This list of Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni includes students who studied as undergraduates or graduate students at MIT's School of Engineering; School of Science; MIT Sloan School of Management; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; School of Architecture and Planning; or Whitaker College of Health Sciences. Since there are more than 120,000 alumni (living and deceased), this listing cannot be comprehensive. Instead, this article summarizes some of the more notable MIT alumni, with some indication of the reasons they are notable in the world at large. All MIT degrees are earned through academic achievement, in that MIT has never awarded honorary degrees in any form.[1]
The MIT Alumni Association defines eligibility for membership as follows:[2]
The following persons are Alumni/ae Members of the Association:All persons who have received a degree from the Institute; andAll persons who have been registered as students in a degree-granting program at the Institute for (i) at least one full term in any undergraduate class which has already graduated; or (ii) for at least two full terms as graduate students.
As a celebration of the new MIT building dedicated to nanotechnology laboratories in 2018, a special silicon wafer was designed and fabricated with an image of the Great Dome. This One.MIT image is composed of more than 270,000 individual names, comprising all the students, faculty, and staff at MIT during the years 1861–2018. A special website was set up to document the creation of a large wall display in the building, and to facilitate the location of individual names in the image.[3]
| Name | Degree | Degree year | Notability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lt. Gen. James Alan Abrahamson (USAF Ret'd) | B.S. – Aeronautical Engineering | 1955 | Director of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative US Air Force general | [4] |
| Ben Bernanke | PhD – Economics | 1979 | Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank | [5] |
| Samuel Bodman | ScD – Chemical Engineering | 1965 | Secretary of Energy (2005–2009) | [6] |
| Jun Choi | B.S. – Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering | 1994 | ||
| Henry Cohen | M.S. – Urban Planning | 1949 | Director of Föhrenwald displaced persons camp in the American sector of post-World War II Germany | |
| Leighton I. Davis | M.S. – Aeronautical Engineering | 1941 | US Air Force general | |
| John M. Deutch | B.S. – Chemical Engineering, PhD – Chemistry | 19611966 | ||
| Jimmy Doolittle | M.S., DSc – Aeronautical Engineering | 19241925 | US Air Force general | |
| T. Coleman du Pont | United States Senator from Delaware | |||
| Herbert W. Ehrgott | B.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 1930 | US Air Force general | |
| Luis A. Ferré | B.S., M.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 19241925 | ||
| Julius A. Furer | M.S. – Naval Architecture | 1905 | US Navy admiral | |
| J. Michael Gilmore | B.S. – Physics | |||
| Jonathan Gruber | B.S. – Economics | 1987 | Director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Professor of economics at MIT | |
| Jenn Hill | Member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 109th district | |||
| Chrissy Houlahan | M.S. – Technology and Policy | 1994 | U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 6th district | |
| Marcy Kaptur | PhD – Urban Planning | 1981 | U.S. House of Representatives for Ohio's 9th district | |
| Frank Kowalski | M.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 1937 | United States Representative from Connecticut | |
| Jon C. Kreitz | US Navy admiral | |||
| John M. Loh | M.S. – Aeronautical Engineering | 1973 | Retired four-star general in the United States Air Force; last served as Commander, Air Combat Command; 24th Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force | |
| Herbert B. Loper | B.S. – Civil Engineering | 1922 | US Army general | |
| N. Gregory Mankiw | PhD – Economics | 1984 | ||
| William F. Martin | M.S. – "Without Course" | 1974 | Deputy Secretary of Energy (1968–1988)Executive Secretary of National Security Council Special Assistant to President Reagan | |
| Thomas Massie | B.S. – Electrical EngineeringM.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 19931996 | Member of the US House of Representativesfrom Kentucky's 4th district | [7] |
| Mark McClellan | PhD – Economics | 1993 | ||
| Katharine Dexter McCormick | B.S. – Biology | 1904 | ||
| Lansing McVickar | 1918 | Career officer with the United States Army | ||
| Bruce Morrison | B.S. – Chemistry | 1965 | US House of Representatives for Connecticut | |
