List of University of Birmingham academics

Nobel Prize recipients

Science, engineering and medicine

Biology

• Rupert E. Billingham, former Chair in Zoology
• John Berry Haycraft, professor in Physiology at Mason Science College, discovered an anticoagulant created by the leech, which he named hirudin
• Lancelot Hogben, Professor of Zoology and Professor of Medical Statistics
• Sir Kenneth Mather, Professor of Genetics, recipient of the 1964 Darwin Medal, later Vice Chancellor of the University of Southampton
• Bryan M. Turner, Professor of Experimental Genetics
• Horace Waring, zoologist, head of the department of zoology and recipient of the 1962 Clarke Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales
• William Brunsdon Yapp, zoologist and author
• Solly Zuckerman, Baron Zuckerman, Professor of Anatomy and chief scientific adviser to the British government

  Chemistry

• Leroy Cronin, chemist, Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow
• Percy F. Frankland, chemist
• Sir Fraser Stoddart, chemist, researcher in supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology, Professor of Chemistry
• Sir William A. Tilden, Professor of Chemistry
• Thomas Summers West, analytical chemist

  Engineering and computing

• Norman Percy Allen, metallurgist
• Adrian John Brown, Professor of Malting and Brewing
• Lord Cadman, mining engineer and petroleum technologist
• John Knott, Professor of Metallurgy and Materials, recipient of the 2005 Leverhulme Medal
• Sir Richard Redmayne, professor of mining 1902-08, first Chief Inspector of Mines
• Aaron Sloman, former Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science
• Thomas Turner, metallurgist
• Arnold Tustin, Professor of Engineering

  Geology

• Charles Lapworth, the first Professor of Geology at Mason Science College
• Sir Raymond Priestley, geologist, early Antarctic explorer, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham
• Frederick William Shotton, geologist whose research into the geological makeup of Normandy beaches helped allied commanders decide which were the best to use on D-Day
• William Whitehead Watts, geologist
• Sir Alwyn Williams, geologist, Professor of Geology

  Mathematics and statistics

• Jonathan Bennett, Professor of Mathematics, recipient of the 2011 Whitehead Prize of the London Mathematical Society
• Nora Calderwood, Scottish mathematician and namesake of the Universities Calderwood Prize in mathematics
• Henry Daniels, statistician, the first professor of mathematical statistics, recipient of the Guy Medal in Gold in 1984
• Micaiah John Muller Hill, English mathematician, known for Hill's spherical vortex and Hill's tetrahedra
• Daniela Kühn, Mason Professor of Mathematics, recipient of the 2003 European Prize in Combinatorics and the 2014 Whitehead Prize of the London Mathematical Society
• Deryk Osthus, Professor in Graph Theory, recipient of the 2003 European Prize in Combinatorics and the 2014 Whitehead Prize of the London Mathematical Society
• Bill Parry, mathematician, lectureship at the university
• Daniel Pedoe, mathematician, Professor of Mathematics
• G. N. Watson, Professor of Mathematics from 1918 to 1951, recipient of the 1946 Sylvester Medal

  Medicine

• Sir Melville Arnott, former William Withering Chair in Medicine
• George Augustus Auden, former School Medical Officer and Lecturer in Public Health
• Ian Brockington, British psychiatrist
• Wilfrid Butt, former Honorary Professor of Endocrinology
• William Sands Cox, surgeon and the founder of Queen's College, Birmingham
• Lord Ilkeston, physician
• Douglas Vernon Hubble, former chair in paediatrics and dean of the Faculty of Medicine
• Ian Calman Muir MacLennan, Professor of Immunology
• Dion Morton, Professor of Surgery
• Geoffrey Slaney, Barling Chair of Surgery
• Kenneth Walton, experimental pathologist and rheumatologist, former Professor of Experimental Pathology
• Sir Bertram Windle, Dean of the Medical School
• John H. Coote, Bowman Professor of Physiology

  Physics

• David Charlton, Professor of Particle Physics, ATLAS Spokesman, CERN, recipient of the 2017 Richard Glazebrook Medal
• Freeman Dyson, physicist, teaching fellow
• Yvonne Elsworth, Professor of Helioseismology and Poynting Professor of Physics, recipient of the 2011 Payne-Gaposchkin Prize
• Klaus Fuchs, theoretical physicist and atomic spy
• Sir Leonard Huxley, physicist
• J. Michael Kosterlitz, Research Fellow in high energy physics, 1970-1973; lecturer, 1974-1982; recipient of the 2000 Lars Onsager Prize
• Philip Burton Moon, former Professor of Physics, recipient of the 1991 Hughes Medal
• Sir Marcus Oliphant, Poynting Professor of Physics
• Sir Rudolf Peierls, Professor of Mathematical Physics, recipient of the 1986 Copley Medal
• John Henry Poynting, former Professor of Physics, recipient of the 1893 Adams Prize and the 1905 Royal Medal
• Sir John Randall, Royal Society fellow, worked on the cavity magnetron valve, recipient of the 1946 Hughes Medal
• James Sayers, physicist who played a crucial role in developing centimetric radar
• Tony Skyrme, former research fellow, recipient of the 1985 Hughes Medal
• David J. Thouless, Professor of Mathematical Physics from 1965 to 1978, recipient of the 2000 Lars Onsager Prize
• William Frank Vinen, Professor of Physics, recipient of the 1980 Rumford Medal

