# List of Harvard University people

The list of Harvard University alumni includes notable graduates, professors, and administrators affiliated with Harvard University. For a list of notable non-graduates of Harvard, see the list of Harvard University non-graduate alumni. For a list of Harvard's presidents, see President of Harvard University.
Eight Presidents of the United States have graduated from Harvard University: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Bush graduated from Harvard Business School, Hayes and Obama from Harvard Law School, and the others from Harvard College.
Over 150 Nobel Prize winners have been associated with the university as alumni, researchers or faculty.

## Nobel laureates

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Philip W. Anderson (1923–2020) | College 1943; PhD 1949 | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1977) |
| Christian B. Anfinsen (1916–1995) | PhD 1943 | Biochemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1972) |
| Abhijit Banerjee (born 1961) | PhD 1988 | Economist; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2019) |
| J. Michael Bishop (born 1936) | PhD 1962 | Immunology; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1989) |
| Percy W. Bridgman (1882–1961) | College 1904; A.M. 1905; PhD 1908; Professor | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1946) |
| Ralph Bunche (1904–1971) | A.M. 1928; PhD 1934 | Diplomat; Nobel Peace Prize winner (1950) |
| Mario Capecchi (born 1937) | PhD 1967 | Geneticist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (2007) |
| Martin Chalfie (born 1947) | College 1969, PhD 1979 | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (2008) |
| Donald J. Cram (1919–2001) | PhD 1947 | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1987) |
| Edward Adelbert Doisy (1893–1986) | PhD 1920 | Biochemist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1943) |
| T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) | College 1909; A.M. 1910; PhD (not conferred) 1914 | Poet; Nobel Prize in Literature winner (1948) |
| John Franklin Enders (1897–1985) | PhD 1930 | Scientist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1954) |
| Daniel Carleton Gajdusek (1923–2008) | PhD 1946 | Physician, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1976) |
| Walter Gilbert (born 1932) | College 1953; professor | Molecular biologist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1980) |
| Sheldon Glashow (born 1932) | PhD 1959; professor | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1979) |
| Roy J. Glauber (1925–2018) | College 1946; PhD 1949; Professor | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (2005) |
| Al Gore (born 1948) | College 1969 | Vice President of the United States; global climate change activist; Nobel Peace Prize winner (2007) |
| Dudley R. Herschbach (born 1932) | A.M. 1956; PhD 1958; Professor | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1986) |
| George H. Hitchings (1905–1998) | PhD 1933 | Physician, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1988) |
| Roald Hoffman (born 1937) | PhD 1962 | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1981) |
| H. Robert Horvitz (born 1947) | A.M. 1972; PhD 1974 | Biologist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (2002) |
| Charles Brenton Huggins (1901–1997) | Medical 1924 | Physician; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1941) |
| Eric Kandel (born 1929) | College 1948 | Neuropsychiatry; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (2000) |
| Jerome Karle (1918–2013) | A.M. 1938 | Physical chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1985) |
| Martin Karplus (born 1930) | College 1950 | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (2013) |
| Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) | College 1950, PhD 1954 | Political scientist; Nobel Peace Prize winner (1973) |
| William S. Knowles (1917–2012) | College 1939 | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (2001) |
| Walter Kohn (1923–2016) | PhD 1948 | Theoretical physics; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1998) |
| Roger D. Kornberg (born 1947) | College 1967 | Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (2006) |
| Michael Kremer (born 1964) | College 1985, PhD 1992 | Economist; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2019) |
| Eric Maskin (born 1950) | College 1972; A.M. 1974; PhD 1976 | Nobel Prize in Economics winner (2007) |
| David Morris Lee (born 1931) | College 1952 | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics (1996) |
| Craig Mello (born 1960) | PhD 1962 | Biologist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (2006) |
| Merton Miller (1923–2000) | College 1944 | Economist; Nobel Prize in Economics winner (1990) |
| George Minot (1885–1950) | College 1908; Medical 1912 | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1934) |
| David A. Morse (1907–1990) | Law 1932 | Nobel Peace Prize winner (1969) |
| Ben Roy Mottelson (1926–2022) | PhD 1950 | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1975) |
| William P. Murphy (1892–1987) | Medical 1922 | Physician, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1934) |
| Joseph E. Murray (1919–2012) | Medical 1943 | Surgeon; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1990) |
| Roger Myerson (born 1951) | College 1973, PhD 1976 | Economist; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2007) |
| Barack Obama (born 1961) | Law 1991 | President of the United States; Nobel Peace Prize winner (2009) |
| Bertil Ohlin (1899–1979) | A.M. 1923 | Economist; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (1977) |
| Saul Perlmutter (born 1959) | College 1981 | Astrophysics; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (2011) |
| Hugh David Politzer (born 1949) | PhD 1974 | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics (2004) |
| Edward Mills Purcell (1912–1997) | A.M.; PhD; Professor | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1952) |
| Theodore W. Richards (1868–1928) | PhD 1888; Professor | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1914) |
| Adam Riess (born 1969) | PhD 1996 | Astrophysics; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (2011) |
| Frederick C. Robbins (1916–2003) | Medical 1940 | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1954) |
| Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) | College 1880 | President of the United States; Nobel Peace Prize winner (1906) |
| James Rothman (born 1950) | PhD, 1976 | Cell biologist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (2013) |
| Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) | A.M. 1936; PhD 1941 | Economist; Nobel Prize in Economics winner (1970) |
| Juan Manuel Santos (born 1951) | HKS 1981 | President of Colombia; Nobel Peace Prize winner (2016) |
| Thomas J. Sargent (born 1943) | PhD 1968 | Economist; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2011) |
| Thomas Schelling (1921–2016) | PhD 1951 | Economist; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2005) |
| Brian Schmidt (born 1967) | PhD 1993 | Astrophysics; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (2011) |
| Richard R. Schrock (born 1945) | PhD 1971 | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2005) |
| Gregg L. Semenza (born 1956) | College 1978 | Oncology; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (2019) |
| Lloyd Shapley (1923–2016) | College 1948 | Economist; Nobel Prize in Economics winner (2012) |
| Christopher A. Sims (born 1942) | College 1963 PhD 1968 | Economist; Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2011) |
| Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 1938) | HKS 1971 | President of Liberia; Nobel Peace Prize winner (2011) |
| George Smith (born 1941) | PhD 1970 | Biologist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2018) |
| Vernon L. Smith (born 1927) | PhD 1955 | Economist; Nobel Prize in Economics winner (2002) |
| George Davis Snell (1903–1996) | PhD 1930 | Geneticist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1980) |
| Robert M. Solow (1924–2023) | College 1947; A.M. 1949; PhD 1951 | Economist; Nobel Prize in Economics winner (1987) |
| A. Michael Spence (born 1943) | PhD 1972 | Economist; Nobel Prize in Economics winner (2001) |
| William Howard Stein (1911–1980) | College 1933 | Biochemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1972) |
| Ralph M. Steinman (1943–2011) | PhD 1968 | Immunology; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (2011) |
| Thomas A. Steitz (1940–2018) | PhD 1966 | Biochemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (2009) |
| James B. Sumner (1887–1955) | College 1910; PhD 1914 | Chemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (1946) |
| Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. (born 1941) | PhD 1968 | Astrophysics; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1993) |
| E. Donnall Thomas (1920–2012) | MD 1946 | Physician, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1990) |
| James Tobin (1918–2002) | College 1939; A.M. 1940 | Economist; Nobel Prize in Economics winner (1981) |
| Roger Y. Tsien (1952–2016) | College 1972 | Biochemist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner (2008) |
| Thomas H. Weller (1915–2008) | PhD 1940 | Virologist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1954) |
| Kenneth G. Wilson (1936–2013) | College 1956 | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1956) |
| John H. van Vleck (1899–1980) | PhD 1922; Professor | Physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1977) |
| Harold E. Varmus (born 1939) | A.M. 1962 | Scientist; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner (1989) |
| David J. Wineland (born 1944) | PhD 1970 | Scientist; Nobel Prize in Physics winner (2012) |

## Pulitzer Prize winners

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Henry Adams (1838–1918) | College 1858; Professor | Historian, novelist |
| John Coolidge Adams (born 1947) | College 1969; A.M. 1971 | Composer |
| James Agee (1909–1955) | College 1932 | Novelist, screenwriter |
| Liaquat Ahamed (born 1952) | M.A. | Author |
| Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) | College 1912 | Poet, writer |
| John Ashbery (1927–2017) | College 1949 | Poet |
| Brooks Atkinson (1894–1984) | College 1917 | Theater critic |
| Bernard Bailyn (1922–2020) | A.M. 1947; PhD 1953; Professor 1961 | Historian |
| Walter Jackson Bate (1918–1999) | College 1939 | Historian |
| James Phinney Baxter III (1893–1975) | PhD 1926 | Historian |
| William M. Beecher (born 1933) | College | Journalist |
| Samuel Flagg Bemis (1891–1973) | PhD 1916 | Historian |
| Frank Bidart (born 1939) | A.M. 1967 | Poet |
| Herbert P. Bix (born 1938) | PhD | Historian |
| Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) | College 1934 | Historian, Librarian of Congress |
| Robert Boyd (1928–2019) | College 1949 | Journalist |
| Van Wyck Brooks (1886–1963) | College 1908 | Historian |
| Paul Herman Buck (1899–1978) | M.A. 1924 | Historian |
| Robert Campbell (born 1937) | College 1958, Graduate School of Design 1967 | Boston Globe architecture critic |
| Elliott Carter (1908–2012) | College 1932 | Composer |
| Alfred D. Chandler Jr. (1918–2007) | College 1940; Professor | Historian |
| Edward Channing (1856–1931) | College 1878 | Historian |
| Robert Coles (born 1929) | College 1950 | Author |
| Holland Cotter (born 1947) | College 1970 | Journalist |
| Merle Curti (1897–1996) | College 1920 | Historian |
| William O. Dapping (1880–1969) | B.A. 1905 | Journalist |
| David Brion Davis (1927–2019) | PhD 1955 | Historian |
| Bernard DeVoto (1897–1955) | College 1920 | Historian |
| Jared Diamond (born 1937) | College 1958 | Author, biologist |
| John W. Dower (born 1938) | PhD 1972 | Historian |
| Richard Eder (1932–2014) | College 1954 | Los Angeles Times journalist |
| Caroline Elkins (born 1969) | PhD 2001 | Historian |
| Will Englund (born 1953) | College 1975 | Journalist |
| David Fahrenthold (born 1978) | College 2000 | Journalist |
| Susan Faludi (born 1959) | College 1981 | Author, journalist |
| Mark Feeney (born 1957) | College 1979 | Boston Globe journalist |
| Herbert Feis (1893–1972) | College 1916 | Historian |
| James Thomas Flexner (1908–2003) | College 1926 | Historian |
| Caroline Fraser | PhD 1987 | Biographer |
| Sydney P. Freedberg | College 1976 | Journalist |
| Alix M. Freedman (born 1957) | College 1979 | Journalist |
| Daniel Golden (born 1957) | College 1978 | Journalist |
| Ellen Goodman (born 1941) | Radcliffe 1963 | Boston Globe columnist |
| Doris Kearns Goodwin (born 1943) | PhD 1968 | Historian, author |
| Annette Gordon-Reed (born 1958) | Law 1984; Professor | Historian |
| Linda Greenhouse (born 1947) | Radcliffe 1968 | New York Times journalist |
| Richard Grozier (1887–1946) | College 1909 | Editor |
| Cornelia Grumman (born 1963) | KSG 1989 | Journalist |
| David Halberstam (1934–2007) | College 1955 | Author |
| Oscar Handlin (1915–2011) | M.A. 1935 | Historian |
| Marcus Lee Hansen (1892–1938) | PhD 1928 | Historian |
| Laurie Hays | College 1979 | Journalist |
| Tim Hays (1907–2011) | Law 1942 | Publisher |
| John Harbison (born 1938) | College 1960 | Composer |
| Robert Hillyer (1895–1961) | College 1917 | Poet |
| Daniel Walker Howe (born 1937) | College 1959 | Journalist |
| Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe (1864–1960) | A.M. 1888 | Author |
| Henry James (1879–1947) | College 1899 | Biographer |
| Joseph Kahn (born 1964) | College 1987 | Journalist |
| Michael Kammen (1936–2013) | PhD 1964 | Historian |
| Peter R. Kann (born 1942) | College | Journalist |
| Justin Kaplan (1925–2014) | College 1944 | Biographer |
| Stanley Karnow (1925–2013) | College 1947 | Journalist |
| John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) | College 1940 | U.S. President |
| Tracy Kidder (born 1945) | College 1967 | Author |
| Edward M. Kingsbury (1854–1946) | College 1875 | Historian |
| Charles Krauthammer (1950–2018) | Medical 1975 | Washington Post columnist |
| Nicholas D. Kristof (born 1959) | College 1981 | New York Times columnist |
| Stanley Kunitz (1905–2006) | College 1926; A.M. 1927 | Poet, U.S. Poet Laureate |
| Oliver La Farge (1901–1963) | College 1924 | Author |
| Oliver Larkin (1896–1970) | College 1918 | Art historian |
| Edward J. Larson (born 1953) | Law 1979 | Historian |
| William L. Laurence (1888–1977) | Law | Journalist |
| Joseph Lelyveld (born 1937) | College 1958 | Journalist |
| Anthony Lewis (1927–2013) | College 1948 | New York Times columnist |
| R. W. B. Lewis (1917–2002) | College 1939 | Biographer |
| Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) | College 1910 | Journalist |
| J. Anthony Lukas (1933–1997) | College 1955 | Journalist |
| Robert Lowell (1917–1977) | Dropped out | Poet |
| John E. Mack (1929–2004) | Medical 1955 | Psychiatrist, writer, professor at Harvard University School of Medicine |
| Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) | Law 1919 | Poet, writer |
| John P. Marquand (1893–1960) | College 1915 | Novelist |
| Megan Marshall (born 1954) | College 1977 | Biographer |
| John Matteson (born 1961) | Law 1986 | Biographer |
| Garrett Mattingly (1900–1962) | College 1923 | Historian |
| Charles Howard McIlwain (1871–1968) | M.A. 1903 | Historian |
| James Alan McPherson (1943–2016) | Law 1968 | Essayist |
| Zachary Mider | College 2000 | Journalist |
| Jack Miles (born 1942) | PhD 1971 | Historian |
| Paul Moravec (born 1957) | College 1980 | Composer, professor |
| Samuel Eliot Morison (1887–1976) | College 1908; PhD 1912; Professor | Historian |
| Siddhartha Mukherjee (born 1970) | M.D. 2000 | Author |
| Steven Naifeh (born 1952) | Law 1977 | Biographer |
| Evan Osnos (born 1976) | College 1998 | Journalist |
| Vernon Louis Parrington (1871–1929) | College 1893 | Historian |
| Frederic L. Paxson (1877–1948) | M.A. | Historian |
| Ralph Barton Perry (1876–1957) | PhD 1899 | Philosopher |
| Walter Piston (1894–1976) | College 1924 | Composer |
| Sumner Chilton Powell (1924–1993) | PhD 1956 | Historian |
| Jack N. Rakove (born 1947) | PhD 1975 | Historian |
| Samantha Power (born 1970) | Law 1999; Professor | Writer |
| Tom Reiss (born 1964) | College 1987 | Journalist |
| David E. Sanger (born 1960) | College 1982 | Journalist |
| Charlie Savage (born 1975) | College 1998 | Journalist |
| Sydney Schanberg (1934–2016) | College 1955 | Journalist |
| Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1917–2007) | College 1938; professor | Historian, advisor to John F. Kennedy |
| Carl Emil Schorske (1915–2015) | PhD 1950 | Historian |
| Lloyd Schwartz (born 1941) | PhD 1976 | Author |
| Roger Sessions (1896–1985) | College 1915 | Composer |
| Neil Sheehan (born 1936) | College 1958 | Journalist |
| Odell Shepard (1884–1967) | PhD 1917 | Historian |
| Richard H.P. Sia (born 1953) | College 1975 | Journalist |
| Gregory White Smith (1951–2014) | Law 1978 | Biographer |
| Tracy K. Smith (born 1972) | College 1994 | Poet |
| Paul Starr (born 1949) | PhD | Academic |
| Farah Stockman (born 1974) | College 1996 | Journalist |
| Richard Strout (1898–1990) | College 1919 | Journalist |
| Cyrus Leo Sulzberger II (1912–1993) | College 1934 | Journalist |
| William Taubman (born 1940) | College 1962 | Biographer |
| Virgil Thomson (1896–1989) | College 1923 | Composer |
| John Updike (1932–2009) | College 1954 | Novelist, poet, short story writer, critic |
| Peter Viereck (1916–2006) | College 1937 | Poet |
| Charles Warren (1868–1954) | College 1889 | Historian |
| Jonathan Weiner (born 1953) | College 1976 | Historian |
| George Weller (1907–2002) | College 1929 | Journalist |
| Theodore White (1915–1986) | College 1938 | Journalist |
| Colson Whitehead (born 1969) | College 1991 | Author |
| Linnie Marsh Wolfe (1881–1945) | Radcliffe 1907 | Biographer |
| Gordon S. Wood (born 1933) | A.M. 1959; PhD 1964 | Historian, professor |
| Sheryl WuDunn (born 1959) | M.B.A. 1986 | Author |
| Yehudi Wyner (born 1929) | M.A. | Composer |
| Du Yun (born 1977) | PhD | Composer |