| David Nolan | B.S. – Political Science | 1965 | ||
| John Olver | PhD – Chemistry | 1961 | US House of Representatives for Massachusetts | |
| John Birdsell Oren | M.S. – Marine Engineering | US Coast Guard admiral | ||
| Alex Padilla | B.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 1994 | U.S. Senator from California, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom after Kamala Harris was elected to Vice President | |
| Joseph J. Romm | SB – PhysicsPhD – Physics | 19821987 | Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy | |
| Francis Sargent | Dropped out; studied architecture | [1939] | ||
| George Shultz | PhD – Economics | 1949 | ||
| Phillips Waller Smith | M.S. – Ordnance Engineering | 1935 | US Air Force general | |
| Paul Sohl | B.S. – Aeronautical Engineering | 1985 | US Navy admiral | |
| Pete Stark | B.S. – General Engineering | 1956 | US House of Representatives for California | |
| Lawrence Summers | B.S. – Economics | 1975 | 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
| Chris Sununu | B.S. – Civil/Environmental Engineering | 1998 | 82nd Governor of New Hampshire | |
| John E. Sununu | B.S., M.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 19871987 | ||
| John H. Sununu | B.S., M.S., PhD – Mechanical Engineering | 19611963 1966 | White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush, Governor of New Hampshire, host of Crossfire | |
| Sheila Widnall | B.S., M.S., DSc – Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering | 19611961 1964 | United States Secretary of the Air Force (1993–1997) | |
| Tom Wolf | PhD – Political Science | 1981 | [8] | |
| Name | Degree | Year | Notability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tadatoshi Akiba | PhD – Mathematics | 1970 | Mayor of Hiroshima; recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award | |
| Kofi Annan | M.S. – Management | 1972 | Former Secretary-General of the United Nations | |
| Moshe Arens | Engineering | Israel Minister of Defense three times and once as Minister of Foreign Affairs | ||
| Pedro Aspe | PhD – Economics | 1978 | Mexican Secretary of Finance and Public Credit | |
| Virgilio Barco | B.S. – Civil Engineering | 1943 | Colombian president | |
| Youssef Boutros Ghali | PhD – Economics | 1981 | Former Egyptian Minister of Finance | |
| Ahmed Chalabi | B.S. – Mathematics | 1965 | Controversial Iraqi politician; deputy prime minister of Iraq | |
| Asim Dasgupta | PhD – Economics | 1975 | Former Finance Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal | |
| Harold Demuren | PhD – Aeronautical Engineering | 1975 | Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority; first African elected as President of ICAO General Assembly | |
| Mario Draghi | PhD – Economics | 1977 | Former President of the European Central Bank; Former Prime Minister of Italy | |
| José Figueres Ferrer | 1926 | Former (three-time) President of Costa Rica | ||
| Pervez Hoodbhoy | SB, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, M.S. – Solid-State Physics, PhD – Nuclear Physics | 19731978 | Faculty member at the Quaid-e-Azam University since 1973; renowned nuclear research scientist in Pakistan | |
| C.D. Howe | 1907 | Canadian politician and cabinet minister | ||
| Janet Keeping | B.S. – Architecture | 1971 | Lawyer; faculty member at the University of Calgary; Leader of the Green Party of Alberta[9] [10] | |
| Uzi Landau | PhD – Engineering | 1976 | National Infrastructure Minister of Israel | |
| Pita Limjaroenrat | MBA – Strategy | 2011 | Thai politician and leader of Move Forward Party | |
| Mao Chi-kuo | PhD – Civil Engineering | 1982 | Former Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (2014–2016) | [11] |
| David Miliband | M.S. – Political Science | 1990 | ||
| Yahya Muhaimin | Ph.D. | 1982 | ||
| Mohammad Ali Najafi | M.S. – Mathematics | 1979 | Former Vice President of Iran | [12] |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | B.S. – Architecture, M.S. – Management | 1975, 1976 | Prime Minister of Israel | |
| Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | MCP – City Planning, PhD – Urban Studies & Planning | 19781981 | Finance Minister of Nigeria (2003–2006) (2011–2015), Foreign Minister of Nigeria (2006) | |
| Lucas Papademos | B.S. – Physics, M.S. – Electrical Engineering, PhD – Economics | 19701972 1978 | Vice President of the European Central Bank (2002–2010) and Prime Minister of Greece (2011–2012) | |
| Rachid Mohamed Rachid | PhD – Management | 1993 | Former Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry | |
| Raghuram Rajan | PhD – Economics | 1991 | 23rd Governor of Reserve Bank of India | |
