# List of University of California, Berkeley alumni

This page lists notable alumni and students of the University of California, Berkeley. Alumni who also served as faculty are listed in bold font, with degree and year.
Notable faculty members are in the article List of University of California, Berkeley faculty.

## Nobel Prize and Turing Award Laureates

| Name | Degree(s) | Prize year | Prize field | Reason (prize citation) | Additional notability |
| Frances H. Arnold | Ph.D. 1985 | 2018 | Chemistry | "for the directed evolution of enzymes" | also listed in §National Medal of Technology; Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biochemistry at Caltech |
| Barry Barish | B.S. 1957, Ph.D. 1962 | 2017 | Physics | "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves" | |
| Carolyn R. Bertozzi | Ph.D. 1993 | 2022 | Chemistry | "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry" | |
| Thomas Cech | Ph.D. 1975 | 1989 | Chemistry | "for the discovery of catalytic properties of RNA" | |
| Owen Chamberlain | Attended (1941-42) | 1959 | Physics | "for the discovery of the antiproton" | |
| Steven Chu | Ph.D. 1976 | 1997 | Physics | "for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light" | Secretary of Energy in the Obama administration |
| Robert Curl | Ph.D. 1957 | 1996 | Chemistry | "for the discovery of fullerenes" | |
| Joseph Erlanger | B.S. 1895 | 1944 | Medicine | "for discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres" | |
| Andrew Fire | B.A. 1978 | 2006 | Medicine | "for the discovery of RNA interference – gene silencing by double–stranded RNA" | |
| William F. Giauque | B.S. 1920, Ph.D. 1922 | 1949 | Chemistry | "for his contributions in the field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures" | |
| Carol W. Greider | Ph.D. 1987 | 2009 | Medicine | "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase" | Daniel Nathans Professor and the Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University |
| David Gross | Ph.D. 1966 | 2004 | Physics | "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction" | |
| Alan Heeger | Ph.D. 1961 | 2000 | Chemistry | "for the discovery and development of conductive polymers" | |
| David Julius | Ph.D. 1984 | 2021 | Medicine | "for the discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch" | |
| Daniel Kahneman | Ph.D. 1961 | 2002 | Economics | "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision–making under uncertainty" | |
| Lawrence Klein | B.A. 1942 | 1980 | Economics | "for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies" | |
| Willis Lamb | B.S. 1934, Ph.D. 1938 | 1955 | Physics | "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum" | |
| Robert Laughlin | B.A. 1972 | 1998 | Physics | "for the discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" | |
| Yuan T. Lee | Ph.D. 1962 | 1986 | Chemistry | "for contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes" | Professor of Chemistry; Principal Investigator, Materials and Molecular Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory |
| Willard Libby | B.S. 1931, Ph.D. 1933 | 1960 | Chemistry | "for his method to use carbon–14 for age determination in archaeology, geology, geophysics, and other branches of science" | Professor of Chemistry |
| Robert Lucas Jr. | Attended (1959-60) | 1995 | Economics | "for having developed and applied the hypothesis of rational expectations, and thereby having transformed macroeconomic analysis and deepened our understanding of economic policy" | |
| John C. Mather | Ph.D. 1974 | 2006 | Physics | "for the discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation" | |
| Mario Molina | Ph.D. 1972 | 1995 | Chemistry | "for work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone" | |
| Kary Mullis | Ph.D. 1973 | 1993 | Chemistry | "for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method" | |
| Douglass North | B.A. 1942, Ph.D. 1952 | 1993 | Economics | "for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change" | |
| Saul Perlmutter | Ph.D. 1986 | 2011 | Physics | "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" | Professor of Physics at UC Berkeley; co–discoverer of dark energy as head of the Supernova Cosmology Project |
| Gary Ruvkun | B.A. 1973 | 2024 | Medicine | "for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation" | |
| Thomas J. Sargent | B.A. 1964 | 2011 | Economics | "for empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy" | William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at New York University |
| Thomas Schelling | B.A. 1944 | 2005 | Economics | "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game–theory analysis" | |
| Glenn T. Seaborg | Ph.D. 1937 | 1951 | Chemistry | "for discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements" | University Professor of Chemistry; Associate Director, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; Chancellor, Berkeley campus (1958–1961) |
| William F. Sharpe | Attended (1951-52) | 1990 | Economics | "for pioneering work in the theory of financial economics" | |
| Christopher A. Sims | Attended (1963-64) | 2011 | Economics | for "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy" | |
| Hamilton O. Smith | B.A. 1952 | 1978 | Medicine | "for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics" | |
| Otto Stern | L.L.D 1930 | 1943 | Physics | "for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton" | |
| Henry Taube | Ph.D. 1940 | 1983 | Chemistry | "for his work on the mechanisms of electron transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes" | |
| Harold Urey | Ph.D. 1923 | 1934 | Chemistry | "for his discovery of heavy hydrogen" | |
| Selman Waksman | Ph.D. 1918 | 1952 | Medicine | "for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis" | |
| David J. Wineland | BA Physics 1965 | 2012 | Physics | "for ground–breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems" | |

## Turing Award laureates

The Turing Award is considered to be the "Nobel Prize" of computer science.
| Name | Degree(s) | Prize year | Reason (prize citation) | Additional notability |
| Leonard Adleman | B.A. 1968, Ph.D. 1976, | 2002 | for the "ingenious contribution for making public–key cryptography useful in practice" | co-author of the RSA encryption algorithm for computer security |
| Douglas C. Engelbart | B.Eng. 1952, Ph.D. 1955 | 1997 | "for an inspiring vision of the future of interactive computing and the invention of key technologies to help realize this vision" | inventor of the computer mouse; recipient of the National Medal of Technology in 2000, pioneer in hypertext and networked computers |
| Shafi Goldwasser | M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1983 | 2012 | "for transformative work that laid the complexity–theoretic foundations for the science of cryptography and in the process pioneered new methods for efficient verification of mathematical proofs in complexity theory" | professor of computer science and the mathematical sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science;, recipient of two Gödel Prizes (1993, "for the development of interactive proof systems" and 2001 "for the PCP theorem and its applications to hardness of approximation"); RSA Professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT |
| Jim Gray | B.S. 1966, Ph.D. 1969 | 2001 | "for seminal contributions to database and transaction processing research and technical leadership in system implementation" | |
| Butler Lampson | Ph.D. 1967 | 1992 | "for contributions to the development of distributed, personal computing environments and the technology for their implementation: workstations, networks, operating systems, programming systems, displays, security and document publishing" | founding member of Xerox PARC, major contributor to the development of the personal computer |
| Barbara Liskov | B.A. 1961 | 2008 | "for contributions to practical and theoretical foundations of programming language and system design, especially related to data abstraction, fault tolerance, and distributed computing" | first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Computer Science (in 1968 at Stanford), creator of CLU, professor at MIT |
| Silvio Micali | Ph.D. 1982 | 2012 | "for transformative work that laid the complexity–theoretic foundations for the science of cryptography and in the process pioneered new methods for efficient verification of mathematical proofs in complexity theory"; recipient of the Gödel Prize in 1993 "for the development of interactive proof systems" | Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT |
| Dana Scott | B.S. 1954 | 1976 | for "the joint paper (with Rabin) "Finite Automata and Their Decision Problem", which introduced the idea of nondeterministic machines, which has proved to be an enormously valuable concept. Their (Scott & Rabin) classic paper has been a continuous source of inspiration for subsequent work in this field" | former Associate Professor of Math at UC Berkeley, professor emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University |
| Charles P. Thacker | B.A. 1967 | 2009 | "for the pioneering design and realization of the first modern personal computer—the Alto at Xerox PARC—and seminal inventions and contributions to local area networks (including the Ethernet), multiprocessor workstations, snooping cache coherence protocols, and tablet personal computers" | Microsoft Technical Fellow, chief designer of the Alto computer at Xerox PARC, co–inventor of Ethernet, recipient of the IEEE John von Neumann Medal in 2007, recipient of the Draper Prize in 2004 |
| Ken Thompson | B.S. 1965, M.S. 1966 | 1983 | for the "development of generic operating systems theory and specifically for the implementation of the UNIX operating system" | co–creator of the Unix operating system |
| Niklaus Wirth | Ph.D. 1967 | 1984 | "for developing a sequence of innovative computer languages, EULER, ALGOL–W, MODULA and Pascal" | creator of the Pascal programming language |

