Unexpected Scientists: Famous People with Science Backgrounds

  • Thread starter Thread starter Niles
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around notable individuals from various fields who have unexpected backgrounds in science, particularly physics and engineering. Participants share names and degrees, exploring the surprising nature of these discoveries.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Rowan Atkinson has an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering.
  • Angela Merkel holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.
  • Brian Kernighan has a B.Sc. in engineering physics, which some participants found surprising.
  • Tim Berners-Lee has a B.Sc. in physics, with some participants expressing surprise at his background.
  • Brian May, lead guitarist of Queen, is also an astrophysicist.
  • Sarah Palin has a B.S. degree, which led to humorous interpretations of what "B.S." could stand for.
  • Many writers from the show Futurama hold Ph.D.s in various fields of math and science.
  • Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, was a physics major.
  • Maggie Thatcher had a B.Sc. in chemistry and referenced her scientific knowledge in a political context.
  • Danica McKellar is noted as a published mathematician.
  • Lizzy Hawker has a Ph.D. in environmental science, while Greg Graffin has a Ph.D. in biology and teaches at UCLA.
  • Osama bin Laden is mentioned as possibly having a degree in civil engineering, with some participants making jokes about this background.
  • Isaac Asimov had a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and Alfred Hitchcock attended engineering school.
  • Ashton Kutcher studied biomedical engineering before leaving for modeling.
  • President Garfield had an original proof of the Pythagorean theorem.
  • Ed Witten holds a BA in history, which some participants found unexpected.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of surprise and humor regarding the scientific backgrounds of various public figures. There is no consensus on the surprising nature of these backgrounds, as opinions vary widely.

Contextual Notes

Some claims about individuals' degrees are based on external links, and the accuracy of these claims may depend on the sources cited. The discussion includes humor and speculation, particularly regarding interpretations of degrees and the relevance of scientific backgrounds to public personas.

Niles
Messages
1,834
Reaction score
0
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
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Why are the last two surprising?
 
They were for me. I thought they were computer scientists.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May" , lead guitarist for Queen...and an astrophysicist.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sarah Palin has a B.S... that surprised me.
 
I don't want to bother looking them up, but many of the writers for Futurama hold PhD's in various maths and sciences.
 
Philip Rosedale the founder of Second Life was a physics major.
 
Sorry! said:
Sarah Palin has a B.S... that surprised me.

depends on what B.S. stands for...
 
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"!
 
  • #11
Oh yeah, I forgot me... Flatmaster Physics major, chem minor. I might have a masters in science education, I'm not sure.
 
  • #12
flatmaster said:
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...?
 
  • #13
Random credits from several universities. Someone might give me a masters.
 
  • #14
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...
 
  • #16
  • #17
or civil ungineering
 
  • #18
lisab said:
Sure it's not uncivil engineering?

Or civil deengineering?
 
  • #19
  • #20
Lots of rich Saudis are educated in the sciences. The men, at least.
 
  • #21
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
 
Last edited:
  • #22
Taxi's Judd Hirsch has a degree in physics.
 
  • #23
Ashton Kutcher was in biomedical engineering before leaving uni because he was making more money modeling.
 
  • #24
Topher925 said:
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.
 
  • #25
f95toli said:
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.
 
  • #26
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.
 
  • #27
Eva Longoria (from Desperative Housewives) has a B.Sc. in kinesiology
 
  • #28
Niles said:
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.
 
Last edited:
  • #29
maverick_starstrider said:
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...
 

Similar threads

The Scientist as Hero - or not
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
ECONOMICS: It's stupid to be afraid (Lee Kuan Yew to Der Spiegel)
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
5K