  Humanities, management and social sciences

• U.R. Ananthamurthy, academic and writer
• Edward Arber, academic and writer
• Sir William James Ashley, first Dean and the founder of the Birmingham Business School
• Sir Granville Bantock, Peyton Professor of Music, conductor and composer, co-founded City of Birmingham Orchestra 1920
• Karin Barber, Professor of African Cultural Anthropology and former Director of the Centre of West African Studies
• Andrew Barker, Professor of Classics
• Sir Charles Raymond Beazley, Professor of History
• Mark Beeson, former Head of the Department of Political Science and International Studies
• Sir Nathan Bodington, Professor of classics
• Lord Borrie, English lawyer, Labour Party life peer, law professor at Birmingham University
• Stewart Brown, Reader in African Literature and Director of the Centre of West African Studies
• Anthony Burgess, British novelist who taught in the extramural department
• Peter Burnham, Professor of Political Science and International Studies
• Winifred Cavenagh, Professor of Social Administration and Criminology
• John Churton Collins, former Professor of English Literature
• Reginald Cline-Cole, Senior Lecturer at the Centre of West African Studies
• Thomas Diez, Professor of International Relations Theory
• E. R. Dodds, Professor of Greek
• Sir Michael Dummett, philosopher
• David Edgar, Professor of Playwrighting Studies
• Sir Edward Elgar, Professor of Music, composer
• John Fage, former Professor of African History, founder of Birmingham's Centre for West African Studies
• Hermann Georg Fiedler, German scholar
• David F. Ford, lecturer and senior lecturer of theology, 1976-1991
• Frank Hahn, lecturer in economics 1948-1960
• Stuart Hall, former Director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies
• Sir Keith Hancock, Australian historian
• William Haywood, Special Lecturer in Town Planning, architect and founder of the Birmingham Civic Society
• John Hick, emeritus H.G. Wood Professor of Theology
• Rodney Hilton, former Professor of Medieval History
• Richard Hoggart, founder of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies and former Assistant Director-General of UNESCO
• A. G. Hopkins, historian
• Bill Hopkins, taught music at the University
• Susan Hunston, Professor in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics
• Mervyn King, Baron King of Lothbury, former professor in the Faculty of Commerce and Governor of the Bank of England
• Carenza Lewis, archaeologist
• Jeannette Littlemore, Professor in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics
• Jerzy Lukowski, Historian
• Sir Michael Lyons, Professor of Public Policy from 2001 to 2006
• Louis MacNeice, poet and playwright, lecturer in classics
• Anand Menon, Professor of West European Politics and Director of the European Research Institute
• John Henry Muirhead, philosopher
• Allardyce Nicoll, Head of the English Department and founding director of the Shakespeare Institute
• Ronen Palan, Professor of International Political Economy
• Maureen Perrie, Professor Emeritus in Russian History
• Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, art historian who held a research post at the university for a number of years
• Owen Hood Phillips, Barber Professor of Jurisprudence, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Vice-Principal and Pro-Vice-Chancellor
• Philip Rahtz, British archaeologist
• Brinley Rees, lecturer in Classics
• Sir Francis Richards, Director, Centre for Studies in Security and Diplomacy, former de facto Head of State of Gibraltar
• Nicola Rollock, Social Scientist and Race Equality Activist
• Alan S. C. Ross, Professor of English Language and Professor of Linguistics
• Ernest de Sélincourt, literary scholar and critic
• John McHardy Sinclair, Professor of Modern English Language, founder of the COBUILD project
• Ninian Smart, former Professor of Religious Studies
• Edward Adolf Sonnenschein, classical scholar and writer on Latin grammar and verse
• Colin Thain, Professor of Political Science
• Sir Alan Walters, Professor of Econometrics and Statistics and Chief Economic Adviser to the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
• Sir Ellis Waterhouse, Barber Professor of Fine Art
• Stanley Wells, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies and former Director of the Shakespeare Institute
• Tony Wright, lecturer in politics, 1975-1992, before being elected Labour Member of Parliament for Cannock and Burntwood
• Gordon Warwick, Reader in Geomorphology
• David Yardley, Barber Professor of Law
• Ken Young, Professor and Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies