Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Notable Alumni

Discover the notable alumni of Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. The list includes people like Dolph Lundgren, Buzz Aldrin, John Forbes Nash Jr., Benjamin Netanyahu & James Woods. This list of notable alumni is loosely sorted by popularity and has people from different domains of life, such as scientists, engineers, intellectuals & academics, writers and miscellaneous etc.
Vote for Your Favourite Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Notable Alumni

Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.

 1 
John Forbes Nash Jr.
(Mathematician)
John Forbes Nash Jr.
39
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: June 13, 1928
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Bluefield, West Virginia, United States
Died: May 23, 2015
The inspiration behind the movie A Beautiful Mind, John F. Nash was a legendary mathematician whose work in the area of game theory earned him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. In his later years, he was riddled with mental illness. He later died in a car crash.
 2 
Richard Feynman
(One of the Joint Winners of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965)
Richard Feynman
24
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: May 11, 1918
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: February 15, 1988

Theoretical physicist Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, along with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga, for his research on quantum electrodynamics. He also contributed to the development of the atomic bomb. Feyman made it to Physics World’s list of the 10 greatest physicists of all time.

 3 
Kofi Annan
(Former UN Secretary General)
Kofi Annan
28
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: April 8, 1938
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Kumasi, Ghana
Died: August 18, 2018

Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation and a co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. During his stint with the UN, he launched the UN Global Compact and worked to combat HIV/AIDS. 

 4 
Claude Shannon
(Mathematician, Engineer & Cryptographer Known as a 'Father of Information Theory')
Claude Shannon
7
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: April 30, 1916
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Petoskey, Michigan, United States
Died: February 24, 2001

Claude Shannon was an electrical engineer, mathematician, and cryptographer. He is credited with publishing the article A Mathematical Theory of Communication which gave rise to the field of information theory. Hence, Shannon is considered the father of information theory. He is also credited with founding digital circuit design theory. During World War II, he contributed to the field of cryptanalysis.

 5 
I. M. Pei
(Architect)
I. M. Pei
20
Listed In: Architects
Birthdate: April 26, 1917
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Guangzhou, China
Died: May 16, 2019

I. M. Pei was a Chinese-American architect who drew inspiration from the garden villas at Suzhou when he was young. He is credited with founding I. M. Pei & Associates, an independent design firm, in 1955. Today, the award-winning firm is known by the name, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Pei is known for designing structures like the Mesa Laboratory.

 6 
Ben Bernanke
(American Economist and 14th Chair of the Federal Reserve (2006-2014))
Ben Bernanke
6
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: December 13, 1953
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Augusta, Georgia, United States

Ben Bernanke is an American economist who served two terms as the chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 to 2014, during which he supervised the Federal Reserve's response to the global financial crisis (GFC). For his efforts during GFC, Ben Bernanke was named Time Person of the Year in 2009.

 7 
Buzz Aldrin
(American Astronaut, Fighter Pilot and the Second Person to Set Foot on the Moon)
Buzz Aldrin
35
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: January 20, 1930
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Glen Ridge, New Jersey, United States
Buzz Aldrin became the second person to set foot on the Moon, as the pilot of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, 19 minutes after Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon, on July 21, 1969. Aldrin has also been a U.S. Air Force officer and flew fighter jets in the Korean War.
 8 
James Woods
(Best Known for His Roles in the Films: 'Salvador' and 'Ghosts of Mississippi')
James Woods
34
Birthdate: April 18, 1947
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Vernal, Utah, United States

Mostly known for playing real-life characters, Emmy Award-winner James Woods began his career on stage. Fans adore him for his performances in the play Moonchildren, the series Holocaust, and the TV movie Too Big to Fail. He also played a significant voice role in the animated feature Hercules.

 9 
Amar Bose
(The Founder of 'Bose Corporation')
Amar Bose
8
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: November 2, 1929
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: July 12, 2013

Amar Bose was an American academic, entrepreneur, sound engineer, and electrical engineer. Bose served as a professor at MIT for more than 45 years. He is also credited with founding a manufacturing company called Bose Corporation where he served as the chairman. In 2008, Amar Bose was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 

 10 
Carly Fiorina
(CEO of ‘Hewlett-Packard’, the First Woman to Lead a Fortune Top-20 Company)
Carly Fiorina
10
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: September 6, 1954
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Austin, Texas, United States

Carly Fiorina made history by becoming the first female head of a Dow Jones-listed company when she became the CEO of HP. The daughter of a law professor father, she had initially joined law school but then dropped out to study management. She has also been Ted Cruz’s vice-presidential running mate.

