List of Bronx High School of Science alumni
The following is a list of notable people who attended the Bronx High School of Science.
Among the collective honors claimed by alumni of the school are:
- Eight Nobel Prizes.
- Six Pulitzer Prizes.
- Two sitting members of the United States House of Representatives.
- Six winners of the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor bestowed by the U.S. president and thus far awarded to 425 scientists and engineers.
- Twenty-nine members of the United States National Academy of Sciences, an honor attained by only about 2,000 American scientists.
- Twenty-two Bronx Science graduates are members of the United States National Academy of Engineering.
- Ten are members of the Institute of Medicine.
- One is a member of the Royal Society of Canada.
- Two are recipients of the Turing Award, the top prize in computer science.
- Two Academy Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
- One Fellow of the American Statistical Association and Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute
Science
Nobel Prize-winning scientists
The Bronx High School of Science counts eight Nobel Prize recipients as graduates. Seven of these Nobel laureates received their prize in the field of physics. Robert J. Lefkowitz was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.- Leon N. Cooper, co–developer of BCS theory; namesake of Cooper pairs
- Sheldon Lee Glashow, physicist who proposed the modern electroweak theory
- Roy J. Glauber, physicist who made contributions to the quantum theory of optical coherence
- Russell A. Hulse, astrophysicist who co–discovered the first binary pulsar, providing significant evidence in support of the theory of general relativity
- Robert J. Lefkowitz, biochemist known for his work with G protein-coupled receptors
- H. David Politzer, physicist who co–discovered asymptotic freedom in quantum chromodynamics
- Melvin Schwartz, physicist who co–developed the neutrino beam method demonstrating of the doublet structure of the lepton through the discovery of the muon neutrino
- Steven Weinberg, physicist who proposed the modern electroweak theory
Other science and engineering alumni
- David Adler, physicist
- Bruce Ames, biologist, inventor of the Ames Test, winner of the National Medal of Science
- Naomi Amir, pediatric neurologist, established first pediatric neurology clinic in Israel
- Jill Bargonetti, biologist; noted for her work on the function of the oncogene p53
- Hans Baruch, physiologist and inventor
- Ira Black, neuroscientist and stem cell researcher, first director of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey
- Gregory Chaitin, mathematician, computer scientist, and author; one of the founders of algorithmic information theory; namesake of Chaitin's constant
- Michael H. Hart, astrophysicist, author of three books on history
- Martin Hellman, electrical engineer and cryptologist who was instrumental in the development of public-key cryptography
- Leonard Kleinrock, electrical engineer and computer scientist; oversaw the first ARPANET connection to the first node at UCLA; supervised sending the first message over what would become the internet
- Andrew R. Koenig, computer scientist, inventor, and author, retired from Bell Labs
- Leslie Lamport, computer scientist noted for fundamental contributions to Theory of Computing, especially his work in distributed systems, as well as the development of LaTeX; 2013 recipient of the ACM Turing Award; namesake of the Lamport signature and Lamport's scheme
- Norman Levitt, author and mathematics professor at Rutgers University; a figure in the fight against anti-intellectualism; his book ' inspired the Sokal Affair
- Barry Mazur, Professor of Mathematics and Gerhard Gade University Professor at Harvard University, a title given to the most distinguished professors at Harvard. Mazur is a recipient of the National Medal of Science and a number of prestigious mathematical prizes, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Marvin Minsky, cognitive scientist, computer scientist and inventor; pioneer in artificial intelligence; co-founder of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; wrote Society of Mind and The Emotion Machine; patented the confocal microscope; recipient of the Turing Award
- Robert Moog, electrical engineer; pioneer in the development of electronic music, notably for the invention of the Moog synthesizers, still produced by his namesake company
- Al Nagler, optical engineer; founder of Televue; designed the optics for the U.S. Army's first night vision goggles and for the astronaut training simulators for Gemini program and Apollo lunar lander
- Jay Pasachoff, astronomy professor at Williams College; textbook writer; expert in astronomy education; director of the Hopkins Observatory; Asteroid 5100 Pasachoff is named in his honor
