Swarthmore College

Discover the notable alumni of Swarthmore College. The list includes people like Stephen Lang, Sally Ride, Alice Paul, James A. Michener & Iqbal Quadir. This list of notable alumni is loosely sorted by popularity and has people from different domains of life, such as intellectuals & academics, writers, scientists, critics & connoisseurs and media personalities etc.
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 1 
Sally Ride
(The First American Woman and The Third Woman in Space)
Sally Ride
26
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: May 26, 1951
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Encino, Los Angeles, California, United States
Died: July 23, 2012
Astronaut and physicist Sally Ride was the first American woman and the youngest American astronaut to enter space. Following her death, it was revealed that she had been in a 27-year lesbian relationship with tennis player and professor Tam O'Shaughnessy. Sally herself was a ranked junior tennis player, too.
 2 
Alice Paul
(American Quaker, Feminist, Suffragist, and Women's Rights Activist)
Alice Paul
11
Listed In: Activists
Birthdate: January 11, 1885
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey, United States
Died: July 9, 1977

Alice Paul was an American Quaker, feminist, suffragist, and women's rights activist. She is best remembered for strategizing events like the Silent Sentinels and the Woman Suffrage Procession, which resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Alice Paul often displayed courage while confronting police brutality for her activism.

 3 
Susan Oliver
(American Actress and Aviator)
Susan Oliver
4
Birthdate: February 13, 1932
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: May 10, 1990

Susan Oliver was an American actress, aviator, and television director. She achieved popularity after appearing in popular TV series like Star Trek. Susan Oliver also achieved fame as an aviator; in 1967, she became only the fourth woman to fly a single-engined airplane solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

 4 
Jonathan Franzen
(Novelist)
Jonathan Franzen
2
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: August 17, 1959
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA
 5 
James A. Michener
5
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: February 3, 1907
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Doylestown, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: October 16, 1997
 6 
Stephen Lang
38
Birthdate: July 11, 1952
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Stephen Lang is best known as Colonel Miles Quaritch from James Cameron’s Avatar and as Stonewall Jackson from Gods and Generals, with the former winning him a Saturn Award. A talented theater actor, he also earned a Tony nomination for his role in The Speed of Darkness
 7 
Kurt Eichenwald
(Journalist)
Kurt Eichenwald
1
Birthdate: June 28, 1961
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: New York City, New York, U.S.
 8 
Michael Dukakis
(65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts (1975 - 1979, 1983 - 1991))
Michael Dukakis
11
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: November 3, 1933
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The 65th governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis is a retired politician and lawyer. Dukakis became the second Greek-American governor in the history of the US when he was elected the governor of Massachusetts. His term as governor was marked by a period of economic growth, which was later called The Massachusetts Miracle.

 9 
Ted Nelson
(American Pioneer of Information Technology, Philosopher, and Sociologist)
Ted Nelson
0
Birthdate: June 17, 1937
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Ted Nelson is an American sociologist and philosopher. A pioneer of information technology, Nelson coined the terms hypermedia and hypertext in 1963. He is also credited with coining several new words, including transclusion, intertwingularity, and virtuality. In 1960, he founded Project Xanadu in an attempt to create a computer network with an unambiguous user interface.

 10 
Chris Van Hollen
(Politician)
Chris Van Hollen
1
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: January 10, 1959
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Karachi Karachi, Pakistan
 11 
Christiana Figueres
(Diplomat)
Christiana Figueres
11
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: August 7, 1956
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: San José, Costa Rica
 12 
David Lewis
(Philosopher)
David Lewis
2
Birthdate: September 28, 1941
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Oberlin, Ohio, United States
Died: October 14, 2001
 13 
Kevin Hassett
(Economist)
Kevin Hassett
1
Birthdate: March 20, 1962
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Greenfield, Massachusetts Greenfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
 14 
Robert D. Putnam
(Political Scientist)
Robert D. Putnam
2
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: January 9, 1941
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Rochester, New York, United States
 15 
David Gale
(American Mathematician and Economist)
David Gale
2
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: December 13, 1921
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: March 7, 2008
 16 
Carol Gilligan
(Psychologist, Philosopher, Non-fiction writer, Sociologist, Feminist)
Carol Gilligan
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: November 28, 1936
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York City

Carol Gilligan is an American psychologist, ethicist, and feminist. She is renowned for her work on ethical relationships and ethical community. She also serves as a professor of Applied Psychology and Humanities at New York University. Considered the chief architect of the ethics of care, Gilligan was named in the 25 most influential people list by Time magazine in 1996.

 17 
A. Mitchell Palmer
(50th United States Attorney General)
A. Mitchell Palmer
0
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: May 4, 1872
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: White Haven, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: May 11, 1936
 18 
Andre Gunder Frank
(German-American Sociologist and Economic Historian)
Andre Gunder Frank
0
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: February 24, 1929
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: April 23, 2005

Andre Gunder Frank was a German-American economic historian and sociologist who advocated dependency theory and world-systems theory. In the 1950s and 1960s, Frank taught subjects, such as economics and anthropology at several American universities. He then went on to serve as a professor at the University of Chile. From 1981 to 1994, he taught at the University of Amsterdam.