| Omar Razzaz | M.A. – City Planning | Unknown | Prime Minister of Jordan | |
| Ali Akbar Salehi | PhD – Nuclear Engineering | 1977 | Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran (2012–present) | |
| Sumana Shrestha | MBA | 2011 | Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal | |
| Aafia Siddiqui | BS | Termed "Lady al-Qaeda", serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell | ||
| Chadchart Sittipunt | M.S. – Structural Engineering | Current Governor of Bangkok | ||
| Palanivel Thiagarajan | MBA – Financial Management | 1990 | Finance Minister of Indian State of Tamil Nadu | |
| Milen Velchev | M.S. – Management | 1995 | Bulgarian financial minister (2001–2005) | |
| Luis Videgaray | PhD – Economics | 1998 | Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2017–2018); Secretary of Finance and Public Credit (2012–2016) | |
| David Walter | M.S. – Political Science | circa 1970 | British BBC and ITN correspondent and later political advisor | |
| Robert Winters | Canadian politician | |||
| Tony Tan Keng Yam | M.S. – Operations Research | 1964 | President of the Republic of Singapore; held various cabinet positions | |
See also List of companies founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
, the MIT Office of the Provost says that 76 Nobel awardees had or currently have a formal connection to MIT.[74] Of this group, 29 have earned MIT degrees (MIT has never awarded honorary degrees in any form).[1]
| Name | Degree | Degree year | Award year | Award | Citation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Akerlof | PhD | 1966 | 2001 | Economics | "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information" | [75] |
| Sid Altman | B.S. | 1960 | 1989 | Chemistry | "for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA" | [76] |
| Kofi Annan | M.S. | 1972 | 2001 | Peace | "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world" | [77] |
| Robert Aumann | M.S. | 1952 | 2005 | Economics | "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis" | [78] |
| Elias James Corey | B.S. – ChemistryPhD – Chemistry | 19481951 | 1990 | Chemistry | "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis" | [79] |
| Eric Cornell | PhD | 1990 | 2001 | Physics | "for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates" | [80] |
| Peter Diamond | PhD | 1963 | 2010 | Economics | "for [the] analysis of markets with search frictions" | [81] |
| Richard Feynman | B.S. | 1939 | 1965 | Physics | "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles" | [82] |
| Andrew Z. Fire | PhD | 1983 | 2006 | Medicine/Physiology | "for their discovery of RNA interference – gene silencing by double-stranded RNA" | [83] |
| Murray Gell-Mann | PhD | 1951 | 1969 | Physics | "for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions" | [84] |
| Leland H. Hartwell | PhD | 1964 | 2001 | Medicine/Physiology | "for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle" | [85] |
| H. Robert Horvitz | B.S. | 1968 | 2002 | Medicine/Physiology | "for their discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'" | [86] |
| Henry W. Kendall | B.S., PhD | 1948, 1951 | 1990 | Physics | "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics" | [87] |
| Lawrence Klein | PhD | 1944 | 1980 | Economics | "for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies" | [88] |
| Paul Krugman | PhD | 1977 | 2009 | Economics | "for developing new trade theory and" | |
| Robert B. Laughlin | PhD | 1979 | 1998 | Physics | "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" | [89] |
| Robert C. Merton | PhD | 1970 | 1997 | Economics | "for a new method to determine the value of derivatives" | [90] |
| Robert S. Mulliken | B.S. – Chemistry | 1917 | 1966 | Chemistry | "for his fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules by the molecular orbital method" | [91] |
| Robert Mundell | PhD | 1956 | 1999 | Economics | "for his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange rate regimes and his analysis of optimum currency areas" | [92] |
| William D. Nordhaus | PhD | 1967 | 2018 | Economics | "for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis" | [93] |
| Charles Pedersen | M.S. | 1927 | 1987 | Chemistry | "for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity" | [94] |
| William D. Phillips | PhD | 1976 | 1997 | Physics | "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light" | [95] |
| Burton Richter | B.S., PhD | 1952, 1956 | 1976 | Physics | "for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind" | [96] |
| Adam Riess | B.S. | 1992 | 2011 | Physics | "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" | [97] |
