View Full Version : Unexpected scientists
Hi all.
During the past, there have been a few times where I have looked up someones profile online ("someone" meaning e.g. politicians, actors etc.) to find out that they have a background in physics/engineering.
I thought it could be fun to make a list of these "discoveries".
Mine are
Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) holds a M.Sc. in EE
Angela Merkel (the Prime Minister of Germany) holds a Ph.d. in physical chemistry
Brian Kernighan (one of the inventors of C) holds a B.Sc. in engineering physics
Tim Berners-Lee (invented the WWW) holds a B.Sc. in physics
Why are the last two surprising?
They were for me. I thought they were computer scientists.
Brian May (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May), lead guitarist for Queen...and an astrophysicist.
Sarah Palin has a B.S... that surprised me.
flatmaster
Aug25-09, 04:45 PM
I don't want to bother looking them up, but many of the writers for Futurama hold PhD's in various maths and sciences.
glueball8
Aug25-09, 04:48 PM
Philip Rosedale the founder of Second Life was a physics major.
Sarah Palin has a B.S... that surprised me.
depends on what B.S. stands for...
mgb_phys
Aug25-09, 05:15 PM
Maggie Thatcher (British PM in the 80s) had a BSc in chemistry. In an interview somebody asked if her science knowledge had every come in handy, she mentioned some report on US star-wars where the advocate had said they need 10^20W (or whatever) to shoot down a missile and in tests had managed 10^10W - the other politicians had said "excellent so we are half-way there"!
russ_watters
Aug25-09, 05:48 PM
Danica McKellar is a published mathematician.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005211/bio
flatmaster
Aug25-09, 05:51 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot me... Flatmaster Physics major, chem minor. I might have a masters in science education, I'm not sure.
Oh yeah, I forgot me... Flatmaster Physics major, chem minor. I might have a masters in science education, I'm not sure.
...an unexpected Master's degree...?
flatmaster
Aug25-09, 05:57 PM
Random credits from several universities. Someone might give me a masters.
f95toli
Aug25-09, 06:06 PM
Lizzy Hawker -one of the best ultramarathon runners in the world- has a PhD in environmental science (as far as I remebember she is an oceanographer)
Greg Graffin (singer in the punk-rock band Bad Religion) has a PhD in biology and actually teaches a course at UCLA....
Topher925
Aug25-09, 06:11 PM
Osama bin Laden apparently might have a degree in civil engineering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden
Osama bin Laden apparently might have a degree in civil engineering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden
Sure it's not uncivil engineering?
flatmaster
Aug25-09, 06:19 PM
or civil ungineering
binzing
Aug25-09, 06:53 PM
Sure it's not uncivil engineering?
Or civil deengineering?
Osama bin Laden apparently might have a degree in civil engineering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden
That should be helping him to live in the caves.
Lots of rich Saudis are educated in the sciences. The men, at least.
MATLABdude
Aug25-09, 07:36 PM
Isaac Asimov had a Ph.D. in biochemistry (okay, so that's probably not so surprising; many SF types have Ph.Ds or at least a degree or two in hard sciences / engineering):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
and Alfred Hitchcock went to Engineering school:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock
EDIT: Another list, but mostly Civil types. I'd heard somewhere that Carlos Mencia was an EE:
http://ertw.com/engineering/FamousEngineers.html
Also, Dolph Lundgren (the giant Russian from Rocky IV) has a Master's in Chemical Engineering:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_Lundgren
George Jones
Aug25-09, 07:41 PM
Taxi's Judd Hirsch has a degree in physics.
maverick_starstrider
Aug25-09, 08:34 PM
Ashton Kutcher was in biomedical engineering before leaving uni because he was making more money modeling.
ideasrule
Aug25-09, 10:18 PM
Osama bin Laden apparently might have a degree in civil engineering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden
Random fact: After the 9/11 attacks he said he was surprised the towers collapsed. Being a civil engineer, that's not just a random guess.
TheStatutoryApe
Aug25-09, 10:27 PM
Greg Graffin (singer in the punk-rock band Bad Religion) has a PhD in biology and actually teaches a course at UCLA....
I remember hearing them in interview a while back saying that all of the members had degrees. I don't remember who had what though and I am sure that their line up has changed since then.
I've heard that all of the members of GWAR have had white collar office jobs and that the original purpose of their costumes and fake names was to keep people from finding out who they really were. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any sites talking about what their real day jobs are/were. I wonder if any of them are scientists or engineers.
ideasrule
Aug25-09, 11:08 PM
Elena Ceausescu, wife of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, was a polymer chemist. Her scientific achievements are disputed; she probably forced prominent scientists to write papers in her name.
Eva Longoria (from Desperative Housewives) has a B.Sc. in kinesiology
maverick_starstrider
Aug26-09, 02:50 PM
Eva Longoria (from Desperative Housewives) has a B.Sc. in kinesiology
That's really not surprising. One of my roommates is a kinesiology grad student. All he does it talk about how much weight he just lifted and his time for his last run.
That's really not surprising. One of my roommates is a kinesiology grad student. All he does it talk about how much weight he just lifted and his time for his last run.
The universities around here kinesiology is pretty hard to get into. Actually it's easier to get into something like biomedical sciences than kines...
President Garfield had an original alternate proof of the Pythagorean theorem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem#Garfield.27s_proof
EDIT: According to Evo's Bin Laden Wiki link, the guy was interested in poetry.
maverick_starstrider
Aug27-09, 12:16 PM
The universities around here kinesiology is pretty hard to get into. Actually it's easier to get into something like biomedical sciences than kines...
Is biomedical science hard to get into?
noblegas
Aug27-09, 01:34 PM
ed witten has a BA in history
SticksandStones
Aug27-09, 03:04 PM
They were for me. I thought they were computer scientists.
Are you saying computer scientists aren't scientists...because that doesn't make any sense at all.
The chief crypto scientist (from my ex-company), has a PHD in Theoretical Nuclear Physics.
http://www.mindspring.com/~dmcgrew/dam.htm
One of the AES crypto modes is his invention.
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