UC Berkeley Notable Alumni
These famous Berkeley alumni earned their laurels by embodying the excellence of this preeminent university. Looking for famous Cal alumni? You’ll find fuel for bragging rights here.
UC Berkeley’s legacy is lived every day, in Berkeley and beyond, by exceptional Cal alumni of all stripes. The world should have known when Rube Goldberg received an engineering degree from Cal in 1904 that the creativity and curiosity of our graduates would become iconic. True to form, Berkeley alumni have followed our founders’ legacy by making breakthroughs in industry and leading social change—not to mention winning 183 Olympic medals and receiving 29 Nobel Prizes.
1870s
- James H. Budd ’73, 19th Governor of California and member of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Frank Otis ’73, Mayor of Alameda
- Josiah Royce ’75, philosopher, Harvard professor
1880s
- Franklin Knight Lane ’87, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Chair of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Democratic nominee for Governor of California
- Stephen Mather ’87, Founding Director, National Parks Service
1890s
- William Denman ’94, U.S. Federal Judge
- Julia Morgan ’94, architect
- Joseph Erlanger ’95, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine for contributions to the field of neuroscience
- Frederick Gardner Cottrell ’96, founder of Research Corporation, National Inventors Hall of Fame, inventor of the electrostatic precipitator
- Milicent Shinn ’98, child psychologist, first woman to earn a doctorate from the University of California
1900s
- Lillian Moller Gilbreth ’00, M.A. ’02, first industrial/organizational psychologist, one of first working female engineers with Ph.D.
- Rube Goldberg ’04, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist
- Irving Morrow ’06, architect of the Golden Gate Bridge
1910s
- Horace M. Albright ’12, conservationist, helped establish National Park Service
- Earl Warren ’12, L.L.B. ’14, 14th Chief Justice of the United States (1953–1969)
- Walter A. Gordon ’18, J.D. ’22, Federal District Judge, Governor of U.S. Virgin Islands, first African American graduate of Boalt Hall
- Selman Waksman ’18, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, discovered antibiotic treatment for tuberculosis
- Edith Head ’19, costume designer, recipient of eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design
1920s
- Ida Louise Jackson ’22, M.A. ’24, established first Black sorority chapter at UC Berkeley (Alpha Kappa Alpha), first African American teacher in Oakland public schools
- Dalip Singh Saund M.A. ’22, Ph.D. ’24, first Sikh American, Asian American, and Indian American Congressman, member of the United States House of Representatives
- Loren L. Ryder ’24, recipient of five Academy Awards in Best Sound Recording and Best Effects
- Robert Penn Warren M.A. ’27, author of All the King’s Men, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner
- Henry Eyring ’27, namesake of Eyring equation, National Medal of Science
1930s
- Richard Bolt ’33, M.A. ’37, Ph.D. ’39, co-founder of ARPANET
- Robert McNamara ’37, eighth U.S. Secretary of Defense, president of World Bank and Ford Motor Company
- Beverly Cleary ’38, author of the Ramona Quimby series
- Mine Okubo ’38, artist, author of Citizen 13660
- Gregory Peck ’39, Oscar-winning actor
1940s
- Yoshiko Uchida, author of children’s books and autobiographical works including The Dancing Kettle and Other Japanese Folktales and Journey to Topaz
- Glen Edwards ’41, WWII U.S. Air Force test pilot, the namesake of Edwards Air Force Base