## Academy Award
### Recipients

| Name | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Mark Berger | B.A. 1964 | recipient of four Academy Awards for sound mixing; adjunct professor at UC Berkeley |
| Paul E. Debevec | Ph.D. 1996 | Associate Director of Graphics Research at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, recipient of a Scientific and Technical Academy Award in 2010 for work used on the James Cameron film Avatar, the Sam Raimi film Spider–Man 2, and the Peter Jackson film King Kong |
| Charles H. Ferguson | B.A. 1978 | recipient of an Academy Award for Best Documentary for Inside Job (2010), Academy Award nomination for the documentary film No End in Sight (2007), former fellow at the Brookings Institution, lifelong member of the Council on Foreign Relations, co-founder of Vermeer Technologies Incorporated (acquired by Microsoft for $133 million), founder and president of Representational Pictures |
| Edith Head | B.A. 1918 | costume designer, recipient of eight Academy Awards and nominated for 34 Academy Awards |
| Sidney Howard | B.A. 1915 | screenwriter and dramatist, recipient of the 1940 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Gone with the Wind and the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for They Knew What They Wanted |
| Chris Innis | B.A. | recipient of the Academy Award for Best Film Editing (for The Hurt Locker (2010)) |
| Joe Letteri | B.A. 1981 | recipient of four Academy Awards for Best Visual Special Effects in films directed by James Cameron (Avatar) and Peter Jackson (King Kong, The Two Towers and The Return of the King) |
| Freida Lee Mock | B.A. 1961 | documentary filmmaker, recipient of the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1995 (for Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision) |
| Megan Mylan | M.J. 1997, M.A. 1997 | Recipient of an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short for Smile Pinki (2009) |
| Gregory Peck | B.A. 1942 | actor, recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), nominated for the Oscar four other times; served as president of the Screen Actors Guild |
| Walter Plunkett | B.A. 1923 | costume designer, recipient of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the 1951 film An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly |
| Loren L. Ryder | B.A. 1924 | audio sound engineer, recipient of six Academy Awards, nominated for another twelve more Academy Awards |
| Will Vinton | B.A. 1970 | pioneer of Claymation® (clay animation), co–recipient of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1974 (Closed Mondays), namesake and founder of Will Vinton Studios (known for The California Raisins and the Domino's Pizza Noid), recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animation programs (A Claymation Christmas Celebration and A Claymation Easter) |
| Petro Vlahos | B.S. 1941 | pioneer in traveling matte (blue–screen and green–screen) visual effects technology (used in films such as Ben–Hur, Mary Poppins, and the first Star Wars trilogy), recipient of five special Academy Awards and an Emmy Award |
| Michael Wilson | B.A. 1936 | screenwriter, recipient of two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay ( for the 1951 film A Place in the Sun and the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai); nominated for the Academy Award for three other films (for the 1953 film 5 Fingers, the 1956 Academy Award-nominated film Friendly Persuasion, and the Academy Award winning 1962 Best Picture film Lawrence of Arabia); also co–screenwriter for the 1968 Academy Award winning film Planet of the Apes |

### Nominees

| Name | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Adam Duritz | (attended) | lead singer-songwriter of Counting Crows, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Shrek 2 at the 77th Academy Awards |
| Jon H. Else | B.A. 1968 | Prix Italia recipient (The Day After Trinity), recipient of four Emmy Awards, nominated twice for the Academy Award (for the documentaries The Day After Trinity and Arthur and Lillie), cinematographer on the Academy Award–winning Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, 1999 winner of the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker's Trophy, MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow, professor of journalism at UC Berkeley |
| Dan Krauss | M.A. Journalism 2004 | nominated twice for Best Documentary Short Subject (for The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club and Extremis) |
| Melissa Mathison | B.A. | screenwriter, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra–Terrestrial; known also for the Francis Ford Coppola film The Black Stallion and the Martin Scorsese film Kundun |
| Daphne Matziaraki | M.A. Journalism 2016 | nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject (4.1 Miles) |
| David Peoples | BA English | screenwriter (the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner and the Terry Gilliam film 12 Monkeys), nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for the Clint Eastwood film Unforgiven (which did win the Academy Award for Best Picture); collaborator with Jon Else (BA 1968) on the Academy Award-winning documentary Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? and the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Day After Trinity |
| James Schamus | BA, MA, PhD | screenwriter, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Academy Award for Best Original Song for the Ang Lee movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; producer; co-founder and inaugural CEO of movie studio Focus Features |

## Pulitzer Prize

| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | Award category | Additional notability |
| Darrin Bell | B.A. 1999 | 2019 | Editorial Cartooning | |
| Alexandra Berzon | M.A. 2006 | 2009 | Public Service | |
| Alexandra Berzon | M.A. 2006 | 2019 | National Reporting | |
| Rube Goldberg | B.S. 1904 | 1948 | Editorial Cartooning | cartoonist; namesake of "Rube Goldberg device" |
| William Randolph Hearst Jr. | Attended | 1956 | International Reporting | |
| Marguerite Higgins | B.A. 1941 | 1951 | International Reporting | journalist; honored on a commemorative postal stamp issued by the United States Post Office |
| Stephen Hobbs | M.A. 2014 | 2019 | Public Service | |
| Sidney Howard | B.A. 1915 | 1925 | Drama (for They Knew What They Wanted) | recipient of the 1940 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Gone with the Wind |
| Leon Litwack | B.A. 1951, PhD 1958 | 1980 | History (for his book Been In the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery) | professor emeritus of history at UC Berkeley |
| T. Christian Miller | B.A. 1992 | 2016 | Explanatory Reporting | lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism |
| Sonia Nazario | M.A. 1988 | 2003 | Feature Writing | journalist at the Los Angeles Times |
| Viet Thanh Nguyen | B.A. 1992, PhD 1997 | 2016 | Fiction for his novel The Sympathizer | Novelist |
| Matt Richtel | B.A. 1989 | 2010 | National Reporting | co–author of the comic strip Rudy Park under the pen name "Theron Heir" |
| Robert Penn Warren | M.A. 1927 | 1946 | Fiction for All the King's Men | All the King's Men (1946) was later made into a movie of the same name which won three Academy Awards. |
| Robert Penn Warren | M.A. 1927 | 1953 | Poetry | All the King's Men (1946) was later made into a movie of the same name which won three Academy Awards. |
| Robert Penn Warren | M.A. 1927 | 1979 | Poetry | All the King's Men (1946) was later made into a movie of the same name which won three Academy Awards. |
| Greg Winter | M.A. Journalism 2000 | 2015 | International Reporting | |