## Royalty and nobility

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah (born 1955) | PhD 1985 | Son of late Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah; Ambassador of Kuwait to the United States from 1993 to 2003; Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait from 2003 to 2011; current Prime Minister of Kuwait; his elder brother is Sheikh Salem Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, former Defense and Interior Minister |
| Aga Khan IV (1936–2025) | B.A. 1959 | Born Prince Karim Aga Khan, he was the 49th Imam of Nizari Ismailism, and a descendant of Shah (Emperor) Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar of the Persian Qajar dynasty |
| Birendra Bir Bikram Shah (1945–2001) | HKS 1968 | King of Nepal |
| Frederik X, King of Denmark (born 1968) | Academic Exchange of one year (1992–1993) | Member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg; Crown Prince of Denmark, therefore the heir apparent to the throne of Denmark; elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Henrik, the Prince Consort |
| Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003) | College 1954 | Son of Aga Khan III, the 48th Imam of Nizari Ismailism; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1966–1978 |
| Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi II, of Iran (1966–2011) | PhD student at the time of his death | Member of the Pahlavi imperial family of Iran (Persia); younger son of the former Shah of Persia (Emperor of Persia), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and his third wife Empress Farah Pahlavi; second in order of succession to the Iranian throne before the Iranian Revolution |
| Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkla (1892–1929), from Siam (Thailand) | Certificate in Public Health 1921, MD 1927 | Member of the House of Chakri, of Siam (Thailand); son of King Chulalongkorn of Siam; father of King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) of Thailand, grandfather of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) of Thailand; regarded as the father of modern medicine and public health of Thailand |
| Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi I of Iran (1922–1954) | B.A. | Member of the Pahlavi imperial family of Iran (Persia); Reza Shah Pahlavi's second son; brother of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; the last Shah of Persia (Iran) de facto |
| Princess Ariana Austin Makonnen of Ethiopia (born 1984) | | wife of Prince Joel Dawit Makonnen; member of the Imperial House of Ethiopia through marriage |
| Masako, Empress of Japan (born 1963) | B.A., 1985 | Consort of Emperor Naruhito, the first son of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko; member of the Imperial House of Japan through marriage |
| Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein (born 1969) | HBS, 1998 | Son of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein |
| Nazrin Shah of Perak (born 1956) | Masters; PhD | Current Sultan of Perak, one of the Sultans of Malaysia, as a federal constitutional monarchy |
| Prince Abdul Reza Pahlavi (1924–2004) | M.A. | Member of the Pahlavi imperial family of Iran (Persia); son of Reza Shah Pahlavi; brother of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; the last Shah of Persia (Iran) de facto |
| Catherine Oxenberg (born 1961) | | Member of the Serbian House of Karađorđević; Serbian American actress best known for her role as Amanda Carrington on the 1980s American prime time soap opera Dynasty; daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and her first husband Howard Oxenberg, a Jewish dress manufacturer and close friend of the Kennedy family |
| Prince William zu Lobkowicz (born 1961) | B.A. | Member of the high Bohemian nobility; member of the House of Lobkowicz, one of the oldest Bohemian noble families; his great-grandfather Ferdinand was the 10th Prince zu Lobkowicz when the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, leaving the Bohemian nobility stripped of its legal privileges in 1919 |
| Princess Maria Carolina Christina of Bourbon-Parma, Duchess of Guernica and Marchioness of Sala (born 1974) | | Member of the Royal and Ducal House of Bourbon-Parma, as well of the Dutch royal family; fourth and youngest child of Princess Irene of the Netherlands and Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma |
| Princess Sonam Dechen Wangchuck of Bhutan (born 1981) | Law 2007 | Sister of the current King of Bhutan; board member of the Tarayana Foundation |

## Science, technology, medicine, and mathematics

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Roger Adams (1889–1971) | College 1909, PhD 1912 | Pioneering organic chemist |
| Howard H. Aiken (1900–1973) | M.A. 1937; PhD 1939 | Computer scientist; designer of the Harvard Mark I |
| James Gilbert Baker (1914–2005) | PhD 1942 | Astronomer, optician |
| John Bartlett (1784–1849) | College 1805 | Minister, founder of Massachusetts General Hospital |
| Manjul Bhargava (born 1974) | College 1996 | Mathematician, Fields Medal winner |
| Craig Call Black (1932–1998) | PhD 1962 | Paleontologist |
| Francine D. Blau (born 1946) | M.A. 1969; PhD 1975 | Economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research, first woman to receive the IZA Prize in Labor Economics |
| Hilary Blumberg | College 1986 | Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience |
| Dan Bricklin (born 1951) | Business 1979 | Creator of VisiCalc |
| Fred Brooks (born 1931) | PhD 1956 | Turing Award laureate |
| Matthew Cappucci (born 1997) | B.A. 2019 | Meteorologist, reporter, storm chaser, author |
| Thomas H. Clark (1893–1996) | College 1917; A.M. 1921; PhD 1923 | Geologist; one of the top Canadian scientists of the 20th century; namesake of Thomasclarkite |
| Mandy Cohen | MPH 2004 | Physician; Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, former Executive Director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and founding member of Doctors for America. |
| Stephen Cook (born 1939) | S.M. 1962; PhD 1966 | Computer scientist |
| Don Coppersmith | S.M. 1975; PhD 1977 | Computer scientist |
| Leda Cosmides (born 1957) | College 1979; PhD 1985 | Evolutionary psychologist |
| Robert K. Crane (1919–2010) | PhD 1950 | Biochemist |
| Harvey Cushing (1869–1939) | Medical 1895 | Neurosurgeon |
| Elliott Cutler (1888–1947) | College 1909, M.D. 1913; Professor | Surgeon and medical educator |
| Samuel J. Danishefsky (born 1936) | PhD 1962 | Chemist, winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 1995/96 |
| Neil deGrasse Tyson (born 1958) | College 1980 | Astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, television host |
| Fe Del Mundo (1909–2011) | Medical 1938 | National Scientist of the Philippines; pediatrician; recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award; devised an incubator made out of bamboo, designed for use in rural communities without electrical power; the first woman admitted as a student at Harvard Medical School |
| Russell Doolittle (1931–2019) | PhD, 1962 | Biochemist |
| Gideon Dreyfuss | PhD 1978 | Biochemist, HHMI investigator |
| William Duane (1872-1935) | A.B. 1893; A.M. 1895; Professor | Physicist, professor emeritus and chair of Biophysics at Harvard, research fellow at Harvard Cancer Commission |
| E. Allen Emerson (born 1954) | PhD 1981 | Turing Award laureate |
| Charles Epstein (1933–2011) | Harvard Medical College 1959 | Geneticist; injured by Ted Kaczynski a.k.a. Unabomber |
| Paul Farmer (born 1959) | Medical 1988; PhD 1990; Professor | Founder of Partners in Health |
| Lewis J. Feldman (born 1945) | PhD 1975 | Professor of plant biology at the University of California, Berkeley |
| Rabab Fetieh (born 1954) | Dental 1987 | First Saudi Arabian female orthodontist |
| Edward Frenkel (born 1968) | PhD 1991 | Mathematician |
| Robert Galambos (1914–2010) | PhD | Researcher who discovered how bats use echolocation |
| Bill Gates (born 1955) | No degree | Founder of Microsoft and philanthropist |
| Paul Graham (born 1964) | S.M. 1988; PhD 1990 | Computer programmer and essayist |
| Ulysses S. Grant IV (1893–1977) | College 1915 | Paleontologist |
| Brian Greene (born 1963) | College 1984 | Famous in the world of string theory; Columbia University professor |
| Victor Guillemin (born 1937) | PhD 1962 | Differential geometer |
| G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) | PhD 1878 | First president of APA and Clark University |
| Donald Olding Hebb (1904–1985) | PhD 1936 | Canadian psychologist; "father of neuropsychology"; President of the American Psychological Association 1960; Fellow of the Royal Society; Chancellor of McGill University 1970–1974 |
| George Anthony Hill (1842–1916) | AB 1865, AM 1870 | Author of various textbooks, primarily on physics and mathematics; associate professor |
| Heisuke Hironaka (born 1931) | PhD 1960; Professor | Mathematician, Fields Medal winner |
| Arthur Allen Hoag (1921–1999) | PhD 1953 | Discovered Hoag's object |
| L. Emmett Holt Jr. (1895–1974) | College 1916 | Pediatrician |
| Tony Hsieh (1973–2020) | College 1995 | CEO of online shoe and clothing shop Zappos, co-founder of LinkExchange, author of Delivering Happiness |
| Ruth Hubbard (1924–2016) | PhD 1950 Radcliffe | Professor, biologist |
| Ernest Ingersoll (1852–1946) | | Naturalist, writer and explorer |
| Kenneth E. Iverson (1920–2004) | PhD 1954 | Turing Award laureate |
| Thomas Jaggar (1871–1953) | PhD 1897 | Geologist, founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory |
| William James (1842–1910) | Medical 1869 | Philosopher; psychologist; namesake of William James Hall |
| Stacy Jupiter (born 1975) | AB 1997 | Marine scientist |
| Michio Kaku (born 1947) | College 1968 | Theoretical physicist, activist |
| Richard M. Karp (born 1935) | College 1955, PhD 1959 | Turing Award laureate |
| Jerome H. Kidder (1842–1899) | B.A. 1862; M.A. 1875 | Royal surgeon and astronomer, Order of Christ conferred by King of Portugal, the decoration authorized by joint resolution of the United States Congress in 1870 |
| Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956) | Sc. D. 1919 | Sexologist |
| Ivan Krstić | College | Computer security expert |
| Butler Lampson (born 1943) | College 1964 | Turing Award laureate |
| Theodore K. Lawless (1892–1971) | | Dermatologist; Spingarn Medal |
| Saul Levin | M.A. 1994 | Psychiatrist |
| Holbrook Mann MacNeille (1907–1973) | PhD 1935 | Mathematician |
| Annie Luetkemeyer | PhD 1999 | Infectious diseases physician |
| John Marsh (1799-1856) | 1823 | First medical doctor in California and first Harvard graduate in California. |
| Rustin McIntosh (1894–1986) | College 1914; M.D. 1918 | Pediatrician |
| Curtis T. McMullen (born 1958) | PhD 1985 | Fields Medal winner |
| Scott McNealy (born 1954) | College 1976 | Co-founder and chairman of Sun Microsystems |
| John S. Meyer (1924–2011) | | Physician |
| Marvin Minsky (1927–2016) | College 1950 | Computer scientist |
| Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017) | PhD 2004 | Fields Medal winner |
| Sylvanus G. Morley (1883–1948) | College 1908 | Mayanist scholar and archaeologist |
| Robert Tappan Morris (born 1965) | College 1987; S.M. 1993; PhD 1999 | CS professor at MIT, creator of the first computer worm |
| David Mumford (born 1937) | College 1957; PhD 1961 | Mathematician, Fields Medal winner |
| Vivek Murthy (born 1977) | College 1997 | Vice admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, 19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States |
| Major General Spurgeon Neel (1919–2003) | MPH 1958 | Pioneer of aeromedical evacuation |
| Simon Newcomb (1835-1909) | BSc 1858 | astronomer, applied mathematician and autodidactic polymath |
| J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) | College 1925 | Physicist, "father of the atomic bomb" |
| Susan Oyama (born 1943) | PhD 1973 | Psychologist and philosopher of science, professor emerita at the John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center. Oyama's systems theory has had a significant impact in philosophy of biology, cognitive science, and psychology. |
| Tim O'Reilly (born 1954) | College 1975 | Founder of O'Reilly Media |
| George Parkman (1790–1849) | College 1809; Medical 1813 | Physician, businessman, murder victim |
| Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) | College 1859 | Philosopher, mathematician |
| Alex K. Shalek (born 1981) | PhD 2011 | Single cell genomics key opinion leader |
| A. Sivathanu Pillai (born 1947) | Business 1991 | Distinguished Scientist and Chief Controller DRDO and CEO of BrahMos Aerospace |
| Mark Plotkin (born 1955) | Extension 1979 | Ethnobotanist; founder of Amazon Conservation Team |
| Daniel Quillen (1940–2011) | College 1961; PhD 1964 | Mathematician, Fields Medal winner |
| Christian R. H. Raetz (1946–2011) | M.D. and PhD 1973 | Professor of biochemistry at Duke University and member of National Academy of Sciences |
| Joseph Ransohoff (1915–2001) | College 1938 | Neurosurgeon, professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the New York University School of Medicine |
| Charles Reigeluth | B.A. Economics, 1969 | Professor of instructional design systems and creator of Elaboration Theory |
| Stuart A. Rice (born 1932) | A.M. 1954; PhD 1955 | Physical chemist at The University of Chicago |
| Dennis Ritchie (1941–2011) | College 1963; PhD 1968 | Computer scientist |
| Brian M. Salzberg | PhD 1971 | Neuroscientist, biophysicist and professor |
| Vern L. Schramm (born 1941) | M.S. nutrition | Professor of biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
| Jon Seger | PhD 1980 | Developed theory of bet-hedging in biology; recipient of MacArthur Genius Grant |
| Oscar Elton Sette (1900–1972) | M.A. biology 1930 | Influential fisheries scientist who pioneered fisheries oceanography and modern fisheries science |
| Harold Hill Smith (1910–1994) | PhD | Geneticist |
| Richard Stallman (born 1953) | College 1974 | Founder of the Free Software Foundation |
| John Tooby (born 1952) | PhD 1985 | Anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist |
| Marius Vassiliou (born 1957) | College 1978 | Computational scientist and research executive |
| Vladimir Voevodsky (1966–2017) | PhD 1966 | Fields Medal winner |
| An Wang (1920–1990) | PhD 1948 | Computer pioneer; inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame for magnetic core memory; philanthropist |
| William C. Waterhouse (1941–2016) | College 1963; M.A.; PhD 1968 | Mathematician, professor |
| John White Webster (1793–1850) | College 1811; Medical 1815 | Physician, professor, killer; Parkman-Webster murder case |
| Edward Osborne Wilson (1929–2021) | PhD 1955; professor | Biologist |
| Charles F. Winslow (1811–1877) | Medical 1834 | Physician, diplomat, and atomic theorist |
| John Winthrop (1714–1779) | College 1732; professor | Astronomer, mathematician |
| Chauncey Wright (1830–1875) | College 1852 | Mathematician, philosopher, professor |
| Andrew Yao (born 1946) | PhD 1972 | Turing Award laureate |
| Norbert Wiener (1894-1964) | PhD 1913 | Mathematician, philosopher, professor |
| William James Sidis (1898–1944) | A.B. cum laude 1914 | Mathematician |

