University of Aberdeen: Students/Graduates



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Patrick Manson

Sir Patrick Manson (3 October 1844 in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire - 9 April 1922 in London) was a Scottish physician who made important discoveries in parasitology and was the founder of the tropical medicine field. He was the second son of John...

John Davidson

John Davidson (1878 – 1970) was a notable Scottish-Canadian botanist. Born in Aberdeen, he worked at the University of Aberdeen (1893 – 1911) before being appointed the first Provincial Botanist of British Columbia. Davidson established an herbarium...

Alexander Ogston

Sir Alexander Ogston KCVO MB CM MD was a Scottish surgeon, famous for his discovery of Staphylococcus aureus. He was born in Aberdeen in 1844 and died there in 1929. Ogston began his medical training at Marischal College in 1862 and graduated in...

Matthew Hay

Matthew Hay (1855-1932) was a Scottish doctor and champion of Public Health. He was appointed Medical Officer of Health for the City of Aberdeen in 1888, a post he held until 1923. He was also Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of...

William Robinson Clark

William Robinson Clark FRSC (March 26, 1829 – 12 November 1912) was a Scottish-Canadian theologian. He was born in Daviot, Aberdeenshire, son of James Clark. Originally educated for the Congregationalist ministry at New College London, he later...

Alexander Arbuthnot

Alexander Arbuthnot (1538 — 1583) was a Scottish ecclesiastic poet, "an eminent divine, and zealous promotor of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland". He was the second son of Andrew Arbuthnot of Pitcarles, who in turn was the fourth son of Sir...

Rhona Brankin

Rhona Brankin (born 19 January 1950) a Labour Co-operative politician and was first elected to represent Midlothian in the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003 and 2007. Brankin is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen and...

Thomas Urquhart

Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty (or Urchard, 1611-c. 1660) was a Scottish writer and translator, most famous for his translation of Rabelais. Urquhart was born to an old landholding family in Cromarty in northern Scotland. At the age of eleven he...

William Thornton

Dr. William Thornton (May 20, 1759 - March 28, 1828) was an American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol, an authentic polymath. He also served as the first Architect of the Capitol and first...

James Hunter

Dr James Hunter CBE (born 1948) is currently Director for the UHI Centre for History, Chairman of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust and formerly the Chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Inverness-based development and training agency for...

Dr. William Smith

William Smith (September 7, 1727 – May 14, 1803) was the first provost of the University of Pennsylvania. Smith was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, to Thomas and Elizabeth (Duncan) Smith. He attended the University of Aberdeen. In 1753, Smith wrote a...

Nora Radcliffe

Nora Radcliffe (born 4 March 1946, Aberdeen) is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon, first elected in 1999. During her two terms in the Scottish Parliament she held various party...

George Gleig

George Gleig (12 May 1753 – 9 March 1840) was a Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He was born at Boghall, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of a farmer. At the age of thirteen he entered King's College, University of Aberdeen, where the first...

John Pringle Nichol

John Pringle Nichol FRSE (13 January 1804 – 19 September 1859) was a Scottish educator, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes. Born Huntly-Hill, near Brechin, Angus, he...

Murdo Fraser

Murdo Fraser (born 5 September 1965, Inverness) is the deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament, and a member of the party's Shadow Cabinet. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Mid Scotland and Fife...

William MacGillivray

William MacGillivray (January 25, 1796 – September 4, 1852) was a Scottish naturalist and ornithologist. MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen and brought up on the island of Harris. He returned to Aberdeen where he studied medicine at King's College,...

George MacDonald

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. Though no longer well known, his works (particularly his fairy tales and fantasy novels) have inspired admiration in such notables as W. H....

Robert Baron

Robert Baron (1596 - 1639) was a Scottish theologian and one of the so-called Aberdeen doctors. He is commemorated in the Calendar of saints of the Scottish Episcopal Church on March 28. Born in 1596 at Kinnaird, Gowrie, he was the younger son of...

William Gordon

William Gordon (died 1577) was a 16th century Scottish noble and prelate, the last of the pre-Reformation bishops of Aberdeen owing allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. Born in Aberdeenshire, he was the son of Janet Stewart, the daughter of John...

Robin Harper

Robin Harper (Born 4 August 1940 in Thurso, Caithness) is a Scottish politician, and Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians. He was co-convener of the Scottish Green Party until 2008. He is the party's spokesman on education and...

