Scotland, part of the
United Kingdom, seems to have more than its fair share of famous and influential men and women for its size and population. The following is a list of some of the best known.
Actors
Artists
Business
Composers
Engineers and Inventors
- Alexander Graham Bell, (1847-1922), Telephone, National Geographic, Hydrofoil
- John Boyd Dunlop[?] -- Inventor of the modern rubber tyre
- John McAdam[?] inventor of modern road construction
- Charles Macintosh, (1766-1843), patented waterproofing
- James Nasmyth, (1802-1890), inventor, Steam Hammer
- Thomas Telford, (1757-1834)
- James Watt, (1736-1819)
Musicians
Philosophers
Rulers, Politicians
- Tony Blair, (born 1953), UK Prime Minister
- Robert Cunninghame-Graham[?] ('Don Roberto') aristocrat socialist
- Jo Grimond, (1913-1993), Liberal Party leader from 1956 to 1967
- James VI of Scotland and I of England, (1603-1625)
- Gordon Brown, (born 1951), Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Jimmy Maxton - leader of the Independent Labour Party
- Jim Sillars - founder of Scottish Labour Party, MP
- Tom Johnston[?] aka Tam Johnston, post WW2 Secretary of State for Scotland
- Mary I of Scotland, (1542-1587), also known as Mary, Queen of Scots
- Macbeth -- King on the receiving end of a bad press
- John MacCormick - Nationalist
- Alex Salmond - Nationalist (SNP leader 1990-2000)
- Margo MacDonald[?] -- Nationalist
- Ramsay Macdonald[?], (1866-1937), UK Prime minister
- Robert the Bruce -- Robert 1 of Scotland
- Malcolm Macdonald[?]
- William Wallace, (c. 1270-1305), a.k.a. Braveheart
Scientists
- James Dewar, (1842-1923), Low temperature physicist, invented the vacuum flask
- Alexander Fleming, (1881-1955), biologist
- Joseph Lister, (1827-1912), surgeon, pioneered antisepsis techniques
- James Hutton, (1726-1797), Put geology on a scientific basis
- James Clerk Maxwell, (1831-1879), thermodynamics and electromagnetic theorist
- John Napier, (1550-1617), mathematician (see logarithms)
- Mary Fairfax Sommerville[?] -- mathematician and astronomer
- Robert Watson-Watt, (1892-1973), invented radar
- Paraffin Young[?] a.k.a. James Young[?], James (Paraffin) Young
Sportsmen and -women
Theologians
Writers
- Margot Asquith[?] -- writer and wit
- James Matthew Barrie, (1860-1937), creator of Peter Pan
- Iain Banks, (born 1954), aka Iain M. Banks
- James Boswell, (1740-1795)
- John Buchan, (1875-1940)
- Robert Burns, (1759-1796)
- A.J.Cronin[?]
- Arthur Conan Doyle, (1859-1930)
- Alasdair Gray[?]
- Kenneth Grahame, (1859-1932)
- Andrew Lang, (1844-1912)
- Norman MacCaig[?] -- poet
- Hugh MacDiarmid[?], (1892-1978), poet
- George Macdonald, (1824-1905), poet, novelist
- Duncan McIntyre[?] -- Gaelic poet, aka Duncan Ban McIntyre
- John Mackail[?] -- classical scholar and writer
- Sorley MacLean, (1911-1996), Scottish Gaelic poet
- William Topaz McGonagall -- poet, novelist
- Alistair MacLean
- A.A. Milne -- creator of Winnie the Pooh
- Carolina Oliphant[?] -- 18th century composer and songwriter
- Ian Rankin[?] -- creator of Inspector Rebus crime novels
- Sir Walter Scott, (1771-1832)
- Robert Louis Stevenson, (1850-1894)
Others
- Ian Anderson
- Alison Balfour[?] -- a "notorious witch"
- David Byrne, (born 1952)
- Helen Duncan[?] -- "Hellish Nell", the last woman to be tried under the witchcraft act
- Thomas Graham
- Elsie Inglis[?] -- medical reformer and suffragette
- John Paul Jones, (1747-1792), Admiral of the Russian and American Navies
- Captain Kidd, (1645-1701), Pirate
- David Livingstone, (1813-1873), Explorer, Missionary
- Flora Macdonald -- Jacobite and Empire Loyalist
- Rob Roy MacGregor[?] -- Romantic outlaw
- John James Richard Macleod, (1876-1935)
- John Muir, (1838-1914), 19th century environmentalist
- Robert Noble[?]
- Allan Pinkerton
- Sir William Ramsay
- John Charles Walsham Reith, (1889-1971), aka Lord Reith, first Director General of BBC
- James Clark Ross, (1800-1862), Explorer
- Alexander Selkirk, (1676-1723), inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
- Christian Shaw[?] -- the woman who started the Paisley thread industry
- Moira Shearer[?]
- Mary Slessor[?] -- missionary and advocate for women's rights
- Adam Smith, (1723-1790), Economist, free trade, laisser-faire, division of labour
- Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland[?] -- enthusiastic contributor to the Highland Clearances[?]
- Josephine Tey, (1896-1952)
- Robert William Thomson[?]
See also: List of people by nationality, List of Kings of the Picts