 19 
Joseph Altuzarra
(Fashion designer)
Joseph Altuzarra
0
Listed In: Fashion
Birthdate: 1983 AD
Birthplace: Paris, France
 20 
Frank H. Easterbrook
(Judge)
Frank H. Easterbrook
0
Listed In: Lawyers & Judges
Birthdate: September 3, 1948
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Buffalo
 21 
John C. Mather
(Astrophysicist)
John C. Mather
0
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: August 7, 1946
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Roanoke, Virginia, United States
 22 
Malcolm Wilde Browne
(Journalist)
Malcolm Wilde Browne
1
Listed In: Photographers
Birthdate: April 17, 1931
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: August 27, 2012
 23 
Diane di Prima
(Poet)
Diane di Prima
0
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: August 6, 1934
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
 24 
Drew Pearson
(American journalist)
Drew Pearson
4
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: December 13, 1897
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Evanston, Illinois, United States
Died: September 1, 1969
 25 
Gerard K. O'Neill
(American Physicist and Space Activist Known for Inventing the 'Particle Storage Ring')
Gerard K. O'Neill
2
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: February 6, 1927
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died: April 27, 1992

American physicist and space activist Gerard K. O'Neill is noted for inventing the particle storage ring for high-energy physics experiments and for proposing and advocating colonization of space. He proposed the space settlement concept O'Neill cylinder in his award-winning book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space, invented a magnetic launcher called mass driver and founded the Space Studies Institute.

 26 
Jed S. Rakoff
(Lawyer, Judge)
Jed S. Rakoff
1
Listed In: Lawyers & Judges
Birthdate: August 1, 1943
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Philadelphia
 27 
Howard Martin Temin
(American Geneticist, Virologist and Winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Medicine)
Howard Martin Temin
0
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: December 10, 1934
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: February 9, 1994

Virologist Howard Martin Temin won his Nobel Prize for co-discovering the enzyme reverse transcriptase. His initial research was in the area of animal cancers, as he was also a PhD in animal virology from Caltech. He spent almost his entire academic career teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  

 28 
Edward C. Prescott
(Economist, University teacher)
Edward C. Prescott
0
Birthdate: December 26, 1940
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Glens Falls
 29 
Christina H. Paxson
(Economist)
Christina H. Paxson
1
Birthdate: February 6, 1960
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: United States
 30 
Kenneth Turan
(Journalist)
Kenneth Turan
0
Birthdate: October 27, 1946
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Brooklyn
 31 
Clark Kerr
(Professor)
Clark Kerr
0
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: May 17, 1911
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Stony Creek, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: December 1, 2003
 32 
Lee MacPhail
(Baseball executive)
Lee MacPhail
0
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: October 25, 1917
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Died: November 8, 2012
 33 
Christian Anfinsen
(Biochemist)
Christian Anfinsen
0
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: March 26, 1916
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Monessen, Pennsylvania
Died: May 14, 1995

Born to Norwegian immigrants in the U.S., Christian Anfinsen initially excelled in both chemistry and football. His research on the structure of complex proteins and their biological functions earned him a Nobel Prize. He was also associated with the NIH and taught at Johns Hopkins University.

 34 
Ben Brantley
(Journalist)
Ben Brantley
0
Birthdate: October 26, 1954
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Durham
 35 
Elizabeth Janeway
(Author)
Elizabeth Janeway
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: October 7, 1913
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died: January 15, 2005
 36 
Iqbal Quadir
(Founder of Grameenphone)
Iqbal Quadir
1
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: August 13, 1958
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Jessore District

Iqbal Quadir is a Bangladeshi entrepreneur who is credited with founding Grameenphone in Bangladesh. Quadir founded Grameenphone in an attempt to enhance self-employment opportunities for the poor. He is also credited with founding the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship. In 2007, he was named by Wharton Alumni Magazine in its 125 Influential People and Ideas list.

 37 
Anand Yang
(Professor of South Asia Studies and History at the University of Washington)
Anand Yang
0
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthplace: Shantiniketan, India
 38 
Helen Magill White
(Instructor)
Helen Magill White
0
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: November 28, 1853
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Died: October 28, 1944
 39 
Frances Wilson Grayson
(Pilot)
Frances Wilson Grayson
1
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: 1892 AD
Birthplace: Cherokee Village, Arkansas, United States
Died: December 23, 1927
 40 
Molly Yard
(Chinese-Born American Feminist and Activist Who Led the National Organization for Women)
Molly Yard
0
Listed In: Activists
Birthdate: July 6, 1912
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Shanghai, China
Died: September 21, 2005

The National Organization for Women’s 8th president, Molly Yard was a prominent Chinese-born American feminist and social activist. Initially part of the Democratic Party politics, she later helped establish the Americans for Democratic Action. She was awarded the Feminist Majority Foundation's lifetime achievement award. She also supported the labor and civil rights movements.

 41 
Herbert Weir Smyth
(American Classical Scholar )
Herbert Weir Smyth
0
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: August 8, 1857
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Wilmington, Delaware, United States
Died: July 16, 1937
 42 
John Woodland Hastings
(Biochemist)
John Woodland Hastings
0
Listed In: Scientists
Birthdate: March 24, 1927
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Salisbury, Maryland, United States
Died: August 6, 2014

John Woodland Hastings was one of the pioneers of the study on bioluminescence and circadian rhythms, or sleep cycles. He was part of a church choir in his younger days and grew up to study at Princeton University. The Harvard professor was also associated with the Massachusetts-based Marine Biological Laboratory.

 43 
John Diebold
(Businessman)
John Diebold
1
Listed In: Business People
Birthdate: June 8, 1926
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Weehawken, New Jersey, United States
Died: December 26, 2005
 44 
Stephanie Nyombayire
(Director General of Communication)
Stephanie Nyombayire
1
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: December 6, 1986
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Rwanda