Curated playlist
University of Chicago alumni
- Kevin M. MurphyIn 2023, Google's expert witness Kevin M. Murphy said Apple gets 36% of its Safari default-search revenue.
- Leonard H. LeskoLeonard H. Lesko can read all five stages of the Egyptian language. That includes Demotic and Coptic.
- Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut survived the bombing of Dresden by hiding in an underground meat locker.
- Robert Lucas Jr.Robert Lucas's divorce deal gave his ex-wife half of any Nobel Prize awarded before October 31, 1995.
- Roger EbertRoger Ebert typed his last blog post two days before he died. He signed off with "I'll see you at the movies."
- Saul BellowSaul Bellow learned he had entered the U.S. illegally as a child when he tried to enlist. He became a citizen in 1941.
- Douglas Q. AdamsDouglas Q. Adams studies Tocharian, a language no one has spoken for over a thousand years.
- Carl SaganCarl Sagan once asked a librarian for a book on stars and got one about movie stars.
- Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman argued the Federal Reserve let the money supply shrink by one-third between 1929 and 1933.
- Kirk W. JohnsonKirk W. Johnson skipped his own high school graduation to fly to Cairo. He went to study Arabic.
- Julia AngwinFive of Julia Angwin's seven editorial colleagues quit when she was dismissed from her own newsroom.
- Paul SamuelsonPaul Samuelson said he was born as an economist at age sixteen. It happened in a 1932 Chicago lecture on Malthus.
- James WatsonJames Watson put his name to a scientific paper that fills just two pages of the journal Nature, pages 737 and 738 of volume 171. Watson, an American molecular biologist, wrote it with Francis Crick in 1953. Its subject was DNA, and its…
- Marshall HodgsonMarshall Hodgson coined "Islamicate" for culture tied to Muslim societies but not religious.
- Herbert A. SimonHerbert Simon argued that people don't pick the best option, they settle for good enough. He called it satisficing.
- Walter PittsWalter Pitts, a homeless teenager, helped create the first mathematical model of a neural network.
- James M. BuchananEconomist James M. Buchanan argued that politicians act from self-interest like everyone else.
- Agustín CarstensMexico's finance secretary Agustín Carstens hedged 2009 oil earnings and made an $8 billion profit.
- Leon BotsteinLeon Botstein became a college president at just twenty-three. He later led Bard College for more than fifty years.
- Gary BeckerEconomist Gary Becker argued that criminals are not irrational. He said they weigh the risks and rewards of a crime.
- James HeckmanAre people who join a program different from those who don't? James Heckman won a Nobel Prize for fixing that problem.
- James S. ShapiroJames S. Shapiro wrote Contested Will to debunk the Oxfordian theory of who wrote Shakespeare's plays.
- Fritz LeiberFritz Leiber is credited with coining the term "sword and sorcery".
- Claudia GoldinIn October 2023, the economist Claudia Goldin received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for having advanced our understanding of women's labor market outcomes". Only two women had won the award before her. None had ever won…
- Richard B. SpencerRichard B. Spencer led a torch-lit march in Charlottesville in May 2017.
- James KahnEmergency doctor James Kahn played the doctor who pronounces E.T. dead. He had advised on reviving an alien.
- George SteinerGeorge Steiner was born Francis George Steiner on the 23rd of April 1929. He was a literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator, and he is described as both French and American. Harriet Harvey-Wood, a former literature…
- Leopold and LoebLeopold and Loeb, two University of Chicago students, killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks on the 21st of May 1924. Nathan Leopold was 19, and Richard Loeb was 18. Afterward Leopold described his state of mind to a psychiatrist with a single…