Famous UC Berkeley Alumni: Nobelists, Founders, Leaders, Artists

University of California, Berkeley counts an extraordinary roster of influential graduates:

Nobel Laureates (Selected)

• Ernest Lawrence (Physics, cyclotron)
• Enrico Fermi (Physics, nuclear reactor)
• J. Robert Oppenheimer (Physics, Manhattan Project)
• Rosalyn Yalow (Medicine, radioimmunoassay)
• Ahmed Zewail (Chemistry, femtochemistry)
• Jennifer Doudna (Chemistry, CRISPR)

Tech & Business

• Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder)
• Eric Schmidt (Google CEO)
• Sheryl Sandberg (Meta COO)
• John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins VC)
• Gordon Moore (Intel co-founder, Moore's Law)

Government & Public Service

• Earl Warren (Chief Justice, US Supreme Court)
• Robert McNamara (SecDef, World Bank)
• Janet Yellen (Treasury Secretary, Fed Chair)
• Kamala Harris (Vice President)
• Jerry Brown (CA Governor 4x)

Arts & Letters

• Joan Didion, Alice Walker, Michael Chabon, Maxine Hong Kingston (writers)
• Chris Pine, John Cho, Gregory Peck (actors)
• Philip K. Dick (sci-fi author)

Berkeley's combination of academic rigor, activist culture, and proximity to Silicon Valley has produced leaders across every domain.