- Marguerite Higgins ’41, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and war correspondent
- Hugh Bradner ’43, inventor of the neoprene wetsuit
- Glenn Seaborg Ph.D. ’47, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, discoverer of 10 elements, including berkelium and californium
- Chien-Shiung Wu Ph.D. ’40, earned inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics, conducted Wu Experiment, contributor on the Manhattan Project
- George Pimentel Ph.D. ’49, received Wolf Prize in Chemistry, inventor of the chemical laser
1950s
- Gordon E. Moore ’50, co-founder of Intel, author of Moore’s law
- Raymond Watson ’51, architect, counselor on design of EPCOT, former chairman of Walt Disney Productions
- Douglas Engelbart M.S. ’53, Ph.D. ’55, inventor of the computer mouse
- Joan Didion ’56, author of Slouching Toward Bethlehem
- Floyd Kvamme ’59, co-founder of National Semiconductor
- George Takei ’59, actor in Star Trek, author
1960s
- Jerry Brown ’61, Governor of California
- Maxine Hong Kingston ’62, author of The Woman Warrior
- Rick Cronk ’65, co-owner of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, former president of Boy Scouts of America
- William Ballhaus Jr. ’67, M.S. ’68, P.h.D. ’71, former director of NASA’s Ames Research, Center, president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation
- Alice Waters ’67, chef and owner of Chez Panisse
- Richard Aoki ’68, M.S.W. ’70, early member of the Black Panther Party
1970s
- Robert Gaskins ’74, one of the inventors of PowerPoint
- Paul Otellini MBA ’74, president and CEO of Intel
- Leigh Steinberg ’73, J.D. ’73, sports agent and inspiration for Jerry Maguire
- Steven Chu Ph.D. ’76, Nobel Laureate in Physics, former U.S. Secretary of Energy (and one of 29 alumni Nobel Laureates)
- Louis Sachar ’76, author of Holes and the Sideways Stories from Wayside School series
- Joan Blades ’77, co-founder of Berkeley Systems and MoveOn.org
- Carol Shaw ’77, M.S. ’79, one of the first female video-game designers
- Sanjay Mehrotra ’78, M.S. ’80, co-founder and president of SanDisk, CEO of Micron Technology
- William Joy M.S. ’79, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and co-creator of Berkeley Unix, Java
- Eric Schmidt M.S. ’79, Ph.D. ’82, CEO of Google and Alphabet Inc.
1980s
- Cynthia Marshall ’81, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks
- Leroy Chiao ’83, astronaut, commander of Expedition 10, lived on board the International Space Station from 2004–2005
- Robert Hotchkiss ’83, one of the founding musicians of the band Train
- Ron Rivera ’83, head coach of the Washington Football Team
- Kim Polese ’84, CEO of SpikeSource, co-founder of Marimba, made Time Magazine’s list of “The 25 Most Influential Americans” in 1997
- Sehat Sutardja M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’88, co-founder, chairman, president, and CEO of Marvell Technology Group
- Marc Tarpenning ’85, co-founder of Tesla Motors
- Scott Adams ’86, cartoonist of “Dilbert”
- Steve Wozniak ’86, co-founder of Apple
- John Battelle ’87, co-founder of Wired magazine
- Michele Tafoya ’88, NFL sideline reporter
1990s
- Tiffany Shlain ’92, filmmaker, founder of the Webby Awards, co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
- Mark Bingham ’93, founded the Bingham Group, stopped attempted hijacking of United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001
- Maz Jobrani ’93, comedian
- Shantanu Narayen MBA ’93, CEO of Adobe
- Ravinder Bhalla ’95, mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, first Sikh mayor in U.S. history
- John Cho ’96, actor in Star Trek
- John Hanke MBA ’96, founder and CEO of Niantic, Inc.