 11 
Charles Koch
(American Billionaire Businessman, Chairman, and CEO of ‘Koch Industries’)
Charles Koch
17
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: November 1, 1935
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas, United States
Charles Koch, co-owner, chairman, and CEO of Koch Industries, was the world’s 11th-richest man in 2019. He and his brother, David Koch, both named to Time 100 in 2011, transformed their business from an oil and chemical company to one that owns brands such as Stainmaster, Lycra, and Dixie Cup.
 12 
Robert Noyce
(Co-inventor of the integrated circuit)
Robert Noyce
1
Birthdate: December 12, 1927
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Burlington
Died: June 3, 1990

American engineer Robert Noyce, who co-invented the integrated circuit, later gained the nickname the Mayor of Silicon Valley. The co-founder of Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor, Noyce is also said to have given Silicon Valley its name with his invention that included a silicon microchip. He was also a swimming champion.

 13 
Sal Khan
(The Founder and CEO of 'Khan Academy')
Sal Khan
10
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: October 11, 1976
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Metairie, Louisiana, United States

What began as amateur math tutorials for his cousin later became Sal Khan’s dream project, the online education platform Khan Academy, which now has over 42 million users worldwide. Named to Time 100 in 2012, the American-born Bengali former hedge fund analyst is an MIT and Harvard alumnus.

 14 
James Harris Simons
(Mathematicians & Hedge Fund Manager)
James Harris Simons
1
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: 1938 AD
Birthplace: Newton

The son of a shoe factory owner, mathematician-turned-hedge-fund-manager James Harris Simons studied math at MIT and helped the U.S. break codes during the Vietnam War. He later founded his own hedge fund firm, Renaissance Technologies. He supports autism research and funds Math for America. In 2021, he was America’s 23rd-richest person.

 15 
Louis Sullivan
(Pioneering Architect)
Louis Sullivan
1
Listed In: Architects
Birthdate: September 3, 1856
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Boston
Died: April 14, 1924

Louis Sullivan was an architect who became only the second person to be honored with a posthumous AIA Gold Medal. Dubbed the father of modernism and the father of skyscrapers, Sullivan contributed immensely to the Chicago School of architecture. He is also credited with mentoring Frank Lloyd Wright who went on to become a respected architect in his own right.

 16 
Elaine Chao
(18th United States Secretary of Transportation (2017 - 2021))
Elaine Chao
9
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: March 26, 1953
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Taipei, Taiwan
Elaine Chao has served as the U.S. secretary of transportation under Donald Trump and has also previously been the secretary of labor. A Harvard alumna and a recipient of 37 honorary doctorates, she became the first Asian-American female and the first Chinese/Taiwanese American to be part of the U.S. cabinet.
 17 
Richard Stallman
(Free Software Movement Activist and Programmer)
Richard Stallman
1
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: March 16, 1953
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States

Computer programmer and free-software activist Richard Stallman established the Free Software Foundation. The Harvard and MIT alumnus led the free GNU project, aimed at creating a UNIX-like operating system. He was later dragged into a controversy when he dismissed a sexual assault victim’s allegation against Jeffrey Epstein.

 18 
Abhijit Banerjee
(Indian-born American Economist, Professor and 2019 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences)
Abhijit Banerjee
3
Birthdate: February 21, 1961
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Born to economics professor parents, Abhijit Banerjee grew up in India before he moved to the U.S. to study at Harvard. He later taught at Harvard and Princeton and is now associated with MIT. His studies on the ways of reducing world poverty won him a Nobel Prize.

 19 
Murray Gell-Mann
(Physicist)
Murray Gell-Mann
2
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: September 15, 1929
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Died: May 24, 2019

Nobel Prize-winning American physicist Murray Gell-Mann is best remembered for his research on elementary particles. The Yale and MIT alumnus later taught at Caltech and is credited with coining the terms "quark" and "strangeness" in quantum physics. A linguistic enthusiast, he also co-established the Evolution of Human Languages program.

 20 
Neri Oxman
(Architect)
Neri Oxman
5
Listed In: Architects
Birthdate: February 6, 1976
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Haifa

Neri Oxman is an American-Israeli designer best known for combining design, computing, biology, and materials engineering into art and architecture. She also serves as a professor at the MIT Media Lab, leading the Mediated Matter research group. Praised as one of the modern-time greats, Oxman was included in ICON's 20 Most Influential Architects to Shape Our Future list in 2009.

 21 
John G. Trump
(Scientist)
John G. Trump
8
Birthdate: August 21, 1907
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: February 21, 1985

Better known as former U.S. president Donald Trump’s uncle, John G. Trump was an MIT physicist and engineer. Though he had initially aspired to be an architect and join his brother Fred’s real-estate business, John later concentrated on his research that led to the invention of high-voltage generators.