## Emmy Award

| Name | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Yahya Abdul-Mateen II | B.A. Architecture 2008 | actor, Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series (2020) |
| Kathy Baker | B.A. 1977 | three-time recipient of the Emmy Award, actress (Picket Fences (1992–1996); The Right Stuff (1983), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Cider House Rules (1999), Cold Mountain (2003) |
| Christine Chen | BA 1990 | journalist, former news Anchor for KSTW and KCPQ–TV (both in Seattle, Washington), recipient of two Emmy Awards (1996 and 2002); principal of marketing communications consulting company Chen Communications |
| Liz Claman | B.A. 1985 | journalist, current Fox Business anchor (Countdown to the Closing Bell), former CNBC Morning Call co–anchor, recipient of two Emmy Awards for broadcast production and journalism |
| Jon H. Else | B.A. 1968 | Prix Italia recipient (The Day After Trinity), recipient of four Emmy Awards, nominated twice for the Academy Award, 1999 winner of the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker's Trophy, MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow, cinematographer on the Academy Award–winning Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, professor of journalism at UC Berkeley |
| Jonathan Jones | MA 2005 | 2015 Emmy Award in Outstanding Long Form Investigative Journalism, 2015 Emmy Award in Outstanding Research |
| Elisabeth Leamy | BA | Consumer Correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America, recipient of 13 Emmy Awards in broadcast journalism |
| Andrew Schneider | B.A. 1973 | screenwriter and executive producer, recipient of two Emmy Awards (for Northern Exposure and The Sopranos) |
| Leroy Sievers | B.A. | news journalist, executive producer of news program Nightline, recipient of 12 national news Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and two Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Awards |
| Kristen Sze | B.A. | journalist, TV news anchor for KGO–TV (in the San Francisco Bay area), former New York correspondent for Extra, recipient of two Emmy Awards for broadcast journalism |
| Jon F. Vein | BS in Material Sciences and EECS | Chief Operating Officer of Film Roman; producer; 2001 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animation for The Simpsons; co-founder and CEO of MarketShare (acquired for $450 million by Neustar) |
| Will Vinton | B.A. Architecture 1970 | pioneer of Claymation® (clay animation), co–recipient of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1974 (Closed Mondays), namesake and founder of Will Vinton Studios (known for The California Raisins and the Domino's Pizza Noid), recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animation programs (A Claymation Christmas Celebration and A Claymation Easter) (also listed in Academy Awards section) |
| Petro Vlahos | BS Eng 1941 | pioneer in traveling matte (blue–screen and green–screen) visual effects technology (used in films such as Ben–Hur, Mary Poppins, and the first Star Wars trilogy), recipient of five special Academy Awards and an Emmy Award (also listed in Academy Awards section) |

## Fields Medal

| Name | Degree(s) | Fields Medal Award year | Additional notability |
| Michael Freedman | (undergraduate attendee) | 1986 | Berkeley math lecturer (1973–1975) |
| William Thurston | Ph.D. 1972 | 1982 | Berkeley professor of mathematics (1991–1996) |
| Shing–Tung Yau (Chinese: 丘成桐) | Ph.D. 1971 | 1982 | National Medal of Science in 1997 |

## Wolf Prize

| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | Award field | Wolf Prize citation | Additional notability |
| Paul Alivisatos | Ph.D. 1986 | 2012 | Chemistry | for the development of "the colloidal inorganic nanocrystal as a building block of nanoscience making fundamental contributions to controlling the synthesis of these particles, to measuring and understanding their physical properties, and to utilizing their unique properties for applications ranging from light generation and harvesting to biological imaging" | |
| Carolyn R. Bertozzi | Ph.D. 1993 | 2022 | Chemistry | for "seminal contributions to understanding the chemistry of cellular communication and inventing chemical methodologies to study the role of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in such biological processes" | |
| Henry Eyring | Ph.D. 1927 | 1980 | Chemistry | "for his development of absolute rate theory and its imaginative applications to chemical and physical processes" | |
| George Feher | B.S. 1950, M.S. 1951, Ph.D. 1954 | 2006/2007 | Chemistry | "for the ingenious structural discoveries of the ribosomal machinery of peptide–bond formation and the light–driven primary processes in photosynthesis" | inventor of electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR); professor at the University of California, San Diego |
| Herbert S. Gutowsky | M.S. 1946 | 1983/1984 | Chemistry | "for his pioneering work in the development and applications of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in chemistry | |
| Bertrand Halperin | Ph.D. 1965 | 2002/2003 | Physics | "for key insights into the broad range of condensed matter physics... on two– dimensional melting, disordered systems and strongly interacting electrons" | Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University |
| John F. Hartwig | PhD 1990 | 2019 | Chemistry | "for the development of efficient transition-metal catalysts that have revolutionized drug manufacturing, leading to breakthroughs in molecule and synthetics design" | Henry Rapoport Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley (2011–present) |
| Elizabeth Neufeld | PhD 1956 | 1988 | Medicine | "for the biochemical elucidation of lysosomal storage diseases and the resulting contributions to biology, pathology, prenatal diagnosis, and therapeutics" | |
| George C. Pimentel | Ph.D. 1949 | 1982 | Chemistry | for the "development of matrix isolation spectroscopy and for the discovery of photodissociation lasers and chemical lasers" | professor at UC Berkeley (1949–1989); inventor of the chemical laser |
| Gary Ruvkun | B.A. Biophysics 1973 | 2014 | Medicine | "for the discovery of the micro–RNA molecules that play a key role in controlling gene expression in natural processes and disease development" | |
| Gabor A. Somorjai | Ph.D. 1960 | 1998 | Chemistry | for "outstanding contributions to the field of the surface science in general, and for their elucidation of fundamental mechanisms of heterogeneous catalytic reactions at single crystal surfaces in particular" | professor of chemistry at University of California, Berkeley (1964–present) |
| Chien-Shiung Wu | Ph.D. 1940 | 1978 | Physics | "for her explorations of the weak interaction, helping establish the precise form and the non–conservation of parity for this natural force "; first female president of the American Physical Society | professor of physics at Columbia University (1940–1980) |
| Shing-Tung Yau | Ph.D. 1971 | 2010 | Mathematics | "for his work in geometric analysis that has had a profound and dramatic impact on many areas of geometry and physics"(also listed in Fields Medal) | professor of mathematics at Harvard University; Fields Medal laureate; recipient of the Wolf Prize (Mathematics, 2010) |
| David Zilberman | PhD 1979 | 2019 | Agriculture | "for developing economic models that address fundamental issues in agriculture, economics and policymaking" | professor (holder of the Robinson Chair) in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at UC Berkeley (1979–present) |

## National Humanities Medal

| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | National Humanities Medal citation | Additional notability |
| Stephen Balch | MA 1967, PhD 1972 | 2007 | "for leadership and advocacy upholding the noblest traditions in higher education" | founder of the National Association of Scholars, founder of the American Academy for Liberal Education, founding member and trustee of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, founder of the Study of Western Civilization |
| Joan Didion | BA 1956 | 2013 | "her mastery of style in writing. Exploring the culture around us and exposing the depths of sorrow, Ms. Didion has produced works of startling honesty and fierce intellect, rendered personal stories universal, and illuminated the seemingly peripheral details that are central to our lives" | writer, author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968), The White Album (1979), and The Year of Magical Thinking (2005) |
| Maxine Hong Kingston | B.A. 1962 | 1997 | "her contributions as a writer. Her novels and non–fiction have examined how the past influences our present, and her voice has strengthened our understanding of Asian American identity, helping shape our national conversation about culture, gender, and race" | author; Senior Lecturer at UC Berkeley; recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 2013 |
| Ramón Eduardo Ruiz | PhD 1954 | 1998 | | Professor of History (specializing in Mexico and Latin America) at the University of California, San Diego |
| Henry Snyder | BA, MA, PhD | 2007 | "for visionary leadership in bridging the worlds of scholarship and technology" | Professor Emeritus of History (specializing in Britain) at the University of California, Riverside; 2009 Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire medal (bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II) |
| Kevin Starr | M.L.S. 1974 | 2006 | | Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and Professor of History (specializing in California) at the University of Southern California |
| Alice Waters | B.A. 1967 | 2015 | for "celebrating the bond between the ethical and the edible. As a chef, author, and advocate, Ms. Waters champions a holistic approach to eating and health and celebrates integrating gardening, cooking, and education, sparking inspiration in a new generation" | celebrity chef, founder of restaurant Chez Panisse, originator of California cuisine; member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; recipient of five James Beard Foundation Awards (1984 Who's Who of Food & Beverage, 1997 Fruits & Vegetables, 1992 Outstanding Chef, 1992 Outstanding Restaurant, 1997 Humanitarian of the Year, 2004 Lifetime Achievement) |