| John Robert Schrieffer | B.S. | 1953 | 1972 | Physics | "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory" | [98] |
| William Shockley | PhD | 1936 | 1956 | Physics | "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect" | [99] |
| George F. Smoot | B.S., PhD | 1966, 1970 | 2006 | Physics | "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation" | [100] |
| Joseph Stiglitz | PhD | 1966 | 2001 | Economics | "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information" | |
| Carl E. Wieman | B.S. | 1973 | 2001 | Physics | "for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates" | |
| Robert Burns Woodward | B.S. | 1936 | 1965 | Chemistry | "for his outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis" | [101] |
| Name | Degree | Year | Mission | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Alan Abrahamson | B.S. – Aeronautics | 1955 | Manned Orbital Laboratory | |
| Buzz Aldrin | ScD – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1963 | Gemini 12, Apollo 11 | |
| Dominic Antonelli | B.S. – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1989 | STS-119 | |
| Jerome Apt | PhD – Physics | 1976 | STS-37, STS-47, STS-59, STS-79 | |
| Kenneth Cameron | B.S. – Aeronautics/AstronauticsM.S. – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 19781979 | STS-37, STS-56, STS-74 | |
| Gregory Chamitoff | PhD – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1992 | STS-124, Expedition 17, Expedition 18, STS-126 | |
| Franklin Chang-Diaz | ScD – Nuclear Engineering | 1977 | STS-61-C, STS-34, STS-46, STS-60, STS-75, STS-91, STS-111 | |
| Philip K. Chapman | Multiple Degrees and Disciplines:
| 1964, 1967 | 1967 | |
| Raja Chari | M.S. – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 2001 | SpaceX Crew-3 | |
| Catherine "Cady" Coleman | B.S. – Chemistry | 1983 | STS-73, STS-93 | |
| Timothy Creamer | M.S. – Physics | 1992 | ||
| Charles Duke | M.S. – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1964 | Apollo 16 | |
| Anthony W. England | B.S., M.S., PhD – Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences | 1965, 1965, 1970 | STS-51-F | |
| Michael Fincke | Double Major:
| 1989 | Soyuz TMA-4, Expedition 9, Soyuz TMA-13, Expedition 18, STS-134 | |
| John Grunsfeld | B.S. – Physics | 1980 | STS-67, STS-81, STS-103, STS-109, STS-125 | |
| Nick Hague | M.S. – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 2000 | Soyuz MS-10, Soyuz MS-12 (Expedition 59/60) | |
| Terry Hart | M.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 1969 | STS-41-C | |
| Frederick Hauck | M.S. – Nuclear Engineering | 1966 | STS-7, STS-51-A, STS-26 | |
| Wendy Lawrence | M.S. – Ocean Engineering | 1988 | STS-67, STS-86, STS-91, STS-114 | |
| Mark C. Lee | M.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 1980 | STS-30, STS-47, STS-64, STS-81 | |
| William B. Lenoir | B.S., M.S., PhD – Electrical Engineering | 1961, 1962, 1965 | STS-5 | |
| Byron K. Lichtenberg | M.S., ScD – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1975, 1979 | STS-9, STS-45 | |
| Michael Massimino | Multiple Degrees and Disciplines:
| 19881988 1990 1992 | STS-109, STS-125 | |
| Ronald McNair | PhD – Physics | 1976 | STS-41-B, STS-51-L | |
| Pamela Ann Melroy | M.S. – Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences | 1984 | STS-92, STS-112, STS-120 | |
| Edgar Mitchell | ScD – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1964 | Apollo 14 | |
| Jasmin Moghbeli | B.S. – Aerospace Engineering with Information Technology | 2005 | SpaceX Crew-7 | |
| Nicholas Patrick | M.S., PhD – Mechanical Engineering | 1990, 1996 | STS-116, STS-130 | |
| Stephen Robinson | Postdoc at Man-Vehicle Lab, Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1993 | STS-85, STS-95, STS-114 | |
| Albert Sacco | PhD – Chemical Engineering | 1977 | STS-73 | |
| Russell Schweickart | B.S., M.S. – Aeronautics/Astronautics | 1956, 1963 | Apollo 9 | |
| David Scott | Dual Degrees:
| 19621962 | Gemini 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 15 | |
| William Shepherd | Dual Degrees:
| 1978, 1978 | STS-27, STS-41, STS-52, Soyuz TM-31, Expedition 1, STS-102 | |
| Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper | B.S., M.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 1984, 1985 | STS-115, STS-126 | |
| Daniel Tani | B.S., M.S. – Mechanical Engineering | 1984, 1985 | STS-108, STS-120, Expedition 16, STS-122 | |
| Robert Thirsk | Multiple Degrees and Disciplines:
| 1978, 1998 | STS-78, Soyuz TMA-14, Expedition 19, STS-127 | |
| Janice Voss | Multiple Degrees and Disciplines:
| 1977, 1978 | STS-57, STS-63, STS-83, STS-94, STS-99 | |
| Neil Woodward | B.S. – Physics | 1984 |