 22 
Shiva Ayyadurai
(Indian-American Politician, Entrepreneur and Anti-Vaccine Activist)
Shiva Ayyadurai
11
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: December 2, 1963
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Shiva Ayyadurai is an Indian-American engineer, scientist, and entrepreneur. He gained recognition after claiming to be the inventor of email, which is widely disputed even today. His claim is based on a software called EMAIL, which he wrote while studying at Livingston High School in the late-1970s. He is also known for his unfounded medical claims, including treatments for COVID-19.

 23 
Herman Hollerith
(Father of modern automatic computation)
Herman Hollerith
3
Birthdate: February 29, 1860
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Buffalo
Died: November 17, 1929
 24 
Mario Draghi
(Economist, Banker, University teacher)
Mario Draghi
3
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: September 3, 1947
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Rome

The son of a banker father, Italian economist Mario Draghi initially served as the president of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Italy governor, and is the current prime minister of Italy. The media named him Super Mario for efficiently handling the Eurozone debt crisis.

 25 
Alicia Nash
(Wife of Mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr.)
Alicia Nash
16
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: January 1, 1933
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: San Salvador, El Salvador
Died: May 23, 2015

Born in El Salvador, Alicia Nash later moved to the U.S., where she became one of the first women to join MIT as a student. The physicist met her husband, renowned mathematician John Nash at MIT. Both Alicia and John were killed in car crash while returning home from Norway.

 26 
George P. Shultz
(Economist)
George P. Shultz
6
Birthdate: December 13, 1920
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
 27 
Joseph E. Stiglitz
(Economist & Author)
Joseph E. Stiglitz
5
Birthdate: February 9, 1943
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Gary

Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz is best known for his work on the theory of markets with asymmetric information. The MIT alumnus has taught at prestigious institutes such as Harvard and Stanford and currently teaches at Columbia University, He has been an economic advisor to the U.S. government, too.

 28 
Raghuram Rajan
(Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India)
Raghuram Rajan
7
Birthdate: February 3, 1963
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

Raghuram Rajan is an Indian economist who served as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2013 to 2016. He also served as the 15th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. For his significant contribution in the field of economics, Raghuram Rajan was honored with the Fischer Black Prize by the American Finance Association in 2003.

 29 
Jonah Peretti
(Businessperson)
Jonah Peretti
0
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: January 1, 1974
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Contra Costa County, California, United States
 30 
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
(Nigerian-American Economist Who Has Served in Several Ministerial Positions in Nigeria)
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
8
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: June 13, 1954
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Ogwashi Ukwu, Nigeria
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist and political figure. She served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2006 before serving as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy of Nigeria from 17 August 2011 to 29 May 2015. Ngozi also served as the Minister of Finance on two separate occasions; from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2015.
 31 
William Shockley
(American Physicist, Inventor and Winner of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics)
William Shockley
4
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: February 13, 1910
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: London, England
Died: August 12, 1989

American physicist, inventor and Nobel laureate William Bradford Shockley Jr received the Nobel Prize in Physics with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain in 1956 for their researches on semiconductors and for discovering the transistor effect while working at the Bell Labs. He later became a proponent of eugenics while serving as a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University.

 32 
Lawrence Summers
(71st United States Secretary of the Treasury(1999 - 2001))
Lawrence Summers
1
Birthdate: November 30, 1954
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Apart from being the president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers has also been the U.S. secretary of the treasury, the World Bank’s chief economist, and the NEC director. The MIT alumnus became one of the youngest tenured faculty members at Harvard. He also writes regularly for The Washington Post.

 33 
Leslie Lamport
(Mathematician, Computer scientist, Programmer, Engineer, Writer)
Leslie Lamport
1
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: February 7, 1941
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: New York City
 34 
Michele Lee
(Actress)
Michele Lee
0
Birthdate: June 24, 1942
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
 35 
Edgar Mitchell
(American Astronaut Who was the Sixth Person to Walk on the Moon)
Edgar Mitchell
3
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: September 17, 1930
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Hereford, Texas, United States
Died: February 4, 2016

Edgar Mitchell was an American aviator, United States Navy officer, test pilot, NASA astronaut, ufologist, and aeronautical engineer. In 1971, Mitchell became only the sixth person ever to walk on the Moon. Over the course of his illustrious career, Edgar Mitchell was honored with several prestigious awards, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.   

 36 
Esther Duflo
(American-French Economist)
Esther Duflo
0
Birthdate: October 25, 1972
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Paris, France

Esther Duflo is a French–American economist. She is credited with co-founding the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, a global research center that works towards reducing poverty worldwide. In 2019, she shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Michael Kremer and Abhijit Banerjee for their efforts to reduce poverty.