## National Medal of Science

| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | National Medal of Science citation | Additional notability |
| Philip Abelson | PhD 1939 | 1987 | "for his path–breaking contributions in radiochemistry, physics, geophysics, biophysics, and biochemistry and for his vigorous and penetrating counsel on national matters involving science and technology" | physicist and science writer; co–discoverer of neptunium |
| Berni Alder | BS 1947, MS 1948 | 2009 | "for establishing powerful computer methods useful for molecular dynamics simulations, conceiving and executing experimental shock–wave simulations to obtain properties of fluids and solids at very high pressures, and developing Monte Carlo methods for calculating the properties of matter from first principles, all of which contributed to major achievements in the science of condensed matter" | |
| Paul Alivisatos | PhD 1986 | 2014 | "for his foundational contributions to the field of nanoscience; for the development of nanocrystals as a building block of nanotechnologies; and for his leadership in the nanoscience community" | also listed in §Wolf Prize |
| Daniel I. Arnon | BS 1932, PhD 1936 | 1973 | "for fundamental research into the mechanism of green plant utilization of light to produce chemical energy and oxygen and for contributions to our understanding of plant nutrition" | professor of cell physiology at UC Berkeley specializing in photosynthesis |
| John N. Bahcall | B.S. 1956 | 1998 | "for his fundamental contributions to areas of modern astrophysics ranging from solar neutrino physics to the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy to cosmology, and for his leadership of the astronomical community, especially his tireless advocacy of the Hubble Space Telescope" | astrophysicist, best known for his work on the Standard Solar Model and the Hubble Space Telescope; recipient of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 1992, co–winner of the Fermi award in 2003 |
| John Isaiah Brauman | PhD 1963 | 2002 | "for his seminal contributions in chemistry, giving new insight into the properties of ions and the dynamics and mechanisms of reactions, and for his landmark achievement in clarifying the key role of solvent in determining acid–base chemistry" | |
| John W. Cahn | Ph.D. 1953 | 1998 | "for his pioneering work on thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transitions and diffusion, on interfacial phenomena, and for his contributions to the understanding of periodic and quasi–periodic structures" | materials scientist |
| Thomas Cech | PhD 1975 | 1995 | "for his discoveries regarding RNA catalysis that have added new dimensions to the understanding of the role of RNA in living systems" | Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (also listed in §Nobel laureates) |
| Brent Dalrymple | PhD 1963 | 2003 | "for his pioneering work in determining the geomagnetic polarity reversal timescale; a discovery that led to the theory of plate tectonics" | |
| George Dantzig | PhD 1946 | 1975 | "for inventing linear programming and discovering methods that led to wide–scale scientific and technical applications to important problems in logistics, scheduling, and network optimization, and to the use of computers in making efficient use of the mathematical theory" | creator of the simplex algorithm; Professor Emeritus of Transportation Sciences and Professor of Operations Research and of Computer Science at Stanford University |
| Henry Eyring | Ph.D. 1927 | 1966 | "for contributions to our understanding of the structure and properties of matter, especially for his creation of absolute rate theory, one of the sharpest tools in the study of rates of chemical reaction" | namesake of the Eyring equation; Professor of Chemistry (Princeton University), dean of the University of Utah graduate school |
| Herbert S. Gutowsky | MS 1946 | 1976 | "in recognition of pioneering studies in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy" | |
| Daniel E. Koshland Jr. | BA 1941 | 1990 | "for profoundly influencing the understanding of how proteins function through his induced–fit model of enzyme actrion. His incisive analysis of bacterial chemotaxis has led to a deeper understanding of the molecular basis of memory and adaptation" | professor of biochemistry at UC Berkeley |
| Willis Lamb | BS 1934. PhD 1938 | 2000 | "for his towering contributions to classical and quantum theories of laser radiation and quantum optics, and to the proper interpretation of quantum mechanics" | also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| Yuan T. Lee | PhD 1965 | 1986 | "for his world leadership in the development of molecular beam techniques and their application to the study of chemical dynamics. His work has had an enormous impact on many areas of physical chemistry, especially building up a quantitative bridge between the laws of mechanics and complex macroscopic phenomena" | Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley; also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| Tung-Yen Lin | M.S. 1933 | 1986 | "for his work as an engineer, teacher and author whose scientific analyses, technological innovation, and visionary designs have spanned the gulf not only between science and art, but also between technology and society" | Professor of Civil Engineering, bridge builder, pioneering researcher and practitioner of prestressed concrete, designed Moscone Center |
| Lynn Margulis | PhD 1963 | 1999 | "for her outstanding contributions to understanding of the development, structure, and evolution of living things, for inspiring new research in the biological, climatological, geological and planetary sciences, and for her extraordinary abilities as a teacher and communicator of science to the public" | botanist known for endosymbiosis theory; Distinguished University Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; first wife of Carl Sagan |
| Elizabeth Neufeld | PhD 1956 | 1994 | "for her contributions to the understanding of the lysosomal storage diseases, demonstrating the strong linkage between basic and applied scientific investigation" | researcher on the relationship of genetics to metabolic disease, professor and chair of biological chemistry at UCLA; also listed in §Wolf Prize) |
| Albert Overhauser | BS 1948, PhD 1951 | 1994 | "for his fundamental contributions to understanding the physics of solids, to theoretical physics, and for the impact of his technological advances" | professor at Purdue University (1973–2011) |
| George C. Pimentel | Ph.D. 1949 | 1983 | "for his varied and ingenious use of infrared spectroscopy to study chemical bonding and molecular dynamics, and for his discovery of the first chemically pumped laser, which has had strong scientific impact as well as practical applications" | inventor of the chemical laser; Director, Laboratory of Chemical Biodynamics at UC Berkeley; also listed in §Wolf Prize |
| Kenneth Pitzer | PhD 1937 | 1974 | "for his pioneering application of statistical thermodynamics and spectroscopy to our understanding of the properties of organic and inorganic materials" | lecturer and professor (1935–1964 and 1971–1984) and dean (1951–1960) of the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley |
| Peter H. Raven | BS 1957 | 2000 | "For his contributions to the dynamics of plant systematics and evolution, the introduction of the concept of coevolution, and his major contribution to the international efforts to preserve biodiversity" | Director and Engelmann Professor of Botany at Missouri Botanical Garden at Washington University in St. Louis |
| Roger Revelle | PhD 1936 | 1990 | "for his pioneering work in the areas of carbon dioxide and climate modification, oceanographic exploration presaging plate tectonics, and the biological effects of radiation in the marine environment, and studies of human population growth and global food supplies" | researcher of global warming theory; Director Emeritus Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Policy Emeritus, Harvard University |
| Frederick Rossini | PhD 1928 | 1976 | "for contributions to basic reference knowledge in chemical thermodynamics" | professor of chemical thermodynamics at Rice University |
| Glenn T. Seaborg | PhD 1937 | 1991 | "for his outstanding work as a chemist, scientist and teacher in the field of nuclear chemistry" | also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| Susan Solomon | M.S. 1979, Ph.D. 1981 | 2000 | "for key scientific insights in explaining the cause of the Antarctic Ozone hole and for advancing the understanding of the global ozone layer; for changing the direction of ozone research through her findings; and for exemplary service to worldwide public policy decisions and to the American public" | Senior Scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) |
| Gabor A. Somorjai | Ph.D. 1960 | 2002 | "honored as the world's leading authority in the development of modern surface science, having established the molecular foundation of many surface–based technologies" | professor of chemistry at University of California, Berkeley (1964–present); also listed in Wolf Prize section |
| Earl Reece Stadtman | BS 1942 | 1979 | "for seminal contributions to understanding of the energy metabolism of anaerobic bacteria and for elucidation of major mechanisms whereby the rates of metabolic processes are finely matched to the requirements of the living cell" | Chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Institutes of Health |
| Peter J. Stang | Ph.D. 1966 | 2010 | "for his creative contributions to the development of organic supramolecular chemistry and for his outstanding and unique record of public service" | professor of chemistry at the University of Utah |
| JoAnne Stubbe | PhD 1971 | 2008 | "for her ground–breaking experiments establishing the mechanisms of ribonucleotide reductases, polyester synthases, and natural product DNA cleavers compelling demonstrations of the power of chemical investigations to solve problems in biology" | |
| Henry Taube | PhD 1940 | 1976 | "in recognition of contributions to the understanding of reactivity and reaction mechanisms in inorganic chemistry" | also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| Harold Urey | PhD 1923 | 1964 | "for outstanding contributions to our understanding of the origin and evolution of the solar system and the origin of life on Earth and for pioneering work in the application of isotopes to the determination of the temperatures of ancient oceans" | physical chemist on isotopes; also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| John Roy Whinnery | BS EE 1937 PhD 1948 | 1992 | "for his research contributions to microwaves, lasers, and quantum electronics; for his excellence as a teacher and author; and for his extensive services to government and professional organizations" | lecturer and professor (1946–2007) and dean (1959–1963) of the EECS Department at UC Berkeley |
| Robert R. Wilson | BA 1936, PhD 1940 | 1973 | for "unusual ingenuity in designing experiments to explore the fundamental particles of matter and in designing and constructing the machines to produce the particles, culminating in the world's most powerful particle accelerator"; | recipient of the 1984 Enrico Fermi Award for "his outstanding contributions to physics and particle accelerator designs and construction. He was the creator and principal designer of the Fermi National Laboratory and what is, at present, the highest energy accelerator in the world. His contributions have always been characterized by the greatest ingenuity and innovation and accomplished with grace and style" |
| David J. Wineland | BS 1965, PhD 1970 | 2007 | "for his leadership in developing the science of laser cooling and manipulation of ions, with applications in precise measurements and standards, quantum computing, and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics; his major impact on the international scientific community through the training of scientists; and his outstanding publications" | also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| Chien-Shiung Wu | PhD 1940 | 1975 | "for her ingenious experiments that led to new and surprising understanding of the decay of the radioactive nucleus" | the "Chinese Madam Curie" |
| Shing-Tung Yau | Ph.D. 1971 | 1997 | "for his fundamental contributions in mathematics and physics. Through his work, the understanding of basic geometric differential equations has been changed and he has expanded their role enormously within mathematics" | mathematician, recipient of the Fields Medal in 1982 |