- Stanley Plotkin, medical doctor, author, and co-creator of vaccines for several diseases including rubella, rabies, rotavirus, and cytomegalovirus
- Stuart Alan Rice, theoretical chemist and physical chemist
- Frank Rosenblatt. computer pioneer; noted for designing Perceptron, one of the first artificial feedforward neural networks; namesake of the Frank Rosenblatt Award given by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Jun John Sakurai, particle physicist and author, noted for his work on vector mesons; namesake of the Sakurai Prize awarded annually by the American Physical Society
- Ben Shneiderman, developer of computer visualization and human-computer interaction
- Lawrence B. Slobodkin, pioneer in the field of modern ecology
- Leonard Susskind, widely regarded as one of the "fathers" of string theory
- Larry Tesler, helped develop modern graphical user interface, invented the cut, copy, and paste commands
- Joseph F. Traub, computer scientist
- Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and current Director of the Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of natural History; known for his work on educational television, such as NOVA ScienceNOW and '; namesake of Asteroid 13123 Tyson
- Robert Williamson, molecular biologist and professor of medical genetics from 1995 to 2005 at the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
- George Yancopoulos, medical researcher in the field of molecular immunology; member of the National Academy of Sciences; founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
- Norton Zinder, biologist in the field of molecular biology; known for his discovery of genetic transduction; recipient of the NAS Award in Molecular Biology from the National Academy of Sciences in 1966; became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1969; led a lab at Rockefeller University until shortly before his death
- Melvin Kollander Statistician and Social Scientist, Fellow of the American Statistical Association and Elected Member the International Statistical Institute. Founder of the Senior Statisticians Society of Washington, DC.
- Rahul Desikan, neuroscientist and neuroradiologist; known for using 'big data' acquired through ongoing global collaborations, he innovated a variety of cross disciplinary methods to identify novel risk factors for brain diseases
Letters and journalism
Pulitzer Prize winners
- Joseph Lelyveld, journalist and author; Executive Editor at The New York Times ; won the 1986 award for General Non-Fiction
- William Safire, author and speechwriter; won the 1978 award for Commentary
- William Sherman, reporter at the New York Daily News; won the 1974 award for Local Investigative Special Reporting
- Buddy Stein, editor and publisher of The Riverdale Press won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for writing on politics and other issues affecting New York City residents.
- William Taubman, professor of political science at Amherst College; won the 2004 award for Biography or Autobiography for
- Gene Weingarten, reporter and columnist for The Washington Post; won the 2008 and 2010 awards for Feature Writing
Other alumni in the field of letters and journalism
- Judith Baumel, poet; 1987 recipient of the Walt Whitman Award
- Peter S. Beagle, author, singer, and guitarist, best known for The Last Unicorn
- Jennifer Belle, writer
- Joseph Berger,, influential literary critic, MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and Professor of English at Yale University
- Mark Boal, journalist and screenwriter; won two Oscars as screenwriter and producer of The Hurt Locker
- Samuel R. Delany, science fiction author ; recipient of four Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards
- E. L. Doctorow, author ; received the National Humanities Medal in 1998
- John T. Georgopoulos, award-winning fantasy sports journalist, writer and broadcast radio host
- Gerald Jay Goldberg, professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles; novelist and critic
- Jeff Greenfield, television journalist and political analyst for CBS News; author
- Pablo Guzmán , television journalist for WCBS-2 in New York; formerly a spokesman for the Young Lords
- Clyde Haberman, columnist for the New York Times
- Marilyn Hacker, poet, critic, translator, and recipient of the National Book Award
- Gary Lee Horn, radio journalist; has worked at the United Stations Radio Network, WPIX-FM, and WHCN in Hartford, Connecticut
- Lars-Erik Nelson, award-winning correspondent and columnist for the New York Daily News, Newsweek, and Newsday
- Patricia Park, author of the novel Re Jane, named Editors' Choice by The New York Times Book Review, Best Books of 2015 by American Library Association.