## Business

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Bill Ackman (born 1966) | College, Business 1995 | CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management |
| Darius Adamczyk (born 1966) | Business 1995 | CEO of Honeywell |
| William McPherson Allen (1900–1985) | Law 1925 | CEO of Boeing |
| Adam Aron (born 1954) | College 1976, Business 1979 | CEO of AMC Theatres |
| J. Paul Austin (1915–1985) | College 1937 | CEO of The Coca-Cola Company |
| Charles Francis Adams Jr. (1835–1915) | College 1856 | President of Union Pacific Railroad |
| Marcus Agius (born 1946) | Business 1972 | Chairman, Barclays PLC |
| A. Charles Baillie (born 1939) | Business | CEO of Toronto-Dominion Bank |
| Steve Ballmer (born 1956) | College 1977 | President and CEO of Microsoft |
| Jim Balsillie (born 1961) | Business 1989 | CEO of Research in Motion |
| Hans W. Becherer (1935–2016) | Business | CEO of John Deere |
| Alex Behring (born 1967) | Business 1995 | Chairman of Kraft Heinz |
| Charles M. Berger (1936–2008) | Business, 1960 | Business executive, H. J. Heinz Company; CEO of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company |
| Gordon Binder (born 1935) | | CEO of Amgen (1988–2000) |
| Frank Biondi (1945–2019) | Business | CEO of Viacom, Universal Pictures |
| Frank Blake (born 1949) | College 1971 | CEO of The Home Depot |
| Lloyd Blankfein (born 1954) | College 1975; Law 1978 | CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs |
| Leonard Blavatnik (born 1957) | Business 1989 | Founder of Access Industries |
| Nathan Blecharczyk (born 1983) | College | Co-founder of Airbnb |
| Ana Patricia Botín (born 1960) | Business | Chairperson of Santander Group |
| Robert A. Bradway | Business 1990 | CEO of Amgen |
| Charles Bunch (born 1950) | Business 1979 | CEO of PPG Industries |
| Daniel Burke (1929–2011) | MBA 1955 | Former President of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) 1986–94, engineered the $3.5 billion acquisition of ABC by Capital Cities in 1986 |
| James E. Burke (1925–2012) | Business 1949 | CEO of Johnson & Johnson |
| Philip Caldwell (1920–2013) | Business 1942 | CEO of Ford Motor Company |
| John T. Cahill | College; MBA | Chairman and CEO of The Pepsi Bottling Group |
| Gene Camarena | Business 1987 | President and CEO of La Raza Pizza, a Pizza Hut franchisee |
| Chase Carey (born 1954) | Business 1979 | President of News Corporation |
| Winslow Carlton (1907–1994) | Business 1929 | Businessman and cooperative organizer |
| Donald J. Carty (born 1946) | Business | CEO of AMR Corporation |
| Doug Carlston (born 1947) | College 1970; Law 1975 | Co-founder of Broderbund Software |
| Gregory C. Case (born 1963) | Business | CEO of Aon |
| Albert Vincent Casey (1920–2004) | College, Business 1948 | CEO of American Airlines |
| R. Martin Chavez | Biochemistry 1985 | CFO of Goldman Sachs |
| Kenneth Chenault (born 1951) | Law 1976 | CEO of American Express |
| Shou Zi Chew | Business 2010 | CEO of TikTok |
| Howard L. Clark Sr. (1916–2001) | Law | Former CEO of American Express (1960–1977) |
| Michael Cohrs | College 1979; Business 1981 | Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank |
| Vittorio Colao (born 1961) | Business | CEO of Vodafone |
| Edward Conard | Business 1982 | Founding partner, Bain Capital |
| Michael Corbat (born 1960) | College 1983 | CEO of Citigroup |
| Zoe Cruz (born 1955) | College 1977; Business 1982 | Former Co-President of Morgan Stanley |
| H. Lawrence Culp Jr. (born 1964) | Business 1990 | CEO of General Electric |
| Ray Dalio (born 1949) | Business | Founder of Bridgewater Associates |
| John D'Agostino | MBA, 2002 | MD of Alkeon Capital, youngest Head of Strategy for NYMEX and subject of best-selling book Rigged: The Ivy League Kid who Changed the World of Oil From Wall Street to Dubai |
| Jamie Dimon (born 1956) | Business 1982 | Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase |
| James Dole (1877–1950) | College 1899 | Founder of Dole Food Company |
| Tim Draper (born 1958) | Business 1984 | Venture capitalist |
| Robert Louis-Dreyfus (1946–2009) | Business 1973 | CEO of Adidas |
| Colin Drummond (born 1951) | MBA | CEO of Viridor and joint CEO of Pennon Group |
| Mark Ein (born 1964) | MBA 1992 | Venture capitalist, sports team owner |
| Mark Fields (born 1961) | Business | CEO of Ford Motor Company |
| Robert Fornaro (born 1952 or 1953) | Design | CEO of Spirit Airlines |
| Kenneth Frazier (born 1954) | Law 1978 | CEO of Merck & Co. |
| Victor Fung (born 1945) | PhD 1971 | Chairman of Li & Fung group of companies |
| Elbridge T. Gerry Sr. (1909–1999) | BA, 1931 | General partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.; director of the Union Pacific Railroad 1957–86 |
| Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (born 1942) | Business 1965 | CEO of RJR Nabisco and IBM |
| Walter Sherman Gifford (1885–1966) | College 1905 | President of AT&T Corporation |
| Melvin Gordon (1919–2015) | College 1941, Business 1943 | CEO of Tootsie Roll Industries |
| Kenneth C. Griffin (born 1968) | College 1990 | Chairman of Citadel LLC |
| Gerald Grinstein (born 1932) | Law 1957 | Former CEO of Delta Air Lines |
| David L. Gunn (born 1937) | College 1959 | CEO of Amtrak |
| Rajat Gupta | MBA 1973 | Businessman, later convicted for insider trading |
| Walter A. Haas Jr. (1916–1995) | Business 1939 | CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. |
| Torstein Hagen (born 1943) | Business 1968 | Founder of Viking Cruises |
| Josh Harris (born 1964) | MBA 1990 | Co-founder of Apollo Global Management, owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL's New Jersey Devils, and the NFL's Washington Commanders |
| Fred Hassan (born 1945) | Business 1972 | CEO of Schering-Plough |
| Trip Hawkins (born 1953) | College 1976 | Founder of Electronic Arts and the 3DO Company |
| Sean M. Healey (born 1961) | College 1983; Law 1987 | CEO of Affiliated Managers Group and chairman of the Peabody Essex Museum |
| Warren Hellman (1934–2011) | Business 1959 | Founder of Hellman & Friedman and Hellman, Ferri Investment Associates (today Matrix Partners); former president, chairman, head of Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers |
| John B. Hess (born 1954) | College 1975 | CEO of Hess Corporation |
| Darren Huston (born 1966) | Business | CEO of The Priceline Group |
| Jeffrey R. Immelt (born 1956) | Business 1982 | Chairman and CEO of General Electric |
| Leila Janah (1982–2020) | College 2005 | CEO of Samasource |
| Andy Jassy (born 1967/68) | College 1990, Business 1997 | CEO of Amazon Inc. |
| Abigail Johnson (born 1961) | Business 1988 | CEO of Fidelity Investments |
| Edward Johnson, III (born 1930) | College 1954 | CEO of Fidelity Investments |
| Whipple V. N. Jones (1909–2001) | College 1932, Business | Founder of Aspen Highlands |
| Leo Kahn (1916–2011) | College 1938 | Co-Founder of Staples Inc. |
| George Kaiser (born 1942) | College 1964 | Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation |
| Carol Kalish (1955–1991) | Radcliffe College | Editor, Marvel Comics executive |
| Steven A. Kandarian | Business 1989 | CEO of MetLife |
| Chris Kempczinski | Business 1997 | CEO of McDonald's |
| Jeff Kindler (born 1955) | Law 1980 | CEO of Pfizer |
| Rollin King (1931–2014) | Business 1964 | Founder of Southwest Airlines |
| Jim Koch (born 1949) | College 1971, Business & Law 1978 | Founder of Boston Beer Company |
| Robert Kraft (born 1941) | Business 1965 | CEO of The Kraft Group, New England Patriots owner |
| Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan (born 1938) | Business 1964 | Tamil Malaysian businessman and philanthropist |
| A.G. Lafley (born 1947) | Business 1977 | CEO of Procter & Gamble |
| J. Hicks Lanier | Business 1964 | CEO of Oxford Industries |
| Kewsong Lee (born 1965) | College 1986; Business 1990 | CEO of The Carlyle Group |
| Jorge Paulo Lemann (born 1939) | College 1961 | Founder of 3G Capital |
| Reginald Lewis (1942–1993) | Law 1968 | Former CEO of Beatrice Foods |
| John Langeloth Loeb Jr. (born 1930) | College 1952; Business 1954 | Chairman of Loeb, Rhoades Trust Company; former United States Ambassador to Denmark |
| Paul B. Loyd Jr. | M.B.A. | Former chairman and chief executive officer of the R&B Falcon Corporation (1997–2001) |
| Michael Lynton (born 1960) | College 1982, Business 1985 | CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Stanley Marcus (1905–2002) | College 1925; Business 1926 | President and CEO, Neiman Marcus department stores |
| Charles Peter McColough (1922–2006) | Business 1949 | CEO of Xerox Corporation; Namesake of C. Peter McColough Roundtable Series on International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations |
| Ross McEwan (born 1957) | Business | CEO of National Australia Bank |
| Douglas McGregor (1906–1964) | A.M. 1933; PhD 1935 | Management theorist |
| Scott McNealy (born 1954) | College 1976 | Co-founder of Sun Microsystems |
| James McNerney (born 1949) | Business 1975 | Chairman and CEO of Boeing |
| George W. Merck (1894–1957) | College 1915 | Industrialist, president of Merck & Co. |
| Hiroshi Mikitani (born 1966) | Business 1993 | CEO of Rakuten |
| Charles Moorman (born 1953) | Business 1978 | CEO of Amtrak, Norfolk Southern Railway |
| Henry Sturgis Morgan (1900–1982) | College 1923 | Co-founder of Morgan Stanley |
| J. P. Morgan Jr. (1867–1943) | College 1886 | President of J.P. Morgan & Co. |
| Charlie Munger (1924–2023) | Law 1948 | Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway |
| Vasant Narasimhan (born 1976) | Medical, KSG 2003 | CEO of Novartis |
| David Nelms (born 1961) | Business 1987 | CEO of Discover Financial |
| Albert Nickerson (1911–1994) | College 1933 | CEO of Mobil |
| Roy Niederhoffer (born 1966) | College 1987 | Founder and President of R. G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, Inc. |
| Irving S. Olds (1887–1963) | Law 1910 | CEO of U.S. Steel |
| Bradley Palmer (1866–1946) | College 1888; Law 1889 | Drafted the merger that formed United Fruit Company; served on the board of directors for Gillette and ITT; appointed to represent President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference |
| Ellen Pao (born 1970) | | CEO of Reddit |
| John Paulson (born 1955) | Business 1980 | Founder of Paulson & Co. |
| Art Peck (born 1955) | Business 1979 | CEO of Gap Inc. |
| Ken Powell (born 1954) | College 1976 | CEO of General Mills |
| Vivek Ramaswamy (born 1985) | College 2007 | Founder of Roivant Sciences, co-founder of Strive Asset Management |
| Vivek Ranadivé (born 1957) | Business 1983 | CEO of TIBCO Software |
| Sumner Redstone (born 1923) | College 1944; Law 1947 | Chairman and CEO of Viacom |
| James Reed (born 1963) | MBA 1990 | Chairman and chief executive of the Reed group of companies |
| Fred Reichheld (born 1952) | College 1974; Business 1978 | Author of bestselling business books |
| Robert Ridder (1919–2000) | | Director of Knight Ridder media |
| David Rockefeller (1915–2017) | College 1936 | Banker; philanthropist; Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank; son of American financer John D. Rockefeller Jr.; grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller |
| Gary Rodkin | Business 1980 | CEO of ConAgra Foods |
| Harry M. Rubin (born 1952) | Business 1976 | Co-founder of Samuel Adams; COO and CFO of Atari, Inc. |
| Robert Rubin (born 1938) | Economics 1960 | United States Secretary of the Treasury |
| Sheryl Sandberg (born 1969) | College 1991 | COO of Facebook |
| Ulf Mark Schneider (born 1965) | Business 1993 | CEO of Nestlé |
| Steve Schwarzman (born 1947) | Business 1972 | Billionaire, owner of Blackstone Group |
| Daniel C. Searle (1926–2007) | Business 1952 | Heir, CEO of G. D. Searle & Company, conservative philanthropist |
| Frank Shrontz (born 1931) | Business 1958 | CEO of Boeing |
| Jeffrey Skilling (born 1953) | Business 1979 | CEO of Enron; convicted of fraud and conspiracy |
| Jeff Smisek (born 1954) | Law 1982 | CEO of United Airlines |
| Orin C. Smith (1942–2018) | Business 1967 | CEO of Starbucks |
| Thomas G. Stemberg (1949–2015) | College 1971/Business 1973 | Co-founder of Staples Inc. |
| Jan Stenbeck (1942–2002) | Business | President of MTG |
| Gerald L. Storch | College | CEO of Hudson's Bay Company |
| William H Sumner (1780–1861) | College 1799 | Developed East Boston |
| Marcel Herrmann Telles (born 1950) | Business | Founder of 3G Capital |
| Haslina Taib | | Chair of the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit |
| Anand Mahindra (born 1955) | College 1979; Business 1981 | Chairman of Mahindra Group |
| Ratan Naval Tata (born 1937) | Business 1975 | Chairman of Tata Group |
| John Thain (born 1955) | Business 1979 | Chairman and CEO of CIT Group, last chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch |
| Charlemagne Tower (1809–1889) | Law 1830 | Lawyer, businessman; namesake of towns in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and North Dakota; served on Harvard's board of overseers |
| Robert Uihlein Jr. (1916–1976) | College 1938 | Chairman of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company |
| Rick Wagoner (born 1953) | Business 1977 | CEO of General Motors |
| Michael J. Ward (born 1950) | Business 1973 | CEO of CSX Corporation |
| Meg Whitman (born 1956) | Business 1979 | CEO of HP Inc. |
| Harry Elkins Widener (1885–1912) | College 1907 | Namesake of Harvard's Widener Library; died in the sinking of the Titanic |
| Arne Wilhelmsen (1929–2020) | Business | Founder of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. |
| Leah Zell (born 1949) | College 1971 | Investor |
| Moses Znaimer (born 1942) | A.M. | Canadian media mogul |
| Mortimer Zuckerman (born 1937) | Law 1962 | Owner of New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report |
| Howard Jonas (born 1956) | College 1978 | Founder and CEO of IDT Corporation |
* Whitney Tilson (born 1966), hedge fund manager, philanthropist, author, and Democratic political activist

## Law
### Supreme Court justices

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud (born 1959) | Law 1983 | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India |
| Sophia Akuffo (born 1949) | Law | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana |
| Solomon Areda Waktolla (born 1975) | Harvard Kennedy School, MPA 2013 Harvard Law School, LLM 2014 | Judge at United Nations Dispute Tribunal Judge at Administrative Tribunal of African Development Bank Former Deputy Chief Justice of Ethiopia, Member of Permanent Court of Arbitration at Hague |
| Mary Arden, Lady Arden of Heswall (born 1947) | Law 1970 | Judge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom |
| Richard Reeve Baxter (1921–1980) | Law 1948 | Justice of the International Court of Justice |
| Kwamena Bentsi-Enchill (1919–1974) | Law | Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana |
| Harry Blackmun (1908–1999) | College 1929, Law 1932 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Peter Blanchard (born 1942) | Law | Justice of the Supreme Court of New Zealand |
| Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) | Law 1877 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| William J. Brennan Jr. (1906–1997) | Law 1931 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Stephen Breyer (born 1938) | Law 1964 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Henry Billings Brown (1836–1913) | Law 1859 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Thomas Buergenthal (born 1934) | Law | Justice of the International Court of Justice |
| Harold H. Burton (1888–1964) | Law 1912 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Renato Corona (1948–2016) | Law 1982 | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines |
| Benjamin Curtis (1809–1874) | College 1829; Law 1832 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| William Cushing (1732–1810) | College 1751 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| James Wilfred Estey (1889–1956) | Law 1915 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada |
| Willard Estey (1919–2002) | Law 1946 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada |
| Jens Evensen (1917–2004) | Law 1968 | Justice of the International Court of Justice |
| Marcelo Fernan (1927–1999) | Law 1954 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines |
| Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) | Law 1906 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Stephen Gageler (born 1958) | Law 1987 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Australia |
| Neil Gorsuch (born 1967) | Law 1991 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Horace Gray (1828–1902) | College 1845; Law 1849 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Irmgard Griss (born 1946) | Law 1975 | President of the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice |
| Ofer Grosskopf (born 1969) | Law 1999 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) | College 1861; Law 1866 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Ketanji Brown Jackson (born 1970) | College 1992; Law 1996 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Francis Jardeleza (born 1949) | Law 1977 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines |
| Elena Kagan (born 1960) | Law 1986 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Sisi Khampepe (born 1957) | Law | Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa |
| Kenneth Keith (born 1937) | Law | Justice of the International Court of Justice |
| Anthony Kennedy (born 1936) | Law 1961 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Bora Laskin (1912–1984) | Law 1937 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada |
| Koen Lenaerts (born 1954) | Law 1978, KSG 1979 | Justice of the European Court of Justice |
| Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff (born 1953) | Law 1975 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Germany |
| Eilert Stang Lund (born 1939) | Law 1973 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway |
| John McLean (1785–1861) | College 1806 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena (born 1969) | Law | Justice of the Supreme Court of Mexico |
| Sundaresh Menon (born 1962) | Law 1991 | Chief Justice of Singapore |
| Yuko Miyazaki (born 1951) | Law 1984 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan |
| William Henry Moody (1853–1917) | College 1876 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Rohinton Fali Nariman (born 1956) | Law 1981 | Justice of the Supreme Court of India |
| Sandile Ngcobo (born 1953) | Law | Justice of the Supreme Court of South Africa |
| Masaharu Ōhashi (born 1947) | Law 1976 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan |
| Lewis F. Powell Jr. (1907–1998) | Law 1932 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Ivan Rand (1884–1969) | Law 1912 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada |
| William Rehnquist (1924–2005) | A.M. 1950 | Chief Justice of the United States |
| John Roberts (born 1955) | College 1976; Law 1979 | Chief Justice of the United States |
| Edward Terry Sanford (1865–1930) | College 1885; A.M. 1889; Law 1889 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Vicente Abad Santos (1916–1993) | Law | Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines |
| Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) | Law 1960 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Stephen M. Schwebel (born 1929) | College 1950 | Justice of the International Court of Justice |
| Dave Smuts | Law 1983 | Judge of the Supreme Court of Namibia |
| David Souter (born 1939) | College 1961; Law 1966 | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Wishart Spence (1904–1998) | Law 1929 | Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada |
| Joseph Story (1779–1845) | College 1798; Professor | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |

### Other legal figures

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Alvin Bragg (1973-) | Class of 1995 | Elected Manhattan District Attorney 2022 |
| Andrea Álvarez Marín (1986-) | | Member of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica |
| Joshua Atherton (1737–1809) | Class of 1762 | Attorney General New Hampshire |
| John O. Bailey (1880–1959) | Class of 1906 | State supreme court justice from Oregon |
| Stephen Barnett (1935–2009) | College 1957; Law 1962 | Legal scholar at Berkeley Law who opposed the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 |
| George Tyler Bigelow (1810–1878) | College 1829 | Associate justice and chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court |
| Richard Blumenthal (born 1946) | College | Former Attorney General of Connecticut |
| Thomas J. Burke (1896-1966) | College 1920 | Justice of the Supreme Court of North Dakota 1939-1966; Chief Justice 1955-56; 1965-66 |
| Andrew Cheung (born 1961) | Master of Laws 1985 | Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong |
| Archibald Cox (1912–2004) | College 1934; Law 1937 | Special prosecutor in the Watergate Scandal |
| Nora Dannehy (born 1961) | Law 1986 | Special Prosecutor in the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Deputy Attorney General of Connecticut |
| Bruce Fein (born 1947) | Law 1972 | Founder of Bruce Fein & Associates, Inc.; principal civil liberties activist in The Lichfield Group; analyst and commentator for conservative think tanks; top Justice Department official under Ronald Reagan administration; Senior Policy Advisor for the Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign |
| Patrick Fitzgerald (born 1961) | Law 1985 | Special Prosecutor in the Plame affair; United States Attorney |
| Stephen Gageler (born 1958) | Master of Laws 1987 | Justice of the High Court of Australia |
| Merrick Garland (born 1952) | College 1974; Law 1977 | Attorney General of the United States; former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit |
| Paul C. Gartzke (1927–2009) | Law 1952 | Presiding Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals |
| Kumiki Gibson (born 1959) | Extension 1985 | Chief Counsel to the V.P. Al Gore 1994–97 |
| Terry Goddard (born 1947) | College 1969 | Attorney General of Arizona |
| Ulysses S. Grant Jr. (1852–1929) | College 1874 | Attorney, land developer |
| William B. Gray (1942–1994) | College 1964 | United States Attorney for Vermont |
| John Patrick Hartigan (1887–1968) | Law 1909 | Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island |
| Charles Hamilton Houston (1895–1950) | Law 1923 | Dean of Howard University Law School, lawyer for NAACP |
| Joseph D. Kearney | Law 1989 | Dean of Marquette University Law School |
| Harold Hongju Koh (born 1954) | College 1975; Law 1980 | Legal Adviser of the Department of State; former Dean of Yale Law School |
| Juliane Kokott (born 1957) | Law | Advocate General at the European Court of Justice |
| John H. Langbein (born 1941) | Law 1968 | Legal scholar, professor at Yale Law School |
| Kayleigh McEnany (born 1988) | Law 2016 | Political commentator and White House press secretary |
| Tom Mesereau (born 1950) | College 1973 | Criminal defense attorney |
| James T. Mitchell (1834-1915) | 1855 | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Wendell Phillips (born 1811) | College 1831, Law 1833 | Abolitionist |
| Elizabeth Prelogar (born 1980) | Law 2008 | Solicitor General of the United States and former clerk for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan |
| Paul Reardon (1909–1988) | College 1932, Law 1935 | Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court |
| Lemuel Shaw (1781–1861) | College 1800 | Chief Justice of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Michael Wachter (born 1943) | M.A. 1967, PhD 1970 | Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School |
| Samuel Warren (1852–1910) | Law 1877 | Attorney; law partner of Louis Brandeis |
| Henry C. Whitaker (born 1978) | Law J.D. magna cum laude 2003 | Solicitor General of Florida, 2021-present |
| Valerie Zachary (born 1962) | Law J.D. cum laude 1987 | Associate Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, 2015-present |
* Danielle Sassoon, Class of 2008, former acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York

## Military

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| John Abizaid (born 1951) | A.M. 1981 | U.S. Army general, Commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) |
| Douglas Campbell (1896–1990) | A.B. 1917 | Soldier, World War I ace |
| Erle Cocke Jr. (1921–2000) | M.B.A. 1947 | U.S. Army officer in World War II, Silver Star Medal recipient, National Commander of the American Legion (1950–51) |
| George Downing (c. 1624–1684) | College 1642 | English soldier, diplomat |
| Peter Fanta | M.P.A. | U.S. Navy admiral |
| Manning Force (1824–1899) | College 1845; Law 1848 | Union Army general, Medal of Honor recipient, judge, author |
| David Gurfein | M.B.A. 2000 | U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, and CEO of nonprofit organization United American Patriots |
| Pierpont M. Hamilton (1898–1982) | College 1920; A.M. 1946 | U.S. Army Air Forces general in World War II, Medal of Honor recipient |
| Walter Newell Hill (1881–1955) | College 1904 | U.S. Marine Corps general, Medal of Honor recipient |
| Henry S. Huidekoper (1839–1918) | College 1862; A.M. 1872 | Union Army officer, Medal of Honor recipient |
| John William Kilbreth (1876–1958) | College 1898 | U.S. Army brigadier general during World War I, Army Distinguished Service Medal recipient |
| Claud Ashton Jones (1885–1948) | M.S. 1915 | U.S. Navy admiral, Medal of Honor recipient |
| Henry Ware Lawton (1843–1899) | Law 1866 | U.S. Army general, Medal of Honor recipient, killed in the Philippine–American War |
| John N. Lotz | Business 1971 | Air National Guard general |
| George G. McMurtry (1876–1958) | College 1899 | U.S. Army officer in World War I with the "Lost Battalion", Medal of Honor recipient |
| Hal Moore (1922–2017) | | U.S. Army general, author of We Were Soldiers Once... And Young |
| Robert C. Murray (1946–1970) | Business 1970 | U.S. Army soldier killed in the Vietnam War, Medal of Honor recipient |
| Charles Coudert Nast (1903–1981) | Law 1925 | Attorney and U.S. Army major general |
| Norris W. Overton (1926–2023) | Business 1972 | U.S. Air Force general |
| Charles E. Phelps (1833–1908) | Law 1853 | Union Army general, Medal of Honor recipient, U.S. Representative from Maryland, lawyer, judge |
| Horace Porter (1837–1921) | Lawrence Scientific School 1857 | Union Army general, Medal of Honor recipient, businessman, ambassador to France |
| Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1887–1944) | College 1909 | Son of President Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. Army general, Medal of Honor recipient, businessman, Governor of Puerto Rico, Governor-General of the Philippines |
| Don Ross (1922–2015) | PhD in Applied Physics & Engineering Science 1953 | recipient of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award, made important developments in reduction of submarine noise |
| Leroy A. Schreiber (1917–1944) | 1939 | U.S. Army Air Forces fighter ace killed in World War II |
| Sherrod E. Skinner Jr. (1929–1952) | 1951 | U.S. Marine Corps officer killed in the Korean War, Medal of Honor recipient |
| Phillips Waller Smith (1906–1963) | M.B.A. 1940 | U.S. Air Force general |
| Oliver Lyman Spaulding (1875–1947) | M.A. 1932 | U.S. Army general |
| Hazard Stevens (1842–1918) | College 1865 | Union Army general, Medal of Honor recipient, Massachusetts state legislator, mountaineer |
| Artemas Ward (1727–1800) | College 1748 | Major General in the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts |
| Arthur Harold Webber (1893–1918) | Harvard 1915 | Volunteer with RAF Squadron 84; killed in flying accident in Texas, April 10, 1918 |
| Charles White Whittlesey (1884–1921) | Law 1908 | U.S. Army officer in World War I, commander of the "Lost Battalion", Medal of Honor recipient |
| Leonard Wood (1860–1927) | Medical 1884 | U.S. Army general, military surgeon, commander of the Rough Riders, 5th Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of Cuba and Governor General of the Philippines, Medal of Honor recipient |
| Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943) | 1919–1921 | Japanese Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy |

## Journalism

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Jill Abramson (born 1954) | College 1976 | Former executive editor of The New York Times |
| Jacqueline Alemany (born 1989) | College 2011 | Washington Post White House Reporter |
| Christian Alfonsi | PhD 1999 | Author, Circle in the Sand, about Gulf War and Iraq War |
| Jonathan Alter (born 1957) | College 1979 | Former senior editor of Newsweek |
| Steve Bannon (born 1953) | MBA 1983 | American media executive, political strategist |
| Melissa Block (born 1962) | College 1983 | Host of NPR's All Things Considered |
| Ben Bradlee (1921–2014) | College 1944 | Washington Post executive editor during Watergate scandal |
| Warren T. Brookes (1929–1991) | College 1952 | Newspaper columnist for Detroit News, known for economics reporting |
| James Brown (born 1951) | College 1973 | Sportscaster |
| Leslie T. Chang | 1991 | Journalist (former correspondent in Beijing, China for The Wall Street Journal; author of Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China |
| Susan Chira (born 1958) | College 1980 | Foreign editor of The New York Times since 2004 |
| Kevin Corke | HKS 2004 | Journalist, NBC News |
| Jim Cramer (born 1955) | College 1977; Law 1984 | Television host |
| E. J. Dionne (born 1952) | College 1973 | Washington Post columnist |
| Lou Dobbs (born 1945) | College 1967 | Television host |
| William Emerson (1923–2009) | College 1948 | Covered the civil rights era as Newsweek's first bureau chief assigned to cover the Southern United States; editor in chief of The Saturday Evening Post |
| Sharon Epperson (born 1968) | College, 1990 | Television finance correspondent for CNBC |
| James Fallows (born 1949) | College 1970 | Journalist |
| Amy Goodman (born 1957) | College 1984 | Liberal political commentator, founder of Democracy Now! |
| Donald E. Graham (born 1945) | College 1966 | The Washington Post Company chairman and CEO |
| Kristen Green | HKS | Journalist and author |
| Aaron Harber | MPA | Political analyst for CBS 4 KCNC-TV, host of The Aaron Harber Show on Colorado Public Broadcasting KBDI-TV |
| William Randolph Hearst | Class of 1885, No degree | Businessman, newspaper publisher, politician |
| Walter Isaacson (born 1952) | College 1974 | Former CNN chairman and CEO; managing editor of TIME; author |
| Boisfeuillet Jones Jr. (born 1946) | College 1968; Law 1974 | Washington Post publisher and CEO |
| Mary Louise Kelly (born 1971) | College 1993 | Host of NPR's All Things Considered |
| Michael Kinsley (born 1951) | College 1972; Law 1977 | Journalist |
| Jason E. Klein | MBA 1986 | CEO of Times Mirror Magazines and CEO of Newspaper National Network LP |
| Dorie Klissas | College 1985 | Journalist, television producer, CBS Evening News, Today |
| Nicholas D. Kristof (born 1960) | College 1981 | New York Times reporter and columnist; two-time Pulitzer Prize winner |
| William Kristol (born 1952) | College 1973; PhD 1979 | Editor of The Weekly Standard |
| Melissa Lee | College 1995 | News anchor of CNBC |
| Nicholas Lemann (born 1954) | College 1976 | The New Yorker magazine journalist, former dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism |
| Suzanne Malveaux (born 1966) | College 1987 | CNN correspondent |
| Michel Martin | College 1980 | Weekend host of NPR's All Things Considered; Emmy Award–winner |
| Judith Matloff (born 1958) | College 1981 | Journalist, author, and media safety advocate |
| Josh Morgerman | | Businessman, storm chaser, TV personality, and field correspondent |
| Leon Neyfakh | College 2007 | Host and creator of podcast Slow Burn |
| Soledad O'Brien (born 1966) | College 1987 | Television host |
| Thomas Oliphant | College 1967 | Boston Globe columnist |
| Bill O'Reilly (born 1949) | HKS 1996 | Journalist and conservative political commentator; host of The O'Reilly Factor |
| Silvia Poggioli (born 1946) | College 1968 | Foreign correspondent, NPR |
| John Reed (1887–1920) | College 1910 | Journalist, activist |
| Joy-Ann Reid (born 1968) | College 1990 | MSNBC correspondent and host of AM Joy |
| Frank Rich (born 1949) | College 1971 | New York Times columnist |
| Stephen Sackur (born 1964) | | BBC journalist |
| Peter Sagal (born 1965) | College 1987 | Public radio host of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, playwright, screenwriter, actor |
| Bill Schneider (born 1944) | A.M. 1969, PhD 1972 | Journalist, political analyst |
| Lara Setrakian (born 1982) | 2004 | Journalist, political analyst |
| Richard H.P. Sia (born 1953) | College 1975 | Journalist, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; National Journal; Baltimore Sun. |
| Sam Sifton (born 1966) | College 1988 | New York Times chief restaurant critic |
| Andrew Sullivan (born 1963) | HKS 1986; PhD 1990 | Blogger, journalist |
| Evan Thomas (born 1951) | College 1973 | Journalist for Newsweek and TIME; author of two New York Times bestsellers |
| Pablo S. Torre (born 1985) | College 2007 | Sportswriter for ESPN and Sports Illustrated |
| Kristen Welker (born 1977) | College 1998 | News anchor NBC, host of Meet the Press |
| Katharine Weymouth (born 1966) | College 1988 | Washington Post publisher |
| William Lindsay White (1900–1973) | College 1924 | Journalist |
| Jessica Yellin (born 1971) | College | Journalist |
| Mort Zuckerman (born 1937) | Law 1962 | U.S. News & World Report editor-in-chief, New York Daily News owner and publisher |

## Literature

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Horatio Alger Jr. (1832–1899) | College 1852 | Novelist |
| Tahmima Anam (born 1975) | Phd 2005 | Novelist |
| Michael J. Arlen (born 1930) | College 1952 | Writer, journalist, critic |
| Margaret Atwood (born 1939) | Radcliffe A.M. 1962 | Novelist |
| Peter Benchley (1940–2006) | College 1961 | Novelist |
| Robert Benchley (1889–1945) | College 1912 | Comedian |
| John Berendt (born 1939) | College 1961 | Writer |
| Robert Bly (born 1926) | College 1950 | Poet |
| Marita Bonner (1899–1971) | Radcliffe College 1922 | Harlem Renaissance writer, essayist, poet |
| Bill Branon | College 1959 | Novelist |
| Harold Brodkey (1930–1996) | College 1952 | Novelist |
| George Hardin Brown | College 1971 | Medieval scholar |
| Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867) | College 1814 | Mythologist |
| William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) | College 1936 | Writer |
| Ethan Canin (born 1960) | Medical 1989 | Author |
| Karla Cornejo Villavicencio | College 2011 | Writer |
| Steven R. Covey (1932–2012) | Business 1975 | Author and self-help guru |
| Michael Crichton (1942–2008) | College 1964; Medical 1969 | Novelist, best known for Jurassic Park and the television series ER |
| E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) | College 1915; A.M. 1916 | Poet |
| Guy Davenport (1927–2005) | PhD | Writer, artist, critic |
| Paul de Man (1919–1983) | PhD 1960 | literary critic |
| Joseph Dennie (1768–1812) | College 1790 | Author, editor |
| John dos Passos (1896–1970) | College 1916 | Novelist |
| Edward Eager (1911–1964) | College c. 1932 | Writer of children's literature |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) | College 1821; Divinity 1829 | Writer, namesake of Emerson Hall |
| Berry Fleming (1899–1989) | College 1922 | Novelist |
| Al Franken (born 1951) | College 1973 | Comedian, United States Senator |
| Robert Frost (1874–1963) | College 1897 to 1899, dropped out | Poet |
| Edward Gorey (1925–2000) | College 1950 | Writer, illustrator |
| Alfred Grossman (born 1927) | 1949 | Writer and novelist |
| Donald Hall (1928–2018) | College 1951 | 14th U.S. Poet Laureate |
| Louisa Hall (born 1982) | College 2004 | Author |
| James D. Hart (1911–1990) | | Writer, professor |
| Mark Helprin (born 1947) | College, Graduate School | Writer |
| Julie Hilden | College 1989 | Author |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) | College; PhD 1836; professor | Poet, physician |
| Amanda Gorman | College 2020 | Poet, activist |
| Angela Hur | College 2002 | Author |
| Gregg Hurwitz | College 1995 | Novelist, comics writer |
| Uzodinma Iweala (born 1982) | College 2004 | Author |
| Gish Jen (born 1955) | College 1977 | Author |
| Helen Keller (1880–1968) | Radcliffe 1904 | Deafblind author, activist, and lecturer |
| H.T. Kirby-Smith (born 1938) | A.M. 1964 | Poet and author |
| Maxine Kumin (1925–2014) | College 1946; A.M. 1948 | Poet |
| Jean Kwok | College | Author |
| Sally Laird (1956–2010) | MA 1981 | Writer, editor, translator |
| Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) | Radcliffe 1951 | Novelist |
| Hunter Lewis (born 1947) | A.B. 1969 | Author |
| Frederick Wadsworth Loring (1848–1871) | College 1870 | Author, newspaper correspondent |
| James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) | College 1838 | Poet, abolitionist |
| Alison Lurie (born 1926) | Radcliffe 1947 | Novelist |
| Norman Mailer (1923–2007) | College 1943 | Novelist |
| F.O. Matthiessen (1902–1950) | M.A. 1926 PhD 1927 | Harvard teacher |
| Anne McCaffrey (1926–2011) | Radcliffe 1947 | Novelist |
| Mary Lambeth Moore | | novelist |
| Julian Moynahan (1925–2014) | College 1946, PhD 1957 | Critic and novelist |
| Charles Murray (born 1943) | College 1965 | Writer |
| Ogden Nash (1902-1971) | College 1920 | Poet |
| Howard Nemerov (1920–1991) | College 1941 | Poet |
| Frank O'Hara (1926–1966) | College 1950 | Poet |
| Carl Phillips (born 1959) | College 1981 | Poet |
| George Plimpton (1927–2003) | College 1948 | Writer, journalist, actor |
| Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) | Radcliffe 1951 | Poet |
| George de la Ruiz Santayana (1863–1952) | College 1886 | Philosopher, poet |
| Rudy Ruiz (born 1968) | College 1990; M.P.P. 1993 | Novelist and writer of short stories |
| E. San Juan Jr. (born 1938) | A.M.; PhD | Poet, cultural scholar |
| Erich Segal (1937–2010) | College 1958; A.M. 1959; PhD 1965 | Author, screenwriter |
| Frank Shuffelton (d. 2010) | | Literary scholar |
| Maximo V. Soliven (1929–2006) | PhD 1951 | Writer, Chevalier (knight) of the National Order of Merit |
| Susan Sontag (1933–2004) | A.M. 1957 | Writer, activist |
| Thomas Sowell (born 1930) | College 1958 | Writer, economist |
| Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) | Radcliffe 1897 | Poet, novelist |
| Ernest Thayer (1863–1940) | College 1885 | Poet |
| Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) | College 1837 | Journalist, philosopher, writer |
| Sergio Troncoso (born 1961) | College 1983 | Novelist and writer of short stories |
| Lily Tuck (born 1938) | Radcliffe College 1960 | Novelist, winner of the 2004 National Book Award. |
| Scott Turow (born 1949) | Law 1978 | Novelist, lawyer |
| John Updike (1932–2009) | College 1954 | Novelist |
| Kaavya Viswanathan (born 1987) | College 2008 | Novelist, noted plagiarist |
| Andrew Weil (born 1942) | College 1964; Medical School 1968 | Medical writer |
| Richard Wilbur (1921–2017) | A.M. 1947; professor | Poet |
| Lauren Willig (born 1977) | J.D. 2004 | Novelist |
| Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938) | A.M. 1922 | Novelist |
| John Burnham Schwartz (b. 1965) | A.B. 1987 | Novelist, screenwriter |
| Elizabeth Wurtzel (1967–2020) | College 1989 | Writer |
| Yangsze Choo | | Fantasy novelist |
* Benjamin Kunkel (born 1972), novelist and political economist