Andrew Clark

Sir Andrew Clark, 1st Baronet (28 October 1826 – 6 November 1893), Scottish physician and pathologist, was born at Aberdeen. His father, who also was a physician, died when he was only a few years old. After attending school in Aberdeen, he was sent...

Anne Begg

Anne Begg (b. 6 December 1955 in Brechin, Angus) is a British politician and is the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Aberdeen South. Begg is notable for being a wheelchair user. Begg was educated at the Damacre Primary School in Brechin;...

Norman McLeod

Norman McLeod, (17 September 1780 – 14 March 1866), was a Presbyterian minister from Scotland who led a significant settlement of Highlanders to Nova Scotia and finally to Waipu, New Zealand. Born in Lochinver to David and Margaret McLeod of Stoer,...

George Croom Robertson

George Croom Robertson (March 10, 1842 – September 20, 1892) was a Scottish philosopher. He was born at Aberdeen. In 1857 he gained a bursary at Marischal College, and graduated M.A. in 1861, with the highest honours in classics and philosophy. In...

Walter Goodall

Walter Goodall (1706?-1766), historical writer, born in Banffshire, and educated at King's College, University of Aberdeen. Afterwards he became assistant librarian to the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh. In 1754 he published an Examination of the...

Arthur Robertson Cushny

Physician Arthur Robertson Cushny (b. March 6, 1866 in Fochabers, Moray, Scotland - d. February 25, 1926 in Edinburgh, Scotland), attended a local rural school until he enrolled at the University of Aberdeen and received an M.A. in 1866. Then in...

Angus Robertson

Angus Robertson (born 28 September 1969 in Wimbledon, London, England) is a Scottish National Party politician. At the 2001 general election, he was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Moray in the north of Scotland. In May 2007, he was...

Michael Weir

Michael Fraser Weir is a Scottish politician. He is the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Angus. He was born in Arbroath on 24 March 1957 and was educated at Arbroath High School and Aberdeen University, from where he graduated LLB in...

Andrew H. Wyllie

Andrew H. Wyllie is a Scottish pathologist. In 1972, while working with electron microscopes at the University of Aberdeen he realised the significance of natural cell death. He and his colleagues John Kerr and Alastair Currie called this process...

John James Richard Macleod

John James Rickard Macleod (September 6, 1876 – March 16, 1935) was a Scottish physician, physiologist, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Macleod was born at Clunie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. He was the son of the Rev....

William Mitchell Ramsay

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (15 March 1851, Glasgow –20 April 1939) was a Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar. He was the first Professor of Classical Archaeology at Oxford University and pioneered the study of antiquity in what is...

William Hay

William Hay (February 17, 1647 – March 17, 1707, Castlehill, Scotland) was a Scottish clergyman and prelate. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen. He entered the church, receiving holy orders from Patrick Scougal, Bishop of Aberdeen, and...

George Mackenzie

Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, Knt., (1636–1691), known as Bluidy Mackenzie, was a Scottish lawyer, Lord Advocate, and legal writer. Mackenzie was born in Worcester, son of Sir I Mackenzie, of Lochslin, a brother of the Robl of Seaforth. He was...

Andrew Linklater

Andrew Linklater is a renowned international relations academic, and is the current Woodrow Wilson Professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. In 2000, he was featured as one of the fifty thinkers in Martin Griffith's Fifty Key...

Henry Ogg Forbes

Henry Ogg Forbes (30 January 1851, Aberdeen - 27 October 1932) was a Scottish explorer, ornithologist, and botanist. Educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, he was primarily active in the...

Florentius Volusenus

Florentius Volusenus (c. 1504 - 1546 or 1547) was a Scottish humanist most noted for his De Animi Tranquillitate. "Florentius Volusenus" is a latinization of uncertain derivation; his first name is variously suggested as Florence or Florens, and...

Kenneth McKellar

Kenneth McKellar (born 23 June 1927, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland) is a Scottish tenor singer. McKellar studied forestry at the University of Aberdeen, after graduation working for the Scottish Forestry Commission. He later trained at the Royal...

John Paterson

John Paterson (1604-1679), bishop of Ross, graduated from King's College, Aberdeen in 1624, and was appointed to the church of Foveran, Aberdeenshire, in 1632. He refused to sign the National Covenant of 1639, and fled to England to the king. In...

