Notable Alumni

Nobel Laureates
In total, 57 members of the MIT community have won the Nobel Prize. Twenty-three of them are alumni:

• H. Robert Horvitz '68, Physiology/Medicine
• Carl E. Wieman '73, Physics
• Henry W. Kendall '48, PhD '51, Physics
• Elias J. Corey Jr. '48, PhD '51, Chemistry
• Sidney Altman '60, Chemistry
• Burton Richter '52, PhD '56, Physics
• John Robert Schrieffer '53, Physics
• Robert S. Mulliken '17, Chemistry
• Richard P. Feynman '39, Physics
• Robert Burns Woodward '36, Chemistry
• Kofi Annan SM '72, Peace
• Charles J. Pedersen SM '27, Chemistry
• George A. Akerlof PhD '66, Economics
• Joseph E. Stiglitz PhD '66, Economics
• Eric A. Cornell PhD '90, Physics
• Leland H. Hartwell PhD '64, Medicine/Physiology
• Robert A. Mundell PhD '56, Economics
• Robert B. Laughlin PhD '79, Physics
• William D. Phillips PhD '76, Physics
• Lawrence R. Klein PhD '44, Economics
• Murray Gell-Mann PhD '51, Physics
• William Shockley PhD '36, Physics

Astronauts
More than one-third of the nation's space flights have included MIT-educated astronauts, who have logged a total of more than 15,000 hours in space. NASA has chosen more MIT graduates to become astronauts than graduates of any other private educational institution. Only the US Air Force Academy, the US Naval Academy and the US Naval Postgraduate School have had more graduates selected for the astronaut program. Four of the 12 astronauts who walked on the moon during the Apollo program were MIT alumni. They logged a total of 51 hours exploring the lunar surface from 1969-72.

• Col. Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin ScD '63
• Lt. Dominic Antonelli '89
• Jerome (Jay) Apt '76
• Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Bowen OCE '93
• Col. Kenneth Cameron '78, SM '79
• Gregory Chamitoff PhD '92
• Franklin Chang-Diaz ScD '77
• Philip Chapman SM '64, ScD '67
• Capt. Catherine (Cady) Coleman '83
• Maj. Timothy Creamer '92
• Brig.Gen. Charles Duke SM '64
• Anthony England '65, SM '65, PhD '70
• Edward Fincke '89
• John Grunsfeld '80
• Terry Hart SM '69
• Capt. Frederick Hauck SM '66
• Capt. Wendy Lawrence SM '88
• Col. Mark Lee '80
• William Lenoir '61, SM '62, PhD '65
• Michael Massimino SM '88, ME '90, PhD '92
• Ronald McNair PhD '76
• Maj. Pamela Ann Melroy SM '84
• Capt. Edgar Mitchell ScD '64
• Nicholas Patrick SM '90, PhD '96
• Russell Schweickart '56, SM '63
• Col. David Scott, MIT SM 1962
• Capt. William Sheperd SM '78
• Lt.Cmdr. Heidemarie Stefanshyn-Piper '84, SM '85
• Daniel Tsai '84, PhD '88
• Janice Voss SM '77, PhD '87
• Lt. Neil Woodward '84

Art & Architecture

• IM Pei '40, architect of Rock-n-roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH and Bank of China, Hong Kong
• Marion Mahoney Griffin 1894, co-designer of the plan for Canberra, Australia
• Daniel Chester French 1871, architect of the Lincoln Memorial
• Lois Lilly Howe 1890, second woman in the US to found an architecture firm
• Cass Gilbert 1880, architect of the US Supreme Court Building
• Robert Taylor 1892, architect of the Tuskegee Institute and MIT's first black graduate
• Raymond Hood 1903, architect of Rockefeller Center
• Gordon Bunshaft '33, architect of Lever House, New York City
• Rob Fisher '61, artist, including "American Dream" at the Philadelphia International Airport Arrivals Hall

