the complexity–theoretic foundations for the science of cryptography and in the process pioneered new methods for efficient verification of mathematical proofs in complexity theory";[56] recipient of the Gödel Prize in 1993 "for the development of interactive proof systems" | Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT[57] |
| Dana Scott | B.S. 1954 | 1976 | for "the joint paper (with Rabin) "Finite Automata and Their Decision Problem", which introduced the idea of nondeterministic machines, which has proved to be an enormously valuable concept. Their (Scott & Rabin) classic paper has been a continuous source of inspiration for subsequent work in this field" | former Associate Professor of Math at UC Berkeley, professor emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University |
| Charles P. Thacker | B.A. 1967[62] | 2009[63] | "for the pioneering design and realization of the first modern personal computer—the Alto at Xerox PARC—and seminal inventions and contributions to local area networks (including the Ethernet), multiprocessor workstations, snooping cache coherence protocols, and tablet personal computers."[64] | Microsoft Technical Fellow, chief designer of the Alto computer at Xerox PARC, co–inventor of Ethernet, recipient of the IEEE John von Neumann Medal in 2007, recipient of the Draper Prize in 2004 |
| Ken Thompson | B.S. 1965, M.S. 1966 | 1983 | for the "development of generic operating systems theory and specifically for the implementation of the UNIX operating system" | co–creator of the Unix operating system |
| Niklaus Wirth | Ph.D. 1967 | 1984 | "for developing a sequence of innovative computer languages, EULER, ALGOL–W, MODULA and Pascal" | creator of the Pascal programming language |
Academy Award
Recipients
| Name | Degree(s) | Notability |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Berger | B.A. 1964 | Recipient of four Academy Awards for sound mixing; adjunct professor at UC Berkeley[65] |
| Paul E. Debevec | Ph.D. 1996 | Associate Director of Graphics Research at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, recipient of a Scientific and Technical Academy Award in 2010[66] for work used on the James Cameron film Avatar, the Sam Raimi film Spider–Man 2, and the Peter Jackson film King Kong |
| Charles H. Ferguson | B.A. 1978 | Recipient of an Academy Award for Best Documentary for Inside Job (2010),[67] Academy Award nomination[68] for the documentary film No End in Sight (2007),[69] former fellow at the Brookings Institution, lifelong member of the Council on Foreign Relations, co-founder of Vermeer Technologies Incorporated (acquired by Microsoft for $133 million[70]), founder and president of Representational Pictures |
| Edith Head | B.A. 1918 | costume designer, recipient of eight Academy Awards[71] and nominated for 34 Academy Awards[71] |
| Sidney Howard | B.A. 1915 | screenwriter and dramatist, recipient of the 1940 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Gone with the Wind and the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for They Knew What They Wanted [72] |
| Chris Innis | B.A.[73] | recipient of the Academy Award for Best Film Editing (for The Hurt Locker (2010))[74] |
| Joe Letteri | B.A. 1981[75] | recipient of four Academy Awards for Best Visual Special Effects in films directed by James Cameron (Avatar) and Peter Jackson (King Kong, The Two Towers and The Return of the King).[76] |
| Freida Lee Mock | B.A. 1961 | documentary filmmaker, recipient of the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1995 (for Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision) |
| Megan Mylan | M.J. 1997, M.A. 1997 | Rrcipient of an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short for Smile Pinki (2009)[77] |
| Gregory Peck | B.A. 1942[78] | actor, recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), nominated for the Oscar four other times; served as president of the Screen Actors Guild |
| Walter Plunkett | B.A. 1923 | costume designer, recipient of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the 1951 film An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly |
| Loren L. Ryder | B.A. 1924[79] | audio sound engineer, recipient of six Academy Awards,[80] nominated for another twelve more Academy Awards[79] |
| Will Vinton | B.A. 1970[81] | pioneer of Claymation® (clay animation),[82] co–recipient of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1974 (Closed Mondays),[82] namesake and founder of Will Vinton Studios (known for The California Raisins and the Domino's Pizza Noid), recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animation programs (A Claymation Christmas Celebration and A Claymation Easter) |
| Petro Vlahos | B.S. 1941[83] | Pioneer[83][84] in traveling matte (blue–screen and green–screen) visual effects technology (used in films such as Ben–Hur, Mary Poppins, and the first Star Wars trilogy[84]), recipient of five special Academy Awards[85] and an Emmy Award[83] |
| Michael Wilson | B.A. 1936[86] | screenwriter, recipient of two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay ( for the 1951 film A Place in the Sun[87] and the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai[88]); nominated for the Academy Award for three other films (for the 1953 film 5 Fingers,[89] the 1956 Academy Award-nominated film Friendly Persuasion,[90] and the Academy Award winning 1962 Best Picture film Lawrence of Arabia[91][92]); also co–screenwriter for the 1968 Academy Award winning film Planet of the Apes[93][94][95] |
Nominees
| Name | Degree(s) | Notability |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Duritz | (Attended) | lead singer-songwriter of Counting Crows, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Shrek 2 at the 77th Academy Awards. |
| Jon H. Else | B.A. 1968 | Prix Italia recipient (The Day After Trinity), recipient of four Emmy Awards,[96] nominated twice for the Academy Award (for the documentaries The Day After Trinity and Arthur and Lillie), cinematographer on the Academy Award–winning Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, 1999 winner of the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker's Trophy, MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow, professor of journalism at UC Berkeley |
| Dan Krauss | M.A. Journalism 2004 | nominated twice for Best Documentary Short Subject (for The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club and Extremis)[97] |
| Melissa Mathison | B.A. | screenwriter, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra–Terrestrial; known also for the Francis Ford Coppola film The Black Stallion and the Martin Scorsese film Kundun[98] |
| Daphne Matziaraki | M.A. Journalism 2016 | nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject (4.1 Miles)[97] |
| David Peoples | BA English[99] | screenwriter (the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner and the Terry Gilliam film 12 Monkeys), nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for the Clint Eastwood film Unforgiven (which did win the Academy Award for Best Picture); collaborator with Jon Else (BA 1968) on the Academy Award-winning documentary Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? and the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Day After Trinity[100] |
| James Schamus | BA, MA, PhD[101] | screenwriter, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Academy Award for Best Original Song for the Ang Lee movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; producer; co-founder and inaugural CEO of movie studio Focus Features[102] |