- Otto Penzler, editor, author, and collector of espionage and thriller books; received an Edgar Award for Encyclopedia of Mystery & Detection
- Martin Peretz, former owner and editor-in-chief of The New Republic magazine
- Kevin Phillips, author and political analyst
- Richard Price, author ; Oscar–nominated screenwriter
- Michael Powell, sports writer for New York Times
- Dava Sobel, author, best known for her popular expositions in the sciences
- Norman Spinrad, science fiction author ; screenwriter
- Gary Weiss, journalist and author
- Dave Winer 1972, computer scientist and blogger
- Min Jin Lee, acclaimed novelist and author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko.
Public service, activism, and government
- Seth Andrew, Educator & Founder of Democracy Prep Public Schools
- Jamaal Bailey, Member of the New York State Senate
- Harold Brown, scientist and former United States Secretary of Defense
- Stokely Carmichael , a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Black Panther Party; notable figure in the Civil Rights Movement
- Majora Carter, urban revitalization strategist; 2005 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant"; 2010 Peabody Award winner
- Edmond E. Chang, United States district judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- Richard Danzig, lawyer who served as secretary of the Navy ; currently the chair of the Center for a New American Security
- Jeffrey Dinowitz, member of the New York State Assembly, representing the 81st District
- Harriet Drummond, Alaska State Legislator
- Martin Garbus, First Amendment lawyer
- Todd Gitlin, writer and social critic; served as president of the Students for a Democratic Society
- Harrison J. Goldin, former New York City Comptroller ; member of the New York State Senate
- Alan Grayson member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Florida's 8th congressional district.
- Howard Gutman, lawyer, actor, and former United States Ambassador to Belgium
- Alvin Hellerstein, US federal judge
- Dora Irizarry, United States District Judge, serving on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- Benjamin Kallos, Member of the New York City Council
- G. Oliver Koppell, New York State Attorney General ; member of the New York State Assembly ; member of the New York City Council
- Kenneth Kronberg, printing company owner; LaRouche movement member
- Bill Lann Lee, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department ; first Asian–American to head the Civil Rights Division
- Ronald Lauder, businessman; art collector; heir to the Estee Lauder fortune; served as US Ambassador to Austria; current president of the World Jewish Congress
- Harold O. Levy, former New York City School Chancellor
- John Liu, former New York City Councilman ; former New York City Comptroller; first Asian–American member of the New York City Council, and the first to hold citywide office
- Nita Lowey, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, currently representing New York's 17th congressional district
- Robert Price, New York State Commissioner of Investigation; former Deputy Mayor of New York City.
- Donald L. Ritter, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district
- Martha Shelley, lesbian activist, feminist, writer, and poet
- Madeline Singas, District Attorney, Nassau County, New York
- Toby Ann Stavisky, Member of the New York State Senate
- Terence Tolbert, political operative and consultant for various New York State politicians; was involved in Barack Obama's presidential campaign
Academia
- Bruce Ackerman, constitutional law scholar working at the Yale Law School
- Charles Cogen, president of New York City's United Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers
- Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of Harvard Medical School
- Murray Gerstenhaber, mathematician and lawyer
- Herb Goldberg, author, psychologist and prominent figure in the male liberation movement
- Gene Grossman, former Chair, Department of Economics, Princeton University
- Martin Jay, intellectual historian at the University of California Berkeley
- Richard Kadison, mathematician
- Henry Klapholz, Dean, Clinical Affairs, Tufts University School of Medicine
- Deborah Frank Lockhart, Fellow of the American Mathematical Society
- Daniel Lowenstein, Director of the Center for Liberal Arts and Institutions, UCLA; first Chairman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission
- Anthony Marx, current president and CEO of the New York Public Library; former president of Amherst College
- Richard A. Muller, professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley
- George Ritzer, sociologist
- Michael I. Sovern, former President of Columbia University