## National Medal of Technology

| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | National Medal of Technology citation | Additional notability |
| Frances H. Arnold | PhD 1985 | 2011 | "for pioneering research on biofuels and chemicals that could lead to the replacement of pollution-generating materials" | also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| Glen Culler | BA Math 1951 | 1999 | "for pioneering innovations in multiple branches of computing, including early efforts in digital speech processing, invention of the first on–line system for interactive graphical mathematics computing and pioneering work on the ARPAnet" | |
| Doug Engelbart | B. Eng. 1952, Ph.D. 1965 | 2000 | "for creating the foundations of personal computing including continuous, real–time interaction based on cathode–ray tube displays and the mouse, hypertext linking, text editing, on–line journals, shared–screen teleconferencing, and remote collaborative work. More than any other person, he created the personal computing component of the computer revolution" | also listed in §Turing Award laureates |
| Arthur Gossard | PhD | 2014 | "for innovation, development, and application of artificially structured quantum materials critical to ultrahigh performance semiconductor device technology used in today's digital infrastructure" | |
| Chenming Hu | MS 1970, PhD 1973 | 2014 | "for pioneering innovations in microelectronics including reliability technologies, the first industry–standard model for circuit design, and the first 3–dimensional transistors, which radically advanced semiconductor technology" | professor emeritus of EECS at UC Berkeley co-founder and chairman of Celestry Design Technologies (acquired by Cadence Design Systems for over $100 million); 2013 Phil Kaufman Award laureate |
| Gordon Moore | B.S. 1950 | 1990 | "for his seminal leadership in bringing American industry the two major postwar innovations in microelectronics – large–scale integrated memory and the microprocessor – that have fueled the information revolution" | co-founder of NASDAQ–100 company Intel, namesake and originator of Moore's Law; co-founder of NASDAQ–100 semiconductor manufacturing company Intel |
| Ken Thompson | B.S. EE 1965, M.S. EE 1966 | 1998 | for the "invention of the UNIX® operating system and the C programming language, which together have led to enormous growth of an entire industry, thereby enhancing American leadership in the Information Age" | co-creator of the Unix operating system; also listed in §Turing Award laureates |
| Steve Wozniak | (class of 1976, BS EECS 1986) | 1985 | for the "development and introduction of the personal computer which has sparked the birth of a new industry extending the power of the computer to individual users" | co-founder of NASDAQ–100 computer manufacturing company Apple Inc.; also listed in §Founders and co-founders |

## Breakthrough Prize

| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | Award field | Breakthrough Prize citation | Additional notability |
| Nima Arkani-Hamed | PhD 1997 | 2012 | Physics | "for original approaches to outstanding problems in particle physics, including the proposal of large extra dimensions, new theories for the Higgs boson, novel realizations of supersymmetry, theories for dark matter, and the exploration of new mathematical structures in gauge theory scattering amplitudes" | theoretical physicist, faculty member of the Institute for Advance Study (Princeton, New Jersey), director of the Center For Future High Energy Physics in Beijing, China; professor (1999–2001) at UC Berkeley |
| David Baker | PhD 1989 | 2021 | Life Sciences | "for developing a technology that allowed the design of proteins never seen before in nature, including novel proteins that have the potential for therapeutic intervention in human diseases" | biochemist, head of the Institute for Protein Design, professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington |
| Harry F. Noller | BS 1960 Biochemistry | 2017 | Life Sciences | "for discovering the centrality of RNA in forming the active centers of the ribosome, the fundamental machinery of protein synthesis in all cells, thereby connecting modern biology to the origin of life and also explaining how many natural antibiotics disrupt protein synthesis" | biochemist, Director of the Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA at the University of California, Santa Cruz |
| Saul Perlmutter | PhD Physics 1986 | 2015 | Physics | "for the most unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, rather than slowing as had been long assumed" | also listed in §Nobel laureates |
| Joseph Polchinski | PhD 1980 | 2017 | Physics | "for transformative advances in quantum field theory, string theory, and quantum gravity" | |
| Gary Ruvkun | BA Biophysics 1971 | 2015 | Life Sciences | "for discovering a new world of genetic regulation by microRNAs, a class of tiny RNA molecules that inhibit translation or destabilize complementary mRNA targets" | also listed in §Wolf Prize |
| Andrew Strominger | MA 1979 | 2012 | Physics | "for transformative advances in quantum field theory, string theory, and quantum gravity" | |