## Film, theater, and television

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Tatyana Ali (born 1979) | College 2002 | Actress, singer |
| Darren Aronofsky (born 1969) | College 1991 | Film director and screenwriter |
| Ronald Bass (born 1942) | Law 1967 | Screenwriter |
| S. N. Behrman (1893–1973) | College 1916 | Playwright, screenwriter |
| Roberts Blossom (1924–2011) | College 1943 | Actor, poet |
| Andy Borowitz (born 1958) | College 1980 | Comedian, film actor |
| Josh Brener (born 1984) | College 2007 | Actor |
| Amy Brenneman (born 1964) | College 1987 | Actress |
| Bill Brown | College 1992 | Experimental filmmaker |
| Nestor Carbonell (born 1967) | College 1990 | Actor |
| Emily Carmichael (born 1982) | College 2004 | Director, screenwriter, animator |
| Stockard Channing (born 1944) | Radcliffe 1965 | Actress |
| Damien Chazelle (born 1985) | College 2007 | Film director, screenwriter, Academy Award nominee for Whiplash and Academy Award winner for La La Land |
| Karen Chee (born 1995) | College 2017 | Comedian |
| Rob Cohen (born 1949) | College 1971 | Film director, screenwriter |
| Cesar Conde (born 1973) | College 1995 | President of Univision |
| Lindsay Crouse (born 1948) | Radcliffe 1970 | Actress |
| Matt Damon (born 1970) | College 1988–92 | Actor, screenwriter, producer, Academy Award winner |
| Greg Daniels (born 1962) | College 1980–84 | Comedy writer, producer, and director |
| Nick DiGiovanni (born 1996) | College 2018 | Chef and Influencer(Youtube, Tiktok) |
| Jeremy Doner (born 1974) | College 1994 | Screenwriter |
| David Dorfman (born 1994) | Law 2015 | Actor, attorney |
| John Duda (born 1977) | College 1999 | Actor |
| Christopher Durang (born 1949) | College 1971 | Playwright |
| Olga Fedori (born 1984) | College 2004 | Actress, singer |
| Geoffrey S. Fletcher (born 1970) | College 1992 | Screenwriter, film director, professor |
| Greg Giraldo (1965–2010) | Law 1988 | Comedian |
| Caroline Giuliani (born 1989) | College 2011 | Filmmaker, writer; daughter of Rudy Giuliani and Donna Hanover |
| Armando Gutierrez (born 1949) | Extension 2009 | Actor, producer |
| Fred Grandy (born 1948) | College 1970 | Actor, U.S. Congressman |
| Andre Gregory (born 1934) | College 1956 | Theatre director, actor |
| Fred Gwynne (1926–1993) | College 1951 | Actor |
| Hill Harper (born 1966) | HKS, Law 1992 | Actor |
| Erika Harold (born 1980) | Law 2007 | Miss America 2003 |
| Sarah Haskins (born 1979) | College 2001 | Comedian |
| David Heyman (born 1961) | College 1983 | Film producer |
| Dawn Hudson (born c. 1957) | College | CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |
| Josephine Hull (1886–1957) | Radcliffe 1899 | Actress, Academy Award winner |
| Rashida Jones (born 1976) | College 1997 | Actress |
| Tommy Lee Jones (born 1946) | College 1969 | Actor, Academy Award winner, All-Ivy League guard on football team in 1968 |
| Colin Jost (born 1982) | College 2004 | Actor, writer, comedian |
| Ashley Judd (born 1968) | HKS 2010 (Mid-Career MPA) | Actress |
| Douglas Kenney (1947–1980) | College 1968 | Humorist, screenwriter |
| Jack Lemmon (1925–2001) | College 1947 | Actor, Academy Award winner |
| Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986) | College 1940 | Lyricist, librettist |
| Jeremy Leven (born 1941) | Education 1973 | Novelist, screenwriter, director, producer |
| John Lithgow (born 1945) | College 1967 | Actor, Academy Award nominee |
| Donal Logue (born 1966) | College 1989 | Actor |
| Joseph Losey (1909–1984) | A.M. | Film director |
| Terrence Malick (born 1943) | College 1966 | Film director, screenwriter |
| Robert Myhrum (1927–1999) | College 1948 | Emmy-nominated television director |
| Dan McGrath (born 1965) | College 1985 | Emmy-winning writer, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, King of the Hill |
| Tom McGrath (born 1956) | College 1976, MBA 1980 | Film and theater executive, producer; The Princess Bride, Stand By Me,Hair, Passing Strange, West Side Story; eight-time Tony winner. President, Paramount Pictures 1994-2005. |
| Abel Meeropol (1903–1986) | | Actor and composer |
| Alex Michel (born 1970) | College 1992 | Businessman, television personality; The Bachelor |
| David Monahan (born 1971) | College | Actor |
| Mira Nair (born 1957) | College 1979 | Film director |
| Dean Norris (born 1963) | College 1985 | Actor, Breaking Bad, Under the Dome |
| B. J. Novak (born 1979) | College 2001 | Comedian, actor, The Office |
| Conan O'Brien (born 1963) | College 1985 | Talk show host |
| Mark O'Donnell (1954–2012) | College 1976 | Comedy writer, Tony winner for Hairspray, author, op-ed columnist |
| Steve O'Donnell (born 1954) | College 1976 | Comedy writer, multiple Emmy winner, Head Writer for David Letterman Show, The Simpsons |
| Lance Oppenheim (born 1996) | College 2019 | Film director |
| Keir Pearson (born 1968) | College 1989 | Screenwriter |
| Frank Pierson (1925–2012) | College 1950 | Screenwriter, film director |
| Natalie Portman (born 1981) | College 2003 | Actress, Academy Award winner |
| Carol Potter (born 1948) | Social Relations (Psychology) 1970 | Actress, Beverly Hills, 90210 |
| Julia Riew | College 2022 | Composer, Librettist, Lyricist |
| Geneva Robertson-Dworet (born 1985) | College 2007 | Screenwriter |
| Mo Rocca (born 1969) | College 1991 | Comedian |
| Peter Sagal (born 1965) | College 1987 | Host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! |
| Nat Sakdatorn (born 1983) | College c.2005 | Actor |
| Meredith Salenger (born 1970) | College 1992 | Actress |
| Michael Schur (born 1975) | College 1997 | Writer for Saturday Night Live, The Office, and Parks and Recreation |
| Peter Sellars (born 1957) | College 1980 | Theater director |
| Wallace Shawn (born 1943) | College 1965 | Actor, playwright |
| Elisabeth Shue (born 1963) | College 2000 | Actress |
| Henry Singer (born 1957) | College 1980 | Film director |
| Mira Sorvino (born 1967) | College 1990 | Actress, Academy Award winner |
| Whit Stillman (born 1952) | College 1973 | Screenwriter, film director |
| Renee Tajima-Peña (born 1958) | College 1980 | Film director and producer, Who Killed Vincent Chin? |
| Sooni Taraporevala (born 1957) | College 1979 | Screenwriter |
| Jonathan Taylor Thomas (born 1981) | College 2004 | Actor |
| Scottie Thompson (born 1981) | College 2005 | Actress |
| James Toback (born 1944) | College 1966 | Film director and screenwriter |
| Bitsie Tulloch (born 1981) | College 2003 | Actress |
| Brian Tyler (born 1972) | College 1998 | Film composer and music producer |
| Jack Valenti (1921–2007) | Business 1952 | President of the MPAA |
| Courtney B. Vance (born 1960) | College 1982 | Actor |
| John Weidman (born 1946) | College 1968 | Librettist |
| Scott Weinger (born 1975) | College 1998 | Actor |
| Steve Zahn (born 1967) | | Actor |
| Jeff Zucker (born 1965) | College 1986 | President of NBC Universal |
| Edward Zwick (born 1952) | College 1974 | Film director, producer, Academy Award winner |
| Bill Stetson | B.A. 1982 | President of the Vermont Film Commission; producer of What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library; Citizen Suits; and A Closer Walk |
| Nuseir Yassin (born 1992) | College 2014 | Web-based personality |

## Music

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| John Adams (born 1947) | College 1965 | Composer |
| Samuel Hans Adler (born 1928) | College 1950; MA | Composer, conductor |
| Charlie Albright | College 2011 | Pianist, composer |
| Leroy Anderson (1908–1975) | College 1929; A.M. 1930 | Composer, conductor |
| Masi Asare | College; A.B. Performance Studies | Tony-nominated composer |
| Matthew Aucoin (born 1990) | College 2012 | Composer, conductor, pianist, best known for his operas |
| Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) | College 1939 | Composer, conductor |
| Alison Brown (born 1962) | College 1983 | Grammy Award-winning banjo player, guitarist, composer, and producer |
| Elliott Carter (1908–2012) | College 1931 | Composer, Pulitzer Prize-winner |
| Del Castillo (1893–1992) | College 1914 | Organist, composer |
| Han-na Chang (born 1982) | College 2001 | Cellist |
| William Christie (born 1944) | College 1966 | Conductor |
| Rivers Cuomo (born 1970) | College 2006 | Singer of Grammy Award-winning band Weezer |
| Du Yun (born 1977) | Ph.D. 2006 | Composer, performance artist, Pulitzer Prize-winner |
| Elephante (born 1989) | College 2011, Economics | Music Producer and DJ |
| China Forbes (born 1970) | College 1992 | Singer; lead vocalist of Pink Martini |
| Elliot Forbes (1917–2006) | College 1941; A.M. 1947 | Conductor, musicologist |
| Russ Gershon (born 1959) | College 1981/82 | Jazz saxophonist, composer, bandleader |
| Alan Gilbert (born 1967) | College 1989 | Music director of the New York Philharmonic |
| Aaron Goldberg (born 1974) | College 1996 | Jazz pianist |
| Jerry Harrison (born 1949) | College 1971 | Keyboardist for Talking Heads |
| Fred Ho (born 1957) | College 1979 | Jazz baritone saxophonist, composer, and bandleader |
| Samuel Holyoke (1762–1820) | College 1789, A.M. 1792 | Composer |
| Justin Hurwitz (born 1985) | College 2003 | Composer, pianist, and screenwriter; Academy Award-winner for La La Land |
| Stefan Jackiw (born 1985) | College 2007 | Violinist |
| Jacob Kimball (1761–1826) | College 1780 | Composer |
| Thomas M. Lauderdale (born 1970) | College 1992 | Musician, frontman of Pink Martini |
| Sara Lazarus | College 1984 | Jazz vocalist |
| Trey Chui-yee Lee (born 1973) | College 1997 | Cellist |
| Tom Lehrer (born 1928) | College 1946; A.M. 1947 | Satirist, mathematician, singer |
| Ryan Leslie (born 1978) | College 1994 | Music producer, singer-songwriter, musical arranger |
| Yo-Yo Ma (born 1955) | College 1976 | Cellist |
| Daniel Manzano (born 1980) | College 1999 | Bassist, percussionist, backing vocals, and songwriter for Boyce Avenue |
| Harper MacKay (1921—1995) | | Music director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, pianist, conductor, and composer of scores for film and television |
| Tom Morello (born 1964) | College 1986 | Lead guitarist of the Grammy Award-winning band Rage Against the Machine; ex-lead guitarist of the now defunct band Audioslave; political activist |
| Dmitri Nabokov (1934–2012) | College 1955 | Opera singer, son of Vladimir Nabokov |
| Ursula Oppens (born 1944) | Radcliffe 1965 | Pianist |
| William P. Perry (born 1930) | College 1951 | Composer |
| Joshua Redman (born 1969) | College 1991 | Jazz saxophonist |
| Frederic Rzewski (1938–2021) | College 1958 | Composer, pianist |
| Anton Schwartz (born 1967) | College 1989 | Jazz saxophonist |
| Robert Strassburg (1915–2003) | A.M. 1950 | Conductor, composer, professor of music, musicologist |
| Michael Stern (born 1959) | College 1981 | Conductor, Kansas City Symphony |
| Brian Tyler (born 1972) | College 1998 | Film composer, music producer, conductor, pianist, drummer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist |
| Dan Wilson (born 1961) | College 1983 | Musician, singer in the band Semisonic; known for the song "Closing Time" |
| Peter Wollny (born 1961) | | German musicologist, Bach Archive Leipzig |

## Art, architecture, and engineering

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Waldron Phoenix Belknap Jr. (1899–1949) | College 1920; MA 1933 | Art historian, architect, namesake of Belknap Press |
| Ann Bermingham (born 1948) | PhD 1982 | Art historian |
| Barbara Bestor (born 1966) | College 1987 | Architect |
| Sheila Blair (born 1948) | PhD 1980 | Art historian |
| Anna Campbell Bliss (1925–2015) | 1951 | Artist and architect |
| Jonathan M. Bloom (born 1950) | College 1972; PhD 1980 | Art historian, assistant professor of art history (1981–1987) |
| Henry Clifford Boles (1910–1979) | M.Arch 1949 | African American architect, active in Liberia and Massachusetts |
| Louis Briel (1945–2021) | MA 1960s–1970s | Artist and author |
| Charles Bulfinch (1763–1844) | College 1781 | Architect |
| Rika Burnham | | Museum Educator, dancer and PROSE Award winner |
| Geoffrey Chadsey (born 1967) | A.B. 1989 | Artist |
| Kermit S. Champa (1939–2004) | PhD 1965 | Art historian, Andrea V. Rosenthal Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Brown University |
| Kate Cordsen (born 1966) | A.M. 1998 | Photographer, Artist |
| Allan Crite (1910–2007) | Extension 1968 | Artist |
| Hardy Cross (1885–1959) | MCE 1911 | Civil engineer |
| James Cuno (born 1951) | A.M. 1980; PhD 1985 | Art historian, director of the Harvard Art Museums |
| Frederick B. Deknatel (1905–1973) | PhD 1935 | Art historian, William Door Boardman Professor of Fine Arts at Harvard University |
| Walter B. Denny | A.M. 1965; PhD 1971 | Art historian, University Distinguished Professor of Art History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| Henri Dorra (1924–2002) | A.M. 1950; PhD 1954 | Art historian, Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of California, Santa Barbara |
| Massumeh Farhad | PhD 1987 | Art historian, curator at Chief Curator and Curator of Islamic Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Asian Art |
| Cécile Fromont | A.M. 2004; PhD 2008 | Art historian, Associate Professor of African and South Atlantic Art at Yale University |
| Buckminster Fuller | 1917; Expelled | Architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, futurist |
| Joseph Goldyne (born 1942) | College 1970 | Artist, printmaker, curator |
| Lauren Greenfield (born 1966) | College 1987 | Artist, Photographer, Filmmaker |
| Gulgee (1926–2007) | College 1947 | Pakistani artist famous for his paintings and Islamic calligraphy; qualified engineer |
| Philip Johnson (1906–2005) | College 1930 | Architect, Pritzker Prize winner |
| Julian Hatton (born 1956) | College 1979 | Artist, abstract landscapes |
| Jarvis Hunt (1863–1941) | | Architect |
| Charles L. Kuhn (1901–1985) | A.M. 1924; PhD 1929 | Art historian, director of the Busch-Reisinger Museum |
| Thomas W. Lentz (born 1951) | A.M. 1981; PhD 1985 | Art historian, director of the Harvard Art Museums |
| Fumihiko Maki (born 1928) | Design 1955 | Architect, Pritzker Prize winner |
| Howard Hibbard (1928–1984) | PhD 1958 | Art historian, Professor of Italian Baroque Art at Columbia University |
| Elizabeth Holloway Marston (1893–1993) | Radcliffe A.M. 1921 | Involved in the creation of the comic book character Wonder Woman |
| Thom Mayne (born 1944) | Design 1978 | Architect, Pritzker Prize winner |
| Malcolm McKesson (1909–1999) | College 1933 | Outsider artist |
| Philippe de Montebello (born 1936) | College 1962 | Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| I. M. Pei (1917–2019) | Design 1946 | Architect, Pritzker Prize winner |
| Jules Prown (born 1930) | A.M. 1953, PhD 1961 | Art historian, Professor of Art History Emeritus at Yale University |
| Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886) | College 1859 | Architect |
| Scott Rothkopf (born 1976) | College 1999 | Art historian, Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art |
| Kenneth Dupee Swan (1887–1970) | | Photographer, forester |
| Gary Tinterow (born 1953) | A.M. 1983 | Art historian, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
| Oliver Samuel Tonks (1874–1953) | A.B. 1898, A.M. 1899, Ph.D. 1903 | Art historian, Professor of Art History Emeritus at Vassar College |
| Edward Warburg (1908–1992) | 1930 | Philanthropist, patron of the arts |
| Harold Wethey (1902–1984) | A.M. 1931; PhD 1934 | Art historian, professor at the University of Michigan |

## Religion

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| George Arthur Buttrick (1892–1980) | Faculty member in 1955 | Professor of Christian Morals |
| William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) | College 1798 | Unitarian leader |
| Jane Dempsey Douglass (born 1933) | PhD 1963 | Feminist theologian and ecclesiastical historian; president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches |
| Shubael Dummer (1636–1692) | College 1656 | Founder of the First Parish Congregational Church of York, the oldest church congregation in the state of Maine; killed in the Candlemas Massacre |
| John Hale (1636–1700) | College 1657 (Theology Degree) | Participant in the Salem witch trials who would later apologize for his role; first minister of the parish church in Beverly, Massachusetts |
| Edward William Cornelius Humphrey (1844–1917) | Law 1866 | Presbyterian leader, lawyer and judge |
| Karim Aga Khan IV (born 1936) | College 1958 | Spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili branch of Islam |
| Bernard Francis Law (1931–2017) | College 1953 | Cardinal Archbishop of Boston |
| Aharon Lichtenstein (1933–2015) | PhD English | Chief rabbi at Yeshivat Har Etzion in the West Bank; son-in-law and disciple of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik |
| Walter A. Maier (1893–1950) | M.A. 1920, PhD 1929 | Professor at Concordia Seminary, first speaker of The Lutheran Hour |
| Cotton Mather (1663–1728) | College 1678, A.M. 1681 | Minister, author |
| Increase Mather (1639–1723) | College 1656 | Clergyman |
| Robert W. McElroy (born 1954) | College 1975 | American Roman Catholic Cardinal designate, sixth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego |
| Seyyed Hossein Nasr (born 1933) | Divinity | Muslim philosopher, leading exponent of the Perennial Philosophy leader |
| Fan S. Noli (1882–1965) | D.D. 1908 | Clergyman, founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church |
| Theodore Parker (1810–1860) | Divinity | Unitarian leader |
| Samuel Phillips (1690–1771) | College 1708 | First pastor of the South Church in Andover, Massachusetts |
| William G. Sinkford (born 1946) | College 1968 | Unitarian Universalist leader |
| Joshua Toulmin (1740–1815) | D.D. 1794 | English radical dissenting minister |