- Gregory J. Vincent, President of Hobart and William Smith Colleges
- Jack Russell Weinstein, philosopher and radio personality; host of Public Radio's Why? Philosophical Discussions About Everyday Life; Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute for Philosophy in Public Life at University of North Dakota
- Barry Wellman, sociologist; founder of the International Network for Social Network Analysis; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; developer of the theory of "networked individualism"; co-author of Networked: The New Social Operating System; winner of the Oxford Internet Institute's Career Achievement Award
Fine arts
- Elliott Landy, photographer noted for his work with rock musicians, especially for his work at the Woodstock Festival
- Daniel Libeskind, architect whose designs include Freedom Tower, Jewish Museum Berlin, Felix Nussbaum Haus, and the Royal Ontario Museum
Performing arts
- Emanuel Azenberg, multiple Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning producer, noted for his long professional relationship with Neil Simon
- James Bethea, television producer and executive
- Mark Boal, Academy Award-winning screenwriter
- Dominic Chianese, singer and actor known for his work in film and television
- Jon Cryer, two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor
- Bobby Darin , Oscar-nominated actor, best known for his work as a songwriter and recording artist
- Jonah Falcon, actor and talk show personality
- Jon Favreau, screenwriter, actor, and director
- Dr. John L. Georgiou, syndicated radio host, producer and columnist
- Michael Hirsh, head of the Cookie Jar group ; founder of Nelvana animation
- Don Kirshner, music producer and songwriter, best known for his work with The Monkees and for his television show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
- James Kyson Lee, actor, best known for his role as Ando Masahashi on the television series Heroes
- Reggie Lucas, musician, songwriter and record producer best known for having produced the majority of Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album.
- Dash Mihok, actor, director, best known for co-starring since 2013 as Brendan "Bunchy" Donovan in the Showtime series Ray Donovan
- Tom Paley, banjo and fiddle player, best known for his association with old-time music; co–founded the New Lost City Ramblers
- Dawn Porter , documentary film maker and director
- Paul Provenza, actor and comedian
- Christopher "Kid" Reid, rap musician, comedian, and actor, best known for being one half of the group Kid 'n Play
- Daphne Maxwell Reid, actress, producer, and former model; first African–American homecoming queen at Northwestern University; first African–American to appear on the cover of Glamour
- David Ren, writer and director
- Maggie Siff, actress
- Mel Simon, businessman and film producer
- Karina Smirnoff, award-winning professional ballroom Latin dancer, who was featured on seven seasons of Dancing With the Stars
- Worley Thorne, TV screenwriter and script consultant
- Eliot Wald, TV and film writer
- Boaz Yakin, screenwriter and director
Business, finance, and economics
- Rose Marie Bravo, Vice Chairman of Burberry; former President of Saks Fifth Avenue
- Millard Drexler, CEO of J.Crew; former CEO of Gap
- Jerald G. Fishman, CEO of Analog Devices
- Gene Freidman, New York City attorney and taxi "king"
- David Karp, founder of Tumblr
- Ray King, entrepreneur
- Leonard Lauder, former president; current Chairman of the Board of Estée Lauder Companies; an heir to the Estee Lauder fortune
- Phil Libin, CEO of EverNote
- Afeni Shakur, activist and businesswoman, mother of rapper Tupac Shakur.
- Lisa Su, current CEO and president of Advanced Micro Devices
Sports and competition
- Arthur Bisguier, chess grandmaster; 1954 U.S. Chess Champion; won three U.S. Open chess tournaments; played for the U.S. team in five Chess Olympiads
- Robert Ford, radio broadcaster for the Houston Astros, one of two full-time African-American play-by-play broadcasters in Major League Baseball
- Michael Kay, New York Yankees sportscaster; current host of The Michael Kay Show
- Jeanette Lee, professional pool player, known by nickname "The Black Widow"
- Ira Rubin, contract bridge player known as "The Beast" for his aggressive playing style and for inventing three famous bidding systems
- Joel Sherman, Scrabble champion
- Herb Stempel, former contestant on the television game show Twenty One, known for his contest against Charles Van Doren, and for his role in exposing the subsequent quiz show scandals
- Benjamin Ungar, fencer
- Wolf Wigo, former Olympic water polo player who was captain of the US National Water Polo Team