## Gödel Prize

| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | Gödel Prize citation | Additional notability |
| Sanjeev Arora | Ph.D. 1994 | 2001 | "for the PCP theorem and its applications to hardness of approximation" | professor of computer science at Princeton University |
| Sanjeev Arora | Ph.D. 1994 | 2010 | for the "discovery of a polynomial–time approximation scheme (PTAS) for the Euclidean Travelling Salesman Problem (ETSP)") | professor of computer science at Princeton University |
| Ronald Fagin | PhD Math 1973 | 2014 | "for Optimal Aggregation Algorithms for Middleware" | IBM Fellow at IBM Research–Almaden |
| Matthew K. Franklin | MA Math 1985 | 2013 | "established the field of pairing–based cryptography by supplying a precise definition of the security of this approach, and providing compelling new applications for it" | professor of computer science at UC Davis |
| Shafi Goldwasser | MS 1981, Ph.D. 1983 | 1993 | "for the development of interactive proof systems" | RSA Professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, professor of mathematical sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science; also listed in Turing Award laureates section |
| Shafi Goldwasser | MS 1981, Ph.D. 1983 | 2001 | "for the PCP theorem and its applications to hardness of approximation" | RSA Professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, professor of mathematical sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science; also listed in Turing Award laureates section |
| Silvio Micali | Ph.D. 1982 | 1993 | "for the development of interactive proof systems" | also listed in Turing Award laureates section |
| Rajeev Motwani | Ph.D. 1988 | 2001 | "for the PCP theorem and its applications to hardness of approximation" | former professor of computer science at Stanford University; co–author of a research paper on the PageRank algorithm (with Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Terry Winograd) which became the basis of Google |
| Moni Naor | PhD 1989 CS | 2014 | for Optimal Aggregation Algorithms for Middleware | professor of computer science at the Weizmann Institute of Science (in Israel) |
| Noam Nisan | PhD 1988 | 2014 | for laying the foundations of algorithmic game theory | |
| Madhu Sudan | Ph.D. 1992 | 2001 | "for the PCP theorem and its applications to hardness of approximation" | professor of computer science at MIT |

## MacArthur Fellowship

The MacArthur Fellowship is also known as the "Genius Grant" or "Genius Award".
| Name | Degree(s) | Award year | Additional notability |
| Joan Abrahamson | J.D. | 1985 | President of the Jefferson Institute (a public policy think-tank) |
| Patrick Awuah | M.B.A. 1999 | 2015 | founder of Ashesi University in Ghana |
| Carolyn Bertozzi | Ph.D. 1993 | 1999 | T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley |
| Peter J. Bickel | Ph.D. 1963 | 1984 | professor of statistics at UC Berkeley |
| Tami Bond | M.S. 1995 | 2014 | environmental engineer; Professor Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
| Jennifer Carlson | M.A. 2008, Ph.D. 2013 | 2022 | sociologist, associate professor at the University of Arizona |
| Shawn Carlson | B.S. 1981 | 1999 | co-founder of Society for Amateur Scientists, former columnist of "The Amateur Scientist" in Scientific American; "Head Cheese" of the LabRats Science Education Project (a "Boy Scouts" for young scientists) |
| John Carlstrom | Ph.D. 1988 | 1998 | professor of astrophysics at the University of Chicago |
| Stanley Cavell | B.A. 1947 | 1992 | philosopher, Walter M. Cabot Professor Emeritus at Harvard University |
| Sandy Close | B.A. 1964 | 1995 | journalist, Executive Director of the Bay Area Institute/Pacific News Service and New America Media |
| Eric Coleman | Master of Public Health 1991 | 2012 | geriatrician, professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine |
| Maria Crawford | Ph.D. 1964 | 1993 | professor emeritus of geology at Bryn Mawr College |
| William Dichtel | Ph.D. Chemistry 2005 | 2015 | professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University; pioneer of covalent organic frameworks |
| Corinne Dufka | M.A. social welfare 1984 | 2003 | human rights investigator, senior researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch |
| Michael Elowitz | B.A. physics 1992 | 2007 | molecular biologist, professor at the California Institute of Technology; creator of the repressilator (artificial genetic circuit in synthetic biology) |
| Jon H. Else | B.A. 1968 | 1988 | Prix Italia recipient (The Day After Trinity), recipient of four Emmy Awards, nominated twice for the Academy Award, 1999 winner of the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker's Trophy, cinematographer on the Academy Award–winning Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, professor of journalism at UC Berkeley (also listed in Emmy Awards section) |
| Sharon Emerson | B.A. 1966 | 1995 | research professor emeritus at the University of Utah |
| Deborah Estrin | BS EECS 1980 | 2018 | associate dean and professor of computer science at Cornell University; pioneer in computer network routing |
| P. Gabrielle Foreman | Ph.D. 1992 | 2022 | Paterno Family Professor of American Literature and professor of African American Studies and History at Pennsylvania State University |
| Danna Freedman | Ph.D. 2009 | 2022 | Frederick George Keyes Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Daniel Friedan | Ph.D. 1980 | 1987 | physicist in string theory and condensed matter physics, professor of physics at Rutgers University |
| Margaret J. Geller | B.A. physics 1970 | 1990 | astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| Peter Gleick | M.S., Ph.D. hydro–climatology | 2003 | co-founder of the Pacific Institute, researcher on fresh water resources |
| David B. Goldstein | Ph.D. physics | 2002 | energy conservation specialist, co–director of the Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council |
| Linda Griffith | Ph.D. 1988 | 2006 | professor of bioengineering at MIT |
| David Gross | Ph.D. physics 1966 | 1987 | Nobel laureate (Physics, 2004) (also listed in Nobel laureates section) |
| Eva Harris | Ph.D. 1993 | 1997 | professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley; researcher of dengue fever |
| David Hawkins | Ph.D. 1940 | 1981 | professor, Manhattan Project researcher, known for his proof, along with Herbert A. Simon, of the Hawkins-Simons theorem |
| Peter J. Hayes | Ph.D. 1989 | 2000 | energy policy activist, Executive Director of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability |
| Walter Hood | M.Arch., M.L.A. 1989 | 2019 | professor, former Chair of Landscape Architecture, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley |
| Vijay Iyer | Ph.D. 1998 | 2013 | jazz pianist and composer |
| Daniel Hunt Janzen | Ph.D. 1965 | 1989 | ecologist and conservationist; professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania, technical advisor for restoration project Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site in Costa Rica |
| Thomas C. Joe | B.A. 1958, M.A. 1961 | 1986 | social policy analyst, special assistant to Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1969-73), advisor to White House Domestic Policy Council (1975-79), member of National Council of the Handicapped (1982) |
| Daniel Jurafsky | B.A. 1983, Ph.D. 1992 | 2002 | computer scientist and linguist; professor of linguistics and computer science at the University of Colorado, Boulder |
| Peter Kenmore | Ph.D. 1980 | 1994 | entomologist and member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |
| Nancy Kopell | M.A., Ph.D. 1967 | 1990 | mathematician, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor at Boston University, Co–Director of the Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology |
| Priti Krishtel | B.A. 1999 | 2022 | lawyer, co-founder and co-executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge |
| Josh Kun | Ph.D. 1999 | 2016 | musicologist |
| Michael C. Malin | B.A. (physics) 1967 | 1987 | astronomer, principal investigator for the camera on Mars Global Surveyor, founder and CEO of Malin Space Science Systems, recipient of a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2002, recipient of the 2005 Carl Sagan Memorial Award |
| Yoky Matsuoka | B.S. 1993 | 2007 | neuro-robotics researcher, Vice President of Technology at Tony Fadell "smart–thermostat" company Nest Labs when it was acquired by Google for $3.2 billion; founding member of Google X |
| Joshua Miele | B.A. 1992, Ph.D. 2003 | 2021 | adaptive technology designer at Amazon Lab126 |
| David R. Montgomery | Ph.D. 1991 | 2008 | geomorphologist, Professor of Earth and Space Science at the University of Washington, Seattle; researcher on the role of topsoil in human civilization, recipient of the 2008 Washington State Book Award in General Nonfiction for Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations |
| Fred Moten | M.A., Ph.D. | 2020 | cultural theorist, poet, Professor of Performance Studies at New York University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside |
| Richard A. Muller | Ph.D. | 1982 | professor of Physics at UC Berkeley, senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Cecilia Muñoz | M.A. 1986 | 2000 | civil rights and immigration activist; director of the United States Domestic Policy Council (2012–present) |
| Margaret Murnane | Ph.D. 1989 | 2000 | professor of physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, specialist in pulsed–operation lasers |
| Viet Thanh Nguyen | B.A. 1992, Ph.D. 1997 | 2017 | author (also listed in §Pulitzer Prize) |
| John Novembre | Ph.D. 2006 | 2015 | computational biologist and professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago |
| Trevor Paglen | B.A. 1998, Ph.D. 2008 | 2017 | artist, author, and geographer specializing in mass surveillance and data collection |
| Taylor Perron | Ph.D. 2006 | 2021 | Professor of Geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Margie Profet | B.A. physics 1985 | 1993 | researcher in evolutionary biology |
| Peter H. Raven | B.S. 1957 | 1985 | botanist and environmentalist, President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden (also listed in National Medal of Science) |
| Ed Roberts | B.A. 1964, M.A. 1966 | 1984 | activist in the disability rights movement (Independent Living) |
| Julia Hall Bowman Robinson | B.A. mathematics 1940, Ph.D. 1948 | 1983 | professor (1976–1985) of mathematics at UC Berkeley, specializing in Hilbert's Tenth Problem; first woman president of the American Mathematical Society; namesake of the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute |
| Jay Rubenstein | Ph.D. 1997 | 2007 | medieval historian, professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
| Daniel P. Schrag | Ph.D 1993 | 2000 | Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University |
| John Henry Schwarz | Ph.D. 1966 | 1987 | the "Schwarz" in the "Green–Schwarz mechanism" that started the first superstring revolution in superstring theory, Harold Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech |
| Yuval Sharon | B.A. 2001 | 2017 | opera director and producer |
| Allan Sly | PhD 2009 Statistics | 2018 | faculty member at the Department of Statistics at UC Berkeley (2011-2016); current professor of mathematics at Princeton University |
| Dawn Song | Ph.D. 2002 | 2010 | professor in EECS at UC Berkeley specializing in computer security |
| Claire Tomlin | Ph.D. 1998 | 2006 | researcher in unmanned aerial vehicles, air traffic control, and modeling of biological processes; professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Department of Electrical Engineering, at Stanford University, where she is Director of the Hybrid Systems Laboratory; professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of California, Berkeley |
| Gary Alfred Tomlinson | Ph.D. 1979 | 1988 | musicologist and cultural theorist, professor at Yale University, former Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania |
| Philip Treisman | Ph.D. 1985 | 1992 | Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas, Austin; pioneer in the Emerging Scholars Program |
| Bret Wallach | B.A. 1964, M.A. 1966, Ph.D. in 1968 | 1984 | cultural geographer, professor at the University of Oklahoma |
| Robert Penn Warren | M.A. 1927 | 1981 | novelist and poet, three–time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize (also listed in Pulitzer Prize section) |
| Robert H. Williams | Ph.D. 1967 | 1993 | physicist, Senior Research Scientist at the Princeton Environmental Institute at Princeton University |
| Allan Wilson | Ph.D. 1961 | 1986 | professor (1972–1991) of Biochemistry at UC Berkeley specializing in molecular approaches to understand biological evolution and to reconstruct phylogenies |
| Jay Wright | B.A. 1961 | 1986 | poet |
| Gene Luen Yang | BS CS 1995 | 2016 | cartoonist and graphic novelist; fifth National Ambassador for Young People's Literature |
| Shing–Tung Yau | Ph.D. 1971 | 1984 | mathematician (listed under Fields Medal section) |
| Xiaowei Zhuang | MS 1993, Ph.D. 1996 | 2003 | biophysicist, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University |