## Athletics

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Craig Adams (born 1977) | College 1999 | NHL player, Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Eugene Belisle (1910–1983) | College 1931 | Coxwain at 1928 Summer Olympics |
| Matt Birk (born 1976) | College 1998 | NFL center |
| Brian Burke (born 1955) | MBA/JD 1981 | NHL general manager |
| Dick Button (born 1929) | AB 1952 JD 1955 | Figure skater, two-time Olympic gold medalist 1948/1954, five-time world champion, seven-time national champion |
| Ellery Harding Clark (1874–1949) | College 1896 | Two-time gold medalist at 1896 Summer Olympics |
| Emily Cross (born 1986) | College 2009 | Silver medalist in fencing at 2008 Summer Olympics |
| Clifton Dawson (born 1983) | College 2007 | NFL player, Indianapolis Colts |
| Jillian Dempsey (born 1991) | College 2013 | Ice hockey player |
| Eli Dershwitz (born 1995) | College 2019 | 2023 Saber World Champion, 2015 Saber Junior World Champion, competitor for US in fencing at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics |
| John Dockery (born 1944) | College 1968 | NFL cornerback |
| Ted Donato (born 1969) | College 1991 | NHL player, head hockey coach |
| Chandler Egan (1884–1936) | College 1905 | Gold and silver medalist in golf at 1904 Summer Olympics |
| Ali Farag (born 1992) | College 2014 | Squash player, highest world ranking of no. 1 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick (born 1982) | College 2005 | NFL quarterback, St. Louis Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins. |
| Eddie Grant (1883–1918) | College 1905, Law 1909 | MLB infielder, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants |
| Milton Green (1913–2005) | College | Runner, former world recorder holder in hurdles |
| Peter Gregg (1940–1981) | College 1961 | Racing driver |
| Aaron Molyneaux Hewlett (1820–1871) | | First superintendent of physical education in American higher education |
| Arnold Horween (1898–1985) | College 1921 | American football All-American player for the Harvard Crimson and the NFL; Harvard coach |
| Ralph Horween (1896–1997) | College 1920 and Law School 1929 | American football All-American player for the Harvard Crimson and the NFL; centenarian |
| Bobby Jones (1902–1971) | College 1924 | Golfer |
| Dan Jiggetts (born 1954) | College 1976 | NFL offensive tackle, Chicago sportscaster |
| Isaiah Kacyvenski (born 1977) | College 2000, HBS 2011 | NFL player, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders |
| William Kwok (born 1972) | DCE ALM 2007 | Martial Artist, Recipient of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition Community Leadership Award |
| Marv Levy (born 1925) | College | NFL coach, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills |
| Jeremy Lin (born 1988) | College 2010 | NBA player, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets |
| Esther Lofgren (born 1986) | College 2009 | Gold medalist in rowing at 2012 Summer Olympics |
| Rob Manfred (born 1958) | Law 1983 | Commissioner of Major League Baseball |
| Shep Messing (born 1949) | College 1973 | Soccer player |
| Noam Mills (born 1986) | College 2012; MBA 2016 | Olympic épée fencer for Israel at 2008 Summer Olympics |
| Dominic Moore (born 1980) | College | NHL player, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks |
| Steve Moore (born 1978) | College | NHL player, Colorado Avalanche |
| Christopher Nowinski (born 1978) | College 2000 | Professional wrestler |
| Jeffrey Orridge (born 1960) | Law 1986 | Commissioner of the Canadian Football League |
| David Otunga (born 1980) | 2006 | Professional wrestler |
| John Paul (born 1939) | MBA | Sportscar racing driver |
| Pieter Quinton (born 1998) | College 2020 | Bronze medalist in rowing for Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics. |
| Dylan Reese (born 1984) | College | NHL player, New York Islanders |
| Robert Ridder (1919–2000) | | Lester Patrick Trophy recipient, United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductee |
| Ryan Max Riley (born 1979) | College 2007 | United States Ski Team skier |
| Gabrielle Thomas (born 1996) | College 2018 | Bronze medalist in 200m at the 2020 Summer Olympics |
| Larry Scott (born 1964) | College 1986 | WTA CEO, Pac-10 commissioner |
| Richard Sears (1861–1943) | College 1883 | Seven-time US Open champion |
| Lou Silver (born 1953) | College 1975 | American-Israeli basketball player |
| Ed Smith (1929–1998) | | Former NBA player, New York Knicks |
| David Stearns (born 1985) | College 2007 | Milwaukee Brewers general manager |
| Siddharth Suchde (born 1985) | College 2007 | Former squash player, highest world ranking of no. 39 |
| Andrew Sudduth (1961–2006) | College 1983 | Silver medalist in rowing at 1984 Summer Olympics |
| Seth Towns | College 2020 | former college basketball player and current assistant coach for Harvard Crimson |
| Malcolm Turner | JD/MBA | Athletic Director at Vanderbilt University |
| Benjamin (Benji) Ungar (born 1986) | | Fencer, NCAA champion, Harvard Male Athlete of the Year 2006 |
| Noah Welch (born 1982) | College 2005 | NHL player, Florida Panthers |
| Keith Wright (born 1989) | College 2012 | 2010–11 Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year |
| Paul Wylie (born 1964) | College 1991 | Figure skater |
| Jimmy Vesey (born 1993) | College 2016 | NHL player, New York Rangers |
* Spencer Freedman (born 1998), college basketball player for the Harvard Crimson and NYU Violets
* Ross Friedman (born 1992), Major League Soccer player
* Elizabeth Tartakovsky (born 2000), Olympic saber fencer
* Michael Zimmerman (born 1970), tennis player, 2x Ivy League Player of the Year

## Criminals

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Sinedu Tadesse (born 1975) | Harvard College class of 1996 | Murderer |
| John Connolly | 1967 Harvard Kennedy School | Mobster and former FBI agent, associate of the Winter Hill Gang, convicted of racketeering and second degree murder |
| Marc Stuart Dreier (born 1950) | Juris Doctor Harvard Law School 1975 | Securities fraud |
| Paul Bilzerian (born 1950) | MBA 1975 | Securities Fraud |
| Rajat Gupta (born 1948) | MBA 1973 | Securities Fraud, Conspiracy |
| Ted Kaczynski (1942–2023) | College 1962 | Unabomber terrorist, murderer |
| Viktor Kozeny (born 1963) | College 1989 | Fugitive financier |
| William Leonard Pickard (born 1945) | Harvard Kennedy School 1996 | LSD manufacturer |
| Eugene Plotkin | College 2000 | Convicted of insider trading |
| Louis Agassiz Shaw II (1906–1987) | Class of 1929 | Murderer |
| Jeffrey Skilling (born 1953) | Business 1979 | Conspiracy, making false statements, insider trading, and securities fraud during the Enron case |
| Chuck Turner (1940–2019) | College 1963 | Convicted felon and former Boston City Council member |
| John White Webster (1793–1850) | College 1811 | Murderer |
| Richard Whitney (1888–1974) | | Embezzler |
| Stephen H. Kessler (born 1935) | Medical 1957 | "Mad LSD Slayer" of 1967 |

## Academics
### Educational institution founders and presidents

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| William Allen (1784–1968) | College 1802 | President of Bowdoin College |
| Richard E. Berendzen (born 1938) | PhD 1967 | President, The American University |
| Thomas W. Butcher (1867–1947) | M.A. 1904 | President of Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State University) from 1913 to 1943 |
| Walter William Spencer Cook (1888–1924) | B.A. 1913, M.A. 1915, PhD 1924 | Co-founder of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts, 1935 |
| William R. Cotter | College 1958, Law 1961 | 18th President of Colby College |
| Claudio Demattè (1942–2004) | Business 1970 | Founder, SDA Bocconi |
| Shih Choon Fong (born 1945) | PhD 1973 | First President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology |
| Clifton D. Gray (1875–1944) | College 1897 | President of Bates College |
| David C. Hardesty | Law 1973 | President of West Virginia University |
| Yoshito Hori (born 1962) | MBA | Founder of Globis University Graduate School of Management |
| William DeWitt Hyde (1858–1917) | College 1879 | President of Bowdoin College |
| Jonathan Koppell (born 1970) | AB 1993 | 10th President of Montclair State University |
| Heather Knight | Doctorate | 21st President of Pacific Union College |
| Robert B. Lawton (born 1947) | PhD 1977 | President, Loyola Marymount University |
| Edith Lesley (1872–1953) | Radcliffe College 1908 | Founder of Lesley University |
| Daniel Little (born 1949) | Philosophy | Chancellor of University of Michigan-Dearborn |
| Alexandra W. Logue | | Provost of New York Institute of Technology |
| Stephen W. Nease (1925–2006) | Divinity | President of the Eastern Nazarene College 1981–89 |
| Laurie L. Patton (born 1961) | BA, 1983 | 17th President of Middlebury College |
| M. Lee Pelton (born 1950) | PhD 1984, Senior Tutor of Winthrop House | President of Willamette University |
| Marvin Banks Perry Jr. (1918–1994) | MA 1941; PhD 1950 | President of Goucher College and Agnes Scott College |
| Ruth J. Person | Institute of Educational Management 1989 | Chancellor, University of Michigan (Flint Campus) |
| Charles F. Phillips (1910–1998) | PhD | Economist, president of Bates College |
| John Phillips (1719–1795) | B.A., M.A. | Founder of Phillips Exeter Academy |
| William C. Powers (1946–2019) | JD 1973 | President of The University of Texas at Austin |
| L. Song Richardson (1966/67) | B.A. | President of Colorado College (2021-Present) |
| Louise Richardson (born 1958) | PhD 1989 | First female vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews and first female vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford |
| Mark Roosevelt (born 1955) | B.A. From Harvard University Law degree from Harvard Law School | President of Antioch College, Yellow Springs Ohio; great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, Class of 1980 |
| Jonathan Rosenbaum (born 1947) | PhD | President of Gratz College |
| Katherine A. Rowe | PhD 1992 | 28th and first female president of the College of William and Mary; graduate of Carleton College |
| Fred J. Shields | Education | President of the Eastern Nazarene College 1919–23 |
| Phillip Shriver (1922–2011) | | President of Miami University Ohio; graduate of Yale University and Columbia University |
| Andrew Sledd (1870–1939) | M.A. Greek 1896 | First president of the University of Florida, 1905–09 |
| David J. Steinberg | College; A.M.; PhD | President of Long Island University |
| Robert E. L. Strider (1917–2010) | College 1939 | 17th president of Colby College |
| Sanford J. Ungar (born 1945) | | 10th president of Goucher College |
| John William Ward | BA 1945 | President of Amherst College, Chairman of the Ward Commission |
| Peggy R. Williams | Education 1983 | President of Ithaca College |
| George W. Webber (1920–2010) | College 1942 | President of the New York Theological Seminary |
| John Philip Wernette (1903–1988) | M.A. 1929, PhD 1932 | President of the University of New Mexico |
* Yoram Ben-Porat (1937–1992), Israeli economist and President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
* Shlomo Eckstein (1929–2020), Israeli economist and President of Bar-Ilan University
* Amos Eiran, Israeli President of the University of Haifa
* Yosef Tekoah (1925–1991), Ph.D., Israeli President of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

