Science & invention · 1911–1997Melvin CalvinbiochemistNobel Prize–winning chemist who traced how plants turn carbon dioxide into sugar; he grew up in Detroit, where his parents kept a grocery store, and finished Central High School in 1928.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,940 famous people
- 270 Detroit places
- 7 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
8 people
Clear filtersScience & invention · 1911–1997Melvin CalvinbiochemistNobel Prize–winning chemist who traced how plants turn carbon dioxide into sugar; he grew up in Detroit, where his parents kept a grocery store, and finished Central High School in 1928.
Science & invention · 1919–1974Clyde CowanphysicistCo-discoverer of the neutrino in the 1956 Cowan–Reines experiment, born in Detroit.
Film & TV · 1913–1984Bob Clampettanimator, director, puppeteerLooney Tunes director and creator of Beany and