- Viet Thanh Nguyen ’97, M.S. ’98, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer
- Senh Duong ’98, co-founder of Rotten Tomatoes
- Tom Anderson ’98, co-founder of MySpace
- Patrick Awuah MBA ’99, founder of Ashesi University, Africa’s first private liberal arts college
- Haakon Magnus ’99, Crown Prince of Norway
2000s
- Kate and Laura Mulleavy ’01, founders of fashion label Rodarte
- Chris Pine ’02, actor in Star Trek
- Stephen Wang ’02, co-founder of Rotten Tomatoes
- Marshawn Lynch, NFL running back
- Aaron Rodgers, NFL quarterback
- Patrick Lee ’04, co-founder of Rotten Tomatoes
- Natalie Coughlin ’05, Olympic gold-medalist swimmer
- Ki Hong Li ’08, actor in The Maze Runner
- Hannah Hart ’09, YouTuber, producer, author, and actress
2010s
- Dana Vollmer ’10, Olympic gold-medalist swimmer
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ’11, Emmy Award-winning actor
- Laci Green ’11, sexual-education YouTuber
- Nathan Adrian ’12, Olympic gold-medalist swimmer
- Keenan Allen, NFL wide receiver
- Marcus Semien ’12, MLB shortstop
- Layshia Clarendon ’13, WNBA guard
- Alex Morgan ’14, Olympic gold-medalist soccer player
- Jaylen Brown ’15, NBA shooting guard
- Brittany Boyd ’15, WNBA point guard
- Jared Goff, NFL quarterback
- Ryan Murphy ’17, Olympic gold-medalist swimmer
- Patrick Laird, NFL quarterback
Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 29 UC Berkeley alumni.
Physiology or Medicine
- 1944: Joseph Erlanger, 1895
- 1952: Selman Waksman, Ph.D. ’18
- 1978: Hamilton Smith, ’52
- 2006: Andrew Z. Fire, ’78
- 2009: Carol Greider, Ph.D. ’87
Chemistry
- 1934: Harold Urey, Ph.D. ’23
- 1949: William F. Giauque, B.S. ’20, Ph.D. ’22
- 1951: Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D. ’37
- 1960: Willard Libby, B.S. ’31, Ph.D. ’33
- 1983: Henry Taube, Ph.D. ’40
- 1986: Yuan T. Lee, Ph.D. ’62
- 1989: Thomas Cech, Ph.D. ’75
- 1993: Kary Mullis, Ph.D. ’73
- 1995: Mario Molina, Ph.D. ’72
- 1996: Robert Curl, Ph.D. ’57
- 2000: Alan Heeger, Ph.D. ’61
- 2018: Frances H. Arnold, Ph.D. ’85
Physics
- 1955: Willis Lamb, B.S. ’34, Ph.D. ’38
- 1997: Steven Chu, Ph.D. ’76
- 1998: Robert Laughlin, ’72
- 2004: David Gross, Ph.D. ’66
- 2006: John C. Mather Ph.D. ’74
- 2011: Saul Perlmutter Ph.D. ’86
- 2011: Adam Guy Riess, Miller Fellow ’96-’99
- 2012: David J. Wineland, B.A. ’65
Economics
- 1980: Lawrence Klein ’42
- 1993: Douglass North, B.A. ’42, Ph.D. ’52
- 2002: Daniel Kahneman Ph.D. ’61
- 2005: Thomas C. Schelling B.A. ’44
- 2011: Thomas Sargent B.A. ’64
See a full list of UC Berkeley alumni Nobel Prize winners and faculty Nobel Laureates, including the 2020 Nobel Prize winners Jennifer Doudna (Chemistry) and Reinhard Genzel (Physics).
Who's Next?
What are today’s brilliant Berkeley graduates adding to our legacy? Meet just a few of our newest Berkeley young alumni and learn how young Cal alums are furthering the excellence of our university.
Young Alumni News
Bears in Business: Toby Ricco
Toby Ricco ’13, M.S. ’14, founder and CEO of Bimotal, walked into UC Berkeley with the goal of becoming an engineer and a passion for tinkering. At Cal, Ricco developed the skills and experience that have built his engineering and entrepreneurial career.
Setting a Road Map to Success
Attending college can be a challenge for formerly incarcerated students. No one knows better than TAAP scholars John Lam ’23 and Michelle Maxwell ’23.
Who Are You Now? Maria Smith ’19 Asks Us to Look Inward
During the early weeks of the COVID pandemic, many of us hoped the pandemic would quickly pass and we could resume our lives. But Maria Smith ’19 believed this is a time to take stock of things that matter to us. This thought led her to create Who Are We Now?, a series of conversations with Cal alums that challenge us to think about how the pandemic has changed us. The first episode was released in July, and we talked with Smith about the series.
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