## Religion, spirituality, and lifestyle

* Isaac Bonewits, B.A. Magic 1970 – neopagan author, priest, speaker and founder of contemporary druidic group Ár nDraíocht Féin
* Diana Ming Chan, B.A. – social worker
* Pema Chodron, B.A. – spiritual teacher and author, interpreter of Tibetan Buddhism for Western audiences; formerly known as Deirdre Blomfield–Brown
* Mayme Agnew Clayton, B.A. – librarian; founder, president, and spiritual Leader of the Western States Black Research and Education Center (WSBREC), the largest privately held collection of African–American historical materials in the world
* Minh Dang, B.A. 2006 in Sociology, M.A. 2013 Social Welfare – independent consultant and advocate on matters of human trafficking and social justice
* Adelle Davis, B.A. – nutritionist, author
* Madelyn Dunham – grandmother of Barack Obama (did not graduate)
* Barry Kerzin, B.A. 1972 – professor of medicine, Buddhist monk and teacher, and personal physician to the Dalai Lama
* Timothy Leary, Ph.D. 1950 – psychologist and counterculture figure
* Brittany Maynard, BA – activist for death with dignity
* Terence McKenna, B.Sc. 1969 – modern philosopher, author of the novelty theory and "stoned ape" hypothesis
* Franklin Rhoda, B.Sc. 1872 – activist for Chinese civil rights in the 1870s; founded "Church of the New Age" and San Francisco's "Underground Mission"; surveyed uncharted parts of Rocky Mountains
* Ed Roberts, B.A. 1964, M.A. 1966, C.Phil. 1969 – founder of the Independent Living Movement
* Kartar Singh Sarabha – Indian revolutionary
* Heng Sure, Ph.D. 1974 – American Buddhist monk of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas; one of the first Americans ordained in the States

