University of Copenhagen - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

• Sir Ove Arup (1896–1988), Anglo-Danish structural engineer.
• Halldór Ásgrímsson (1947–), Prime Minister of Iceland (2004–2006).
• Caspar Bartholin (1585–1629), professor in medicine and theology. Author of textbooks on anatomy and the discoverer of the workings of the olfactory nerve.
• Rasmus Bartholin (1625–1698), professor in geometry and medicine. Discovered birefringence, but was unable to give a scientific explanation.
• Thomas Bartholin (1616–1680), discoverer of the lymphatic system.
• Aage Bohr (1922–2009), professor in nuclear physics and director of the Niels Bohr Institute at the university. Nobel laureate in Physics (1975).
• Niels Bohr (1885–1962), contributed to development of the Atomic model and Quantum Mechanics. Director at the university's Institute of Theoretical Physics. Nobel laureate in Physics (1922).
• Georg Brandes (1842–1927), Danish writer and critic.
• Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), Danish astronomer, first scientific documentation of supernovas, mentor of Johannes Kepler.
• Morten Thrane Brunnich (1737–1827), Danish zoologist.
• Henrik Dam (1895 – 1976), Nobel laureate in Medicine (1943).
• Magnús Eiríksson (1806–1881), Icelandic theologian.
• Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger (1867–1928), Nobel laureate in Medicine (1926).
• Thomas Fincke (1561–1656), Danish mathematician and physicist.
• Niels Ryberg Finsen (1860–1904), Nobel laureate in Medicine (1903).
• Hans Christian Gram (1853–1938), Danish bacteriologist, inventor of Gram staining
• N.F.S.Grundtvig (1783–1872), Danish writer, poet, philosopher and priest.
• Hannes Hafstein (1886) Icelandic politician and poet.
• Julie Vinter Hansen (1890–1960), Danish astronomer.
• Christopher Hansteen (1784–1873), Norwegian astronomer and physicist.
• Jørgen Haugan (1941-), Doctorate in Philosophy (1977) - Norwegian author and lecturer,
• Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1791–1860), Danish poet and critic.
• Piet Hein (1905–1996), Danish mathematician, inventor and poet.
• Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754), Danish-Norwegian writer and playwright.
• Harald Høffding (1843–1931), Danish philosopher theologian psychologist.
• Peter Høeg (1957-), Danish fiction writer, won international acclaim with Smilla's Sense of Snow.
• Peder Horrebow (1679–1764), Danish astronomer and member of Académie des Sciences.
• Niels Kaj Jerne (1911–1994), Nobel laureate in Medicine (1984).
• Otto Jespersen (1860–1943), Danish linguist, co-founder of the International Phonetic Association.
• Wilhelm Johannsen (1857–1927), Danish botanist, first coined the word gene in its modern usage.
• Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish theologian and philosopher, the father of existentialism.
• Thomas Hansen Kingo (1634–1703), Danish bishop and poet.
• Jens Otto Krag (1914–1978), Prime Minister of Denmark (1962–1968) & (1971–1972).
• August Krogh, Nobel laureate in Medicine (1920).
• Bjørn Lomborg (1965–), author of The Skeptical Environmentalist.
• Knud Ejler Løgstrup - Danish philosopher and theologian. Pastor at Sandager- Holevad from 1936-1943. Professor at University of Aarhus from 1943-1975
• Kirstine Meyer (1861–1941), Danish physicist.
• Ben Roy Mottelson (1926–), Nobel laureate in Physics (1975).
• Peter Naur (1928–), computer scientist, Turing Award in 2005.
• Holger Bech Nielsen (1941–), a physicist. One of three creators of string theory.
• Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger (1779–1850), poet, author of lyrics of the Danish national anthem Der er et yndigt land.
• Lars Løkke Rasmussen (1964–), Prime Minister of Denmark (2009–2011)
• Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (1943–), Prime Minister of Denmark (1993–2001).
• Hinrich Johannes Rink (1819–1893), Danish geologist, and founder of the first Greenlandic language newspaper
• Jørgen Rischel (1934–2007), Danish linguist who analyzed Greenlandic and Mon-Khmer languages.
• Ole Rømer (1644–1710), Danish astronomer.
• Poul Schlüter, Prime Minister of Denmark (1982–1993).
• Steve Scully, host, senior producer, and political editor of the C-SPAN network's Washington Journal studied at the University of Copenhagen as part of his master's program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
• Jens Christian Skou (1918–) Nobel laureate in Chemistry for his discovery of Na+,K+-ATPase.
• Bengt Strömgren (1908–1987), Danish astronomer and astrophysicist.
• Aage B. Sørensen (1941–2001), Danish sociologist.
• Vilhelm Thomsen (1842–1927), Danish linguist.
• Helle Thorning-Schmidt (1966–), Prime Minister of Denmark (2011–)
• Martin Vahl (1749–1804), Danish-Norwegian botanist and zoologist.
• Eugenius Warming (1841–1924), Danish botanist and founding figure of ecology.
• Caspar Wessel (1745–1818), mathematician
• Øjvind Winge (1886–1964), Danish biologist.
• Olaus Wormius (1588–1655), Danish physician and antiquarian.
• Anders Oersted (1816–1872), professor of botany 1851-1862.
• Anders Sandøe Ørsted (1778–1860), Danish lawyer and Prime Minister of Denmark (1853–1854).
• Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851), discovered electromagnetism.