 37 
Franklin Chang Díaz
(Former NASA Astronaut, Founder and CEO of ‘Ad Astra Rocket Company’)
Franklin Chang Díaz
7
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: April 5, 1950
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: San José, Costa Rica

Franklin Chang Díaz is a Costa Rican American physicist, mechanical engineer, and former NASA astronaut. He is credited with founding the Ad Astra Rocket Company where he currently serves as the CEO. On May 5, 2012, Franklin Chang Díaz was inducted into the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame.

 38 
Leslie Groves
(United States Army Officer in Charge of the Construction of 'The Pentagon' and Director of 'The Manhattan Project')
Leslie Groves
3
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: August 17, 1896
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Albany, New York, United States
Died: July 13, 1970

US Army officer Leslie Groves is best remembered for his association with the Manhattan Project, which was aimed at developing atom bombs during World War II. He was also in-charge of building a place to house the War Department’s staff in a structure that later became the Pentagon.

 39 
Bill Koch
(Entrepreneur)
Bill Koch
1
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: May 3, 1940
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas, United States
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
 40 
Vanessa Selbst
(American Poker Player)
Vanessa Selbst
0
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: July 9, 1984
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
 41 
Ray Tomlinson
(Inventor of the First Email System)
Ray Tomlinson
2
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: April 23, 1941
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Amsterdam, New York, U.S.
Died: March 5, 2016
 42 
Tom Scholz
(Musician)
Tom Scholz
4
Birthdate: March 10, 1947
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Toledo, Ohio, United States
Height: 6'5" (196 cm)
 43 
Charles Duke
(Former NASA Astronaut Who Became the Youngest Person to Walk on the Moon)
Charles Duke
1
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: October 3, 1935
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Charlotte

Former NASA astronaut Charles Duke has also been a USAF officer and test pilot. At 36, he became the youngest astronaut to walk on the surface of the Moon. Throughout his illustrious career, he went on 5 Apollo missions. He is also an international public speaker.

 44 
Ray Kurzweil
(Computer scientist and Futurist)
Ray Kurzweil
3
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: February 12, 1948
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States

Ray Kurzweil is an American futurist and inventor best known for his work in fields like optical character recognition, speech recognition technology, and text-to-speech synthesis. A proponent of life extension technologies and robotics, Kurzweil was honored with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 1999. In 2002, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

 45 
Ivan Sutherland
(Computer scientist)
Ivan Sutherland
3
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: May 16, 1938
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Hastings, Nebraska, United States
 46 
Thomas Massie
(Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 4th District )
Thomas Massie
6
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: January 13, 1971
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Huntington, West Virginia, United States

Conservative libertarian Republican Thomas Massie is the US Representative from Kentucky's 4th district. Born to a beer distributor, he studied mechanical engineering at MIT and also co-owned a start-up. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he earned Donald Trump’s ire when he opposed a stimulus package to boost the American economy.

 47 
Whitfield Diffie
(Cryptographer and one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography along with Martin Hellman and Ralph Merkle)
Whitfield Diffie
0
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: June 5, 1944
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Washington, D.C., United States
 48 
Alan Mulally
(Engineer)
Alan Mulally
0
Listed In: Engineers
Birthdate: August 4, 1945
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Oakland, California, U.S.
 49 
Dylan Bruno
(Actor)
Dylan Bruno
0
Birthdate: September 6, 1972
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Milford, Connecticut, United States
Height: 5'10" (178 cm)
 50 
Lisa Su
(Entrepreneur)
Lisa Su
2
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: November 7, 1969
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Tainan, Taiwan

Born in Taiwan, Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD, moved to the US at age 3. Lisa eventually earned a PhD in electrical engineering from MIT. Named to the Forbes America’s Self-Made Women 2020 list, she is also the first woman recipient of the IEEE Robert Noyce Medal.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is widely considered the best institution in the world for a degree in Engineering. The campus of this university, situated in the city of Cambridge, in the United States, sprawls over 168 kilometers. According to a 2017 survey conducted by ‘Times Higher Education’, this famous institution was ranked 2nd in the whole of United States and 5th in the world. ‘Massachusetts Institute of Technology’ is not a globally recognized educational institution merely for its infrastructure or quality of education, but also for its notable alumni. The institution has produced several great entrepreneurs who have set fine examples of how a business has to be managed. Apparently, the university has produced more than 80 Nobel laureates, around 45 Rhodes Scholars and more than 30 astronauts. Some of the students who are a part of the institution’s alumni association are outstanding achievers and role models to many people around the world. A few noteworthy personalities who were once students of this famous university are Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, noted Indian economist Raghuram Rajan and television host Janet Hsieh. Kofi Annan has been immensely praised world over for his humanitarian works. He is also the founder of the non-profit initiative called the ‘Kofi Annan Foundation’ and was appointed the chairman of the organization ‘The Elders’. We are presenting to you a list of notable alumni of the ‘Massachusetts Institute of Technology’ who made waves for their remarkable achievements.