### Professors and scholars

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| David Benjamin Oppenheimer | J.D. 1978 | Clinical Professor of Law at UC Berkeley Law School. Faculty Co-Director of the Pro Bono Program and the Director of the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-discrimination Law. |
| M.H. Abrams (1912–2015) | A.B. 1934, A.M. 1937, PhD 1940 | Literary theorist and critic, Class of 1916 Professor of English at Cornell University |
| Encarnacion Alzona (1895–2001) | Radcliffe 1920 | Historian; National Scientist of the Philippines; first Filipino woman to receive a Ph.D; member of the University of the Philippines System Board of Regents |
| Herman Vandenburg Ames (1865–1935) | PhD 1891 | Historian; inaugural recipient of the Justin Winsor Prize |
| Sylvan Barnet (1926–2016) | PhD 1954 | Shakespearean scholar |
| George E. Bates (1902–1992) | M.B.A. 1925 | Professor of Investment Management at the Harvard Business School; editor of the Harvard Business Review |
| Robert Percy Barnes (1898–1990) | PhD 1933 | Professor of chemistry at Howard University. First African American person to graduate from Harvard with a PhD with chemistry. |
| Bernard Berenson (1865–1959) | College 1887 | Art historian |
| Ann Bergren (1942–2018) | PhD 1973 | Professor of Greek Literature; first woman classicist to gain tenure at UCLA |
| Luciano Berio (1925–2003) | 1994 Distinguished Composer in Residence | Composer |
| Michael Beschloss (born 1955) | Business 1980 | Historian |
| David Bevington (1931–2019) | PhD 1958 | Scholar |
| John Boswell (1947–1994) | PhD 1975 | Historian of homosexual history |
| Jean Briggs (1929–2016) | PhD 1967 | Anthropologist, ethnographer and expert on Inuit languages; compiled the world's first Utkuhiksalingmiut Inuktitut dictionary (2015) |
| Schuyler V. Cammann (1921–1991) | A.M. 1941 | Anthropologist |
| Lester J. Cappon (1900–1981) | A.M. and PhD 1928 | Historian, documentary editor, and archivist for Colonial Williamsburg |
| Robert Castelli (born 1949) | A.M. 1996 | Criminal Justice Department Chair at Iona College, New York State Assemblyman |
| Charles B. Chang | A.B./A.M. 2003 | Professor of Linguistics at the City University of Hong Kong |
| Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) | PhD 1918 | Chinese American linguist, philosopher and amateur composer |
| John Leonard Clive (1924–1990) | PhD 1952 | Historian, winner of the 1974 National Book Award for Biography |
| Kate Cooper (born 1960) | MTS | Professor of Ancient History |
| Anna Crone | 1975 | Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures; University of Chicago |
| Donald Davidson (1917–2003) | PhD | Philosopher |
| Joseph R. D'Cruz | PhD 1979 | Professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management |
| Greg Dening (1931–2008) | PhD | Historian, scholar of historical ethnography |
| Martina Deuchler (born 1935) | PhD 1967 | Professor of Korean Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |
| John Enemark | A.M. 1964, Ph.D. 1966 | American bioinorganic chemist and professor |
| Lia Epperson | A.B. with magna cum laude in sociology | Professor of Law, civil rights lawyer; American University Washington College of Law |
| John K. Fairbank (1907–1991) | College 1929 | East Asian scholar |
| Ben Finney (1933–2017) | PhD 1964 | Anthropologist, author, Polynesian Voyaging Society co-founder |
| M. Judah Folkman (1933–2008) | 1953 | Founder of angiogenesis research |
| Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) | Radcliffe 1898 | Social and political theorist |
| Richard Foltz (born 1961) | PhD 1996 | Historian of religions |
| James Fowler (born 1970) | College 1992; PhD 2003 | Political scientist |
| Gerald Frug | LL.B 1963 | Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. |
| Timothy S. George (born 1955) | A.M. 1993; PhD 1996 | Professor in East and Southeast Asian History, University of Rhode Island |
| Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith (1909–1981) | A.M. 1932 | Historian |
| Nelson Goodman (1906–1998) | A.B. 1928; PhD 1941 | Philosopher |
| Robert A. Gorman (born 1937) | 1989 | Professor; University of Pennsylvania School of Law |
| Nancy Guerra (born 1950) | Ed.D 1986 | Psychologist and dean of the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine |
| Philip F. Gura (born 1950) | A.B. 1972; PhD 1977 | Leading scholar on American history and literature |
| Patricia Greenspan | A.M. 1968; PhD 1972 | Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park |
| Lewis A. Grossman | Juris Doctor, 1990 | Professor of Law at the Washington College of Law |
| Valerie Hansen (born 1958) | A.B. 1979 | Stanley Woodward Professor of History, Yale University |
| Harlan P. Hanson (1925–1996) | A.B. 1948; PhD 1959 | Director of the Advanced Placement program (1965–1989) |
| George Haskins (1915–1991) | A.B. 1935; J.D. 1942 | Law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School |
| KC Johnson (born 1967) | A.B. 1988; PhD 1993 | Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York, known for his work exposing the facts about the Duke lacrosse case |
| T.R. Kidder (born 1960) | PhD 1989 | Archaeologist, Dean, Tulane University |
| Gary N. Knoppers (1956–2018) | A.M. 1986; PhD 1988 | Leading scholar on Chronicles and Chronicler |
| Robert A. Kraft (born 1934) | PhD 1961 | Leading scholar on Jewish history and Christian origins |
| Rosalind E. Krauss (born 1941) | PhD 1969 | Art historian and founder of academic journal October |
| Alan Kreider (1941–2017) | A.M. (1965), PhD (1971), Travelling Fellow (1966–67) | Director, Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture, University of Oxford |
| Saul Kripke (born 1940) | College; Society of Fellows | Philosopher |
| Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1922–1996) | College 1943; A.M. 1946; PhD 1949 | Philosopher and historian of science |
| Carole LaBonne (1922–1996) | PhD 1996 | Erastus O. Haven Professor of Life Sciences and chair of the department of molecular biosciences at Northwestern University |
| Christopher Lasch (1932–1994) | A.B. 1954 | Professor of History, University of Rochester; Historian |
| David Lewis (1941–2001) | PhD 1967 | Professor of Government, Oberlin College; philosopher |
| Robert Lieber (born 1941) | PhD 1968 | Professor, Department of Government and School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University |
| Robert C. Lieberman (born 1964) | PhD 1994 | Political scientist, Provost of Johns Hopkins University |
| Perry Link (born 1944) | A.B. 1966; PhD 1976 | Chancellorial Chair Professor for Innovative Teaching Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages, University of California, Riverside; Sinologist |
| Frederick D. Losey (1866-1932) | MA 1899 | Shakespearian scholar and elocutionist |
| Victor H. Mair (born 1943) | PhD 1976 | Professor in Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania |
| Roger Martin (born 1956) | A.B. 1979; M.B.A. 1981 | Dean of University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management |
| Robert Mundheim (born 1933) | A.B. 1954; LL.B. 1957 | Attorney; dean of law school and professor of law, University of Pennsylvania |
| Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve (born 1941) | PhD 1969; LL.D. 2010 | Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge; president, British Academy (2005–2009); principal, Newnham College, Cambridge; 2017 laureate, Berggruen Prize |
| Hugh R. Page (born 1956) | PhD 1990 | Professor of Africana Studies and Theology, University of Notre Dame |
| Yangjin Pak | A.M. 1992; PhD 1996 | Professor of Archeology, Chungnam National University |
| James Palais (1934–2006) | A.B. 1955; PhD 1968 | Professor of Korean History, University of Washington |
| Juan Antonio Pérez López (1934–1996) | PhD 1970 | Professor of Organizational Behavior, IESE Business School |
| Joel M. Podolny (born 1965) | A.B. with magna cum laude 1986; A.M.; PhD | Dean of the School of Management, Yale University; sociologist |
| Eve Troutt Powell (born 1961) | A.B. 1983; A.M. 1988; PhD 1995 | Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania |
| Ben H. Procter (1927–2012) | PhD 1961 | Professor of History, Texas Christian University, 1957 to 2000; biographer of William Randolph Hearst |
| Daniel Richman | A.B. 1980 | Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law, Columbia University |
| William Rees Brebner Robertson (1881–1941) | PhD 1915 | Professor of Zoology, University of Kansas; Robertsonian translocation |
| V. Vance Roley | Masters; PhD | Dean of the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii |
| Duane W. Roller (born 1946) | PhD 1971 | Professor of Classics, Ohio State University |
| Mark Rosenzweig (1922–2009) | PhD 1949 | Professor, University of California, Berkeley; his studies showed that the brain develops into adulthood based on life experiences |
| Jeffrey Sachs (born 1954) | A.B.; A.M; PhD | University Professor, Columbia University; economist |
| Edward Said (1935–2003) | A.M.; PhD 1964 | Professor of Literature, Columbia University; coined term Orientalism; Palestinian activist |
| Andrea Smith | A.B. | Professor in Native American Studies, University of California, Riverside |
| Christian Smith (born 1960) | PhD 1990 | William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology, University of Notre Dame |
| Timothy L. Smith (1924–1997) | PhD | Professor in American religious history, Johns Hopkins University; religious historian, author |
| Diane Souvaine (born 1954) | College | Chairperson of the computer science program at Tufts University; professor of computer science and mathematics |
| Ronald Spores (born 1931) | PhD 1964 | Professor of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University |
| Amy Stanley (born 1977) | A.B. 1999; PhD 2007 | Wayne V. Jones II Research Professor in History, Northwestern University |
| Marian Stoltz-Loike | Psychology and Social Relations | College Dean and Vice President |
| Peter C. Sutton | A.B. 1972 | Art historian and director of the Bruce Museum of Arts and Science |
| Phillip Swagel (born 1966) | PhD 1993 | Economist |
| Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989) | Radcliffe 1933; faculty | Historian |
| Arthur Waldron (born 1948) | A.B. with summa cum laude 1971; PhD 1981 | Lauder Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania |
| Jon Wiener (born 1944) | PhD | Historian |
| Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950) | PhD 1912 | Historian, second African American to receive a Ph.D. (after W.E.B. DuBois), professor and dean of the college of arts and sciences at Howard University, co-founder of Black History Month |
| Charles W. Woodworth (1865–1940) | Grad. student, researcher (1886–1888) (1900–1901) | Entomologist; founder of UCB's Entomology Department |
| Roy Bin Wong (born 1949) | A.M. 1973, PhD 1983 | Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles |
| Amy Zegart (born 1967) | College 1989, magna cum laude in East Asian Studies | Professor of Public Policy; UCLA School of Public Affairs |
| Noel Ignatiev (1940-2019) | PhD 1995 | Historian |

## Faculty

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| William James (1842–1910) | M.D. 1869; Professor | Philosopher and psychologist, founder of psychology department, writer |
| Mark Albion (born 1951) | PhD 1982 | Author, social entrepreneur, co-founder of Net Impact |
| Kenneth Arrow (1921–2017) | Professor | Economist; Nobel Prize winner |
| William Berenberg (1915–2005) | College 1936; professor | Professor of pediatrics, physician |
| Theodore C. Bestor (1951–2021) | Professor | Anthropologist |
| Grete L. Bibring (1899–1977) | Professor, Harvard Medical School | Psychoanalyst; first female professor at Harvard Medical School |
| Roderick Bronson | Director, Rodent Pathology Core, Harvard Medical School | Pathologist |
| Fitzroy Carrington (1869–1954) | Lecturer on engraving | Journalist |
| Marcia Caldas de Castro (1964–) | Demography | Faculty |
| Gennaro Chierchia (born 1953) | Haas Foundation Professor of Linguistics | Linguist |
| Richard Clarke (born 1951) | Faculty | Diplomat, counterterrorism expert |
| Kim B. Clark (born 1949) | College 1974; A.M. 1977; PhD 1978; Dean of business school 1995–2005 | Economist; President of BYU-Idaho |
| Elias J. Corey (born 1928) | Professor | Chemist; Nobel Prize winner |
| Bronson Crothers (1884–1959) | College 1904; M.D. 1909; Professor (1944–1952) | Pediatric neurologist |
| Rose Laub Coser (1916–1994) | | Professor of sociology in psychiatry department |
| Alan Dershowitz (born 1938) | Professor (born 1964) | Law scholar, pro-Israel activist |
| Noam Elkies (born 1966) | A.M. 1986; PhD 1987; professor (born 1990) | Mathematician |
| Ephraim Emerton (1851–1935) | Professor | First recipient of the Winn Professorship of Ecclesiastical History |
| Archie Epps (1937–2003) | B.D 1961 | Dean of Students (1971–1999) |
| Denise Faustman (born 1958) | Associate Professor of Medicine | Medical doctor and pioneer in diabetes research |
| Martin Feldstein (1939–2019) | College 1961; professor | Economist |
| Niall Ferguson (born 1964) | Professor 2005–present | Historian |
| C. Stephen Foster | Professor 1993–present | Ophthalmologist |
| Jeffry Frieden | Stanfield Professor of International Peace | Chair of the Department of Government |
| John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) | Professor | Canadian-American Keynesian economist |
| Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born 1950) | Professor | African American studies scholar |
| Daniel Gilbert (born 1957) | Professor at the Department of Psychology | Social psychologist |
| Andrew M. Gleason (1921–2008) | Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy | Major contributions to the solution of Hilbert's 5th Problem, the analyticity of Lie groups |
| Daniel Goldhagen (born 1959) | PhD; previously an Associate Professor of Government and Social Studies | Political scientist; controversial author of Hitler's Willing Executioners |
| Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) | Professor | Biologist |
| Asa Gray (1810-1888) | Professor | Botanist |
| Stephen Greenblatt (born 1943) | Professor | Literary critic |
| Walter Gropius (1883–1969) | Professor; dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design | Architect |
| Dudley Herschbach (born 1932) | Professor | Chemist; Nobel Prize winner |
| Caroline Hoxby (born 1966) | College 1988; professor | Economist |
| Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (born 1942) | PhD; professor | Historian |
| Samuel P. Huntington (1927–2008) | PhD 1951; professor | Political scientist |
| Jay Jasanoff (born 1942) | A.B. 1963, PhD 1968; professor 1970–78, 1998– | Linguist |
| Geoffrey Jones | Professor 2002–present | Business historian |
| Diana Kleiner (born 1947) | Assistant Professor of Art History (1976-1980) | Art historian |
| Howard Koh (born 1952) | Professor, Harvard School of Public Health | Physician |
| Susumu Kuno (born 1933) | PhD 1964, Professor Emeritus | Linguist |
| George Martin Lane (1823–1897) | Professor (1869–1894) | Classical scholar |
| Timothy Leary (1920–1996) | Lecturer (1959–1963) | Writer, psychologist, LSD guru |
| Alain Leroy Locke (1885–1954) | College 1907; PhD 1918 | Writer, educator, philosopher |
| William Lipscomb (1919–2011) | Professor | Chemist; Nobel Prize winner |
| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) | Professor (1834–1854) | Poet |
| N. Gregory Mankiw (born 1958) | Professor | Economist, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors |
| Harvey Mansfield (born 1932) | Professor | William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University |
| Julián Marías (1914–2005) | Professor | Philosopher and author |
| Richard Marius (1933–1999) | Professor | Reformation historian and author |
| Ernst Mayr (1904–2005) | Professor | Evolutionary biologist |
| Robert C. Merton (born 1944) | Professor | Economist, Nobel Prize winner |
| Ken Nakayama | Professor | Psychologist |
| Robert Nozick (1938–2002) | Professor | Libertarian philosopher |
| Francis Parkman (1823–1898) | A.B. 1844; Law | Historian; professor |
| Milman Parry (1902–1935) | Professor | Scholar of the classics and folklore |
| Benjamin Peirce (1809–1880) | College 1829; professor | Mathematician |
| Jordan Peterson (born 1962) | Professor (1993–1998) | Psychologist |
| Steven Pinker (born 1954) | PhD 1979; professor | Psychologist |
| Robert Putnam (born 1941) | Professor | Political scientist |
| W. V. Quine (1908–2000) | PhD 1932; professor (1956–2000) | Philosopher, logician |
| Norman F. Ramsey (1915–2011) | Professor | Physicist; Nobel Prize winner |
| John Rawls (1921–2002) | Professor | Philosopher, political scientist |
| Wade Regehr | Professor | Neurobiology |
| Edwin O. Reischauer (1910–1990) | PhD 1939; professor; namesake of Reischauer Institute | East Asian scholar |
| Juan Rosai (born 1940) | Visiting Professor | Medical doctor and professor of pathology; author of a main textbook in the field; discoverer of the Rosai-Dorfman disease |
| Josiah Royce (1855–1916) | Professor (1892–1914) | Philosopher |
| James R. Russell (born 1953) | Professor (born 1993) | Professor and scholar; Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Harvard University |
| Matthew Sacchet | Assistant Professor | Neuroscientist |
| Nadav Safran (1925–2003) | Professor | Expert in Arab politics; former director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies |
| Michael Sandel (born 1953) | Professor | Political scientist |
| George Santayana (1863–1952) | College 1886; PhD 1889 | Professor of Philosophy; philosopher |
| Elaine Scarry (born 1946) | Professor of English and American Literature and Language, the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value | Author |
| Thomas Schelling (1921–2016) | Professor | Economist, Nobel Prize 2005 |
| Arthur M. Schlesinger (1888–1965) | Professor, namesake of Schlesinger Library | Historian |
| Julian Schwinger (1918–1994) | Professor | Physicist; Nobel Prize winner (1965) |
| Amartya Sen (born 1933) | Professor | Economist; Nobel Prize winner (1998) |
| William M. Sinton (1925–2004) | Astronomer | Adolph Lomb Medalist; OSA Fellow |
| B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) | PhD 1931, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology | Behavioral psychologist, inventor |
| Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916–2000) | Professor | Religious scholar, professor |
| Jared Sparks (1789–1866) | College 1819; professor (1838–1849) | Historian |
| David A. Thomas (born 1956) | Professor | Dean of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University |
| Laurence Tribe (born 1941) | College 1962; Law 1966; professor | Lawyer |
| Mario Vargas Llosa (born 1936) | Visiting Professor | Writer; Nobel Prize winner |
| Edward Willett Wagner (1924–2001) | A.B. 1949; A.M. 1951; PhD 1959 | Professor of Korean Studies |
| James D. Watson (born 1928) | Professor | Molecular biologist; Nobel Prize winner |
| Cornel West (born 1953) | Professor (1993–2002) | African American studies scholar |
| George M. Whitesides (born 1939) | College 1960; University professor (born 1982) | Chemist |
| James Q. Wilson (1931–2012) | Professor 1961–87 | Professor of public policy |
| Harry Austryn Wolfson (1887–1974) | PhD; professor | Philosopher |
| Richard Wilson (1926–2018) | Professor at the Department of Physics (born 1955) | Physicist |
| Robert Burns Woodward (1917–1979) | Professor | Chemist, Nobel Prize 1965 |