## Fictional

* In the teen drama web series 13 Reasons Why Season 4 (2020), Jessica Davis (played by Alisha Boe) goes to UC Berkeley. Alex Standal (played by Miles Heizer) also receives an acceptance letter from UC Berkeley.
* In the 2018 film A Simple Favor, Henry Golding's character, Sean Townsend, goes on to teach at UC Berkeley at the end of the film.
* In the 2018 film Venom, Emilio Rivera's character, plays Lobby Guard Richard, whose daughter is said to have received acceptances to UC Berkeley, Cornell, and MIT.
* In the 2018 film Ant-Man and the Wasp, Laurence Fishburne's character, Dr. Bill Foster, teaches quantum physics at UC Berkeley.
* In the 2017 film Lady Bird, Lady Bird's brother, Miguel McPherson, majored in math at UC Berkeley.
* In the show Archer, Season 6 Episode 8: The Kanes, Lana and Archer travel to Berkeley so that her parents can meet their granddaughter. Lana's mother Claudette is a professor of public policy with a focus on feminist issues at UC Berkeley.
* In the TV series Mad Men, Don's niece Stephanie (played by Caity Lotz) is a Berkeley student and later drop-out during the 1960s.
* In the 1969 Paul Mazursky film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Bob claims to his wife that the young woman on whom he cheated with her is not dumb and just received her master's degree from UC Berkeley at age 20.
* In Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World, Ian Malcom, a mathematician, is the Board Director of Mathematics at the University of California Berkeley.
* In the 2014 film Transcendence, Johnny Depp's character, Dr. Will Custer, and Rebecca Hall's character, Evelyn Caster, both live in Berkeley and run a lab at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
* In House of Lies, season 2 episode 2, it is mentioned that Marty, played by Don Cheadle, and Tamara, played by Nia Long, were both classmates at Berkeley. Dawn Olivieri's character Monica is also mentioned as having attended at the same time.
* In the 2012 film Savages, Aaron Taylor–Johnson's character, Ben, is mentioned as having graduated from Berkeley.
* In the 2012 film 21 Jump Street, Dave Franco's character, Eric, is mentioned as having been accepted to Berkeley, and plans to attend.
* In the episode "The Return of Wonder Woman" (Wonder Woman Season 2 pilot), Diana Prince pretends to be a UC Berkeley graduate.
* In the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, James Franco's character, Will Rodman, is seen wearing a Berkeley t–shirt, implying that he attended the school in some capacity. There are also University of California diplomas on his wall.
* In 2001's Season 1 Episode 6 of the television series The Newsroom, character Sloan Sabbith is revealed to be an alumna of UC Berkeley.
* In the 2008 film High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Troy Bolton, played by Zac Efron, announces that he has chosen to attend UC Berkeley after graduation. His father is seen wearing a Cal hat at graduation.
* In House, Lawrence Kutner played by Kal Penn, received a full scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Physics.
* In the 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile, Julia Roberts' character is an idealistic Berkeley graduate.
* In the 1994 film Stargate, James Spader's character is revealed to have a University of California diploma when Dr. Catherine Langford is reviewing his credentials.
* In the 1992 film Basic Instinct, Dr. Beth Garner, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn received her Ph.D. in Psychology at Berkeley. Catherine Tramell, played by Sharon Stone, also received her B.A. in Psychology and Literature at Berkeley.
* In the Back to the Future trilogy, inventor of the Delorean time machine, Dr. Emmett Brown, attended Berkeley, stated by trilogy director Robert Zemeckis. In the original story line for Back to the Future 2, Biff would have gone to 1967 and George McFly would be teaching at Berkeley.
* Sandy Cohen from The O.C. graduated from Boalt School of Law at Berkeley. His wife, Kirsten Cohen has an Art History degree from Berkeley as well. Their adopted son Ryan Atwood then went on to complete a degree in architecture there.
* In the comic strip Doonesbury Joanie Caucus was accepted to and graduated from the Boalt School of Law in the 1970s.
* Press Secretary and later Presidential Chief of Staff C. J. Cregg, played by Allison Janney on the long–running The West Wing, got her master's degree from Berkeley.
* In the television series Grey's Anatomy, Sandra Oh's character, Dr. Cristina Yang, often boasts of having a Ph.D. from Berkeley, along with a college degree from Smith and a medical degree from Stanford.
* In the situation comedy Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Mark Cooper Mark Curry has a Cal Berkeley banner in his room.
* Berkeley is the setting for the film Boys and Girls starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Claire Forlani, who both play Berkeley students.
* The 2002 film Catch Me If You Can tells the true story of Frank Abagnale who faked getting his law degree from Berkeley to impress his fiance's father and to get a job as a lawyer. The character was played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
* The Hulk, directed by Ang Lee, largely takes place at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and private research facilities nearby. Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly played researchers.
* Jack Bauer, the lead character played by Kiefer Sutherland in the hit drama 24, got his Masters of Science in "Criminology and Law" at Berkeley (no such degree is offered).
* In the hit film Field of Dreams (1990), the lead character Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) is a Berkeley alum
* Rei Shimura, the protagonist in Sujata Massey's mystery novels, earned her master's degree in Japanese art history from Berkeley.
* In the film Gotcha! (1985), Jonathan (played by Anthony Edwards) falls for Sasha (played by Linda Fiorentino), a beautiful and mysterious Berkeley graduate student in film.
* Winona Ryder plays Finn Dodd, a Berkeley graduate student, in the 1995 film How to Make an American Quilt.
* In the 2001 film The Wedding Planner, Matthew McConaughey's character and Bridgette Wilson's character were claimed to have met as students at UC Berkeley.
* In USA Network's television series Monk, the title character, Adrian Monk, played by Tony Shalhoub, graduated from Berkeley (mentioned in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective", Season 4 & "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion", Season 5).
* Associate White House Counsel, Joe Quincy, played by Matthew Perry on The West Wing, earned his MBA and JD from Berkeley.
* In the situation comedy 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dick Solomon's (John Lithgow) love interest, Dr. Mary Albright (Jane Curtin), received her bachelor's degree from Berkeley
* In the 1988 film Die Hard (1988), Joseph Yashinobo Takagi (James Shigeta), President of Nakatomi Trading, is said to be a scholarship student at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1955.
* In the film Legally Blonde (2001), Harvard law student Enid Wexler earns a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in women's studies, "emphasis in the history of combat".
* In the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Sara Sidle received her master's degree from UC Berkeley.
* The film Junior (1994), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, was filmed on the Berkeley campus.
* In the film Deep Impact (1998), starring Morgan Freeman and Téa Leoni, research on meteors were done on a Berkeley website.
* In the film Peaceful Warrior (2006), starring Scott Mechlowicz and Nick Nolte, the main character is a member of the male gymnastics team at UC Berkeley. The semi–autobiographical movie is based on the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior (1981), which was authored by real–life UC Berkeley alumnus Dan Millman.
* In the film Fathers' Day Dale Putley (Robin Williams), Jack Lawrence (Billy Crystal), and Collette Andrews (Nastassja Kinski) all were students at Berkeley. We could probably assume that Jack ended up getting his law degree there.
* In Family Ties, Steven Keaton and Elyse Keaton met at Berkeley as undergraduates. It can be assumed that Elyse got her architectural degree and Steve got his degree in political science, communications, or filmmaking. Mallory Keaton was born there on the day Steve was supposed to take a political science examination.
* In Full House, D.J. Tanner accepts an admissions offer from Berkeley.
* In The Graduate Elaine Robinson was a student at Berkeley.
* In Single Asian Female main character Jennie Low and several other characters are students at the school.
* In the Japanese manga series Hana–Kimi, Izumi Sano became a student at the college.
* In the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Captain Kirk claims that Spock went to Berkeley in the 1960s, where he "did too much LDS [sic]." However, Kirk merely invents this story to explain Spock's strange appearance and behavior. Spock actually went to Starfleet Academy, which is also located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
* In the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Princess Mia's friend Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo) claims to be a Berkeley graduate student. Actor Chris Pine, who played the male protagonist Lord Nicholas Devereaux in the movie, graduated with a bachelor's degree from Berkeley.
* In the film Magnolia (1999), Tom Cruise's seduction–guru character claims to have attended psychology classes at Berkeley.
* One of the central protagonists in Mischa Berlinski's novel Fieldwork (2007), Martiya van der Leun, is a Berkeley graduate student in anthropology.
* Marissa Cooper and Ryan Atwood frnom The OC are supposed to attend UC Berkeley before the car crash that kills her.
* In The Sopranos, Meadow Soprano (Jamie–Lynn Sigler) has her heart set on UC Berkeley against the wishes of her parents due to distance. Carmela Soprano throws away an admissions letter, that she later retrieves out of guilt, requesting transcripts.
* In Alias, Sydney Bristow’s ex–lover, Agent Noah Hicks (Peter Berg), says he was recruited out of Berkeley by SD–6.
* Large portions of the feature film Who'll Stop the Rain, starring Nick Nolte and Tuesday Weld, were filmed in the south campus area.
* In the book Snow Crash, both Hiro Protagonist and Juanita Marquez attended Berkeley.
* In Season 3 of the television series Weeds, Nancy Botwin mentions spending two and half years at Berkeley.
* In the movie A Perfect Murder, Viggo Mortensen's character claims to have studied art at Berkeley.
* In the series finale of Dollhouse, Mag, played by Felicia Day, says that prior to tech going wild, she studied sociology at Berkeley.
* Charmed protagonist Paige Matthews attended Berkeley to earn a degree in social work; Season 4 episode "A Paige from the Past" revealed that she was accepted into Berkeley partially due to a well–written essay on the subject of her adoptive parents' death.
* Percy Jackson protagonist, Annabeth Chase, is going to attend the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design after finishing her senior year of high school, revealed in Magnus Chase And The Gods Of Asgard: The Ship Of The Dead.
* In the season 3 finale of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Kimmy refers to UC Bark-ley, a dog pun for UC Berkeley.
* In the finale of Hannah Montana, Miley says she is driving from Malibu to Stanford. The building shown is actually the Valley of Life Sciences Building (VLSB) on the Berkeley campus.
* In the TV show Quantico, Oakland native Alex Parrish (played by Priyanka Chopra) has a stuffed bear wearing a UC Berkeley sweatshirt, suggesting that she may have attended the school before joining Quantico. Caleb Haas, a fellow Quantico trainee, enrolls at the Berkeley Law School after becoming an FBI agent.
* In the TV show Monk, Adrian Monk is a graduate of UC Berkeley.
* At the end of the movie Midnight Sun, Charlie Reed is leaving to UC Berkeley.
* A degree from Cal-Berkeley can be seen in Tara Knowles' office on the television series Sons of Anarchy.
* Charlie Salinger dropped out of Berkeley during his sophomore year in Party of Five.