Edinburgh University/Related Articles

Mathematics

Sir Michael Atiyah, mathematician, winner of Abel Prize, (Maths' equivalent of the Nobel Prize)
Colin MacLaurin [r]: (1698–1746) Scottish mathematician who published the first systematic exposition of Newton's calculus. ^[e]
John Playfair [r]: (1748-1819) Scottish mathematician, best known for his explanation and promotion of the work of James Hutton ^[e]

Biology

Charles Darwin [r]: (1809 – 1882) English natural scientist, most famous for proposing the theory of natural selection. ^[e]
Richard Owen [r]: (1804–1892) English comparative anatomist and palaeontologist, best remembered for coining the word Dinosauria and for his opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. ^[e]
Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer [r]: (1850 – 1935) Physiologist who coined the words "insulin" and "endocrine" and who demonstrated the existence of adrenaline. ^[e]
Fleeming Jenkin [r]: (1833 – 1885) Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, known as the inventor of telpherage. ^[e]

Medicine

Alexander Monro primus [r]: (1697 – 1767) Anatomist; the founder of Edinburgh Medical School. ^[e]
Alexander Monro secundus [r]: (1733 - 1817) Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh, known as the discoverer of the lymphatic system. ^[e]
William Cullen [r]: (1710-1790) The leading British physician of the 18th century. ^[e]
Joseph Lister [r]: (1827 – 1912) Surgeon who promoted the idea of sterile surgery. ^[e]
James Young Simpson [r]: (1811 – 1870) Scottish doctor who discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and introduced it for general medical use. ^[e]
John Forbes [r]: (1787-1861), physician and medical journalist ^[e]

Chemistry

Joseph Black [r]: (1728 – 1799) Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide ^[e]
John Davy [r]: (1790 – 1868) British chemist most noted for his discovery of phosgene. ^[e]
Daniel Rutherford [r]: (1749 - 1815) Scottish chemist, best known for the discovery of nitrogen. ^[e]

Physics

Thomas Anderson [r]: (1819 – 1874) Scottish chemist remembered for discovering pyridine. ^[e]
Peter Higgs [r]: (1929 - ) Particle-physics theorist whose work predicts the existence of the 'Higgs boson.' ^[e]
James Clerk Maxwell [r]: (1831 – 1879) Scottish physicist best known for his formulation of electromagnetic theory and the statistical theory of gases. ^[e]
Thomas Young [r]: (1773-1829) English scientist who showed how the eye's lens focus light, proposed the three-color explanation of color vision, established the wave nature of light, defined energy in the modern sense, improved on Hooke's law, and helped decipher the Rosetta Stone. ^[e] Young entered the University of Edinburgh in 1794 (as a Quaker he could not study at Oxford or Cambridge). After a year of study he went to the University of Göttingen.

Geology

James Hutton [r]: (1726–1797) Scottish farmer and naturalist, who is known as the founder of modern geology. ^[e]

Philosophy

Inventors

The University is associated with nine Nobel Prize winners (Source: http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/edinburgh/alumni.html)

Writers

Chris Hoy, track cyclist
Andy Irvine (rugby player), rugby player and president of the Scottish Rugby Union
Eric Liddell, athlete men's 400 metres gold medallist

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, The Chancellor of the University (1953-present)
Sir Alexander Fleming, Former Rector of the University (1951-1953)
The Rt Hon Sir Winston Churchill, Former Rector of the University (1929-1932)
The Rt Hon David Lloyd George, Former Rector of the University (1920-1923)
Sir David Steel (Lord Steel of Aikwood), Rector of the University (1982-1985)