Sir Alex Smith

Sir Alex Smith was born a Scottish industrial scientist and educator. Smith was born (October 15, 1922) in Lossiemouth, Moray, and was educated at Lossiemouth, Elgin Academy and then, following the winning of a scholarship, at Aberdeen University....

Thomas Reid

Thomas Reid (26 April 1710 – 7 October 1796), Scottish philosopher, and a contemporary of David Hume, was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment. The early part of his life was...

Wolfgang Wüster

Wolfgang Wüster is a herpetologist and lecturer in zoology at the University of Wales. Wüster attained his bachelor's degree at the University of Cambridge in 1985 and his doctorate at University of Aberdeen in 1990. His primary area of research is...

John Lesley

John Lesley, or Leslie, (September 29, 1527 – May 31, 1596), Scottish Roman Catholic bishop and historian, was born in 1527. His father was Gavin Lesley, rector of Kingussie, Badenoch. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, where he took the...

Nicol Stephen

Nicol Ross Stephen (born 23 March 1960) is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen South, and was leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2008. He is a former Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Minister for Enterprise and...

C.H. Gimingham

Charles Henry Gimingham OBE FRSE FIBiol, born 28 April 1923, is a British applied botanist, past President of the British Ecological Society, and a world authority on heathlands and heathers. Gimingham is the son of Conrad Theodore Gimingham, of...

Eric Linklater

Eric Robert Russell Linklater (8 March 1899 - 7 November 1974) was a British writer, known for more than 20 novels, as well as short stories, travel writing and autobiography, and military history. He was born in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales,...

Graeme Catto

Sir Graeme Catto, FRCP, FMedSci, FRSE is a Scottish doctor who was President, later Chair, of the General Medical Council until April 2009. He is also currently Professor in Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Aberdeen and an honorary...

James Legge

James Legge (理雅各; December 20, 1815 – November 29, 1897) was a noted Scottish sinologist, a Scottish Congregationalist, representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong (1840–1873), and first professor of Chinese at Oxford...

William Minto

William Minto (10 October 1845 - 1 March 1893), Scottish man of letters, was born at Auchintoul, Aberdeenshire. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, and spent a year at Merton College, Oxford. He was assistant professor under Alexander...

James Beattie

Professor James Beattie (October 25, 1735, Laurencekirk—August 18, 1803, Aberdeen) was a Scottish scholar and writer. He was born the son of a shopkeeper and small farmer at Laurencekirk in the Mearns, and educated at Aberdeen University. In 1760,...

Margaret Masson Hardie Hasluck

Margaret Masson Hardie Hasluck (June 18, 1885 - October 18, 1948). She was a Scottish geographer, linguist, epigrapher, archaeologist and scholar. Margaret Hasluck graduated from Aberdeen University where she received Honors in Classics in 1907, and...

George Campbell

George Campbell (December 25, 1719 – April 6, 1796) was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, minister, theologian, and professor of divinity. Campbell had three focuses to his intellectual life: language, theology, and rhetoric. He was primarily...

Alfred William Alcock

Alfred William Alcock (23 June 1859, Bombay - 24 March 1933 Belvedere, Kent) was a British physician naturalist and carcinologist. Alcock was the son of a sea-captain, John Alcock in Bombay, India who retired to live in Blackheath. His mother was a...

Thomas Ruddiman

Thomas Ruddiman (October 1674 - 19 January 1757) was a Scottish classical scholar. He was born at Raggal, Banffshire, where his father was a farmer, and educated at the University of Aberdeen. Through the influence of Dr Archibald Pitcairne he...

Bertha Wilson

Bertha Wernham Wilson, CC (September 18, 1923, Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland – April 28, 2007, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) was a Canadian jurist and the first woman Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, the...

David Gregory

David Gregory (3 June 1659 – 10 October 1708) was a professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford, and a commentator on Isaac Newton's Principia. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the...

Sandy Gall

Sandy Gall, CBE (born 1 October 1927, Penang) is a British journalist, author, and former ITN news presenter. His career as a journalist spans over 50 years. Sandy Gall was born in Penang, Malaysia, where his father was a rubber planter. He was...

James Naughtie

James ("Jim") Naughtie (born 9 August 1951) is a British journalist and radio news presenter for the BBC. Since 1994 he has been one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme. James Naughtie was born and brought up in Milltown of Rothiemay...