Economics & Finance

• John Thain '77, CEO, New York Stock Exchange
• John Reed '61, Chairman, New York Stock Exchange
• Lawrence Summers '75, former Secretary of the Treasury
• Thomas Gerrity '63, Dean Emeritus, Wharton School
• Donald Layton, former co-CEO, JP Morgan Chase
• Denis Bovin '69, Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, Bear Stearns
• Gregory Palm '70, Executive Vice President, Goldman Sachs

Politics

• Sheila Widnall '60, former Secretary of the Air Force
• John Deutch '61, former director of the CIA
• John Sununu '87, US Senator
• Fortney (Pete) Stark '53, member of the US House of Representatives since 1973
• Virgilio Barco '43, former President of Colombia
• Luis Ferre '24, former governor of Puerto Rico
• Benjamin Netanyahu '75, former prime minister of Israel
• Clarence Howe 1907, one of Canada's greatest statesmen
• Alex Padilla '94, President of the Los Angeles City Council

College & University Presidents

• Norman Fainstein '66, Connecticut College
• Shirley Jackson '68, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Larry Bacow '72, Tufts University
• Larry Summers '75, Harvard University
• William Brody '65, Johns Hopkins University

Movies & Entertainment

• Herbert Kalmus 1903, inventor of Technicolor and star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Tom Scott '66, winner of Academy Awards for sound mixing for The Right Stuff and Amadeus
• James Woods, actor, dropped out of the Class of 1969 a semester before graduating
• Charlie Korsmo '00, actor (including Can't Hardly Wait and Dick Tracy)
• John Underkoffler '88, science & technology advisor to Steven Spielberg
• Steve Altes '84, Brad Pitt body double and model on the box of "Just For Men" Sandy Blond hair color

Automobiles

• Tom Magliozzi '58 and Ray Magliozzi '72, Click & Clack from NPR's Car Talk
• Csaba Csere '75, Editor-in-Chief, Car and Driver magazine
• Alfred P. Sloan 1895, long-time President & Chairman, General Motors

Music & Dance

• Tom Scholz '69, leader and founder of the band Boston and holder of two-dozen music engineering design patents
• Gus Solomons, jr, '61, Award-winning dancer, choreographer, and critic
• Amar Bose '51, founder, Bose Corporation
• Chris Vu '04, American idol finalist
• Jullallan Weber '00, backup dancer for Madonna
• Carlos Prieto '58, noted cellist
• John Miller '64, Principal Bassoon, Minnesota Orchestra

Sports

• Thomas Pelham Curtis 1894, won Gold Medal in 110m hurdles at the inaugural Olympic Games
• Henry Steinbrenner '27, hurdler in the 1928 Olympics
• Steve Tucker '91, two-time member of the US Olympic rowing team
• Linda Muri '85, three-time world champion rower
• Jeff Sagarin '70, Sports Statistician
• Jason Szuminski, '00, major league pitcher
• Ayla Vain '99, former San Francisco 49ers Cheerleader
• Larry Kahn '75, former holder of the world singles title in tiddlywinks

Robots

• Colin Angle '89, CEO & co-founder, iRobot
• Helen Greiner '89, President & co-founder, iRobot
• James McLurkin '94, inventor, Swarmbots
• Alex Slocum '82, MIT Professor and Instructor-in-Charge of the world-famous 2.007 Robot Contest

Computers

• Robert Metcalfe '68, inventor of Ethernet and founder, 3COM
• Mitch Kapor '80, founder, Lotus Development Corporation
• Kenneth Olsen '50, founder, Digital Equipment Corporation
• Raymond Stata '57, co-founder, Analog Devices
• Brewster Kahle '82, founder of the Internet Archive and Alexa Internet
• Ray Kurzweil '70, inventor of OCR and speech-to-text technologies
• Steve Kirsch '80, founder, Infoseek
• William (Bill) Weisz '48, former Chairman & CEO of Motorola
• Cecil H. Green '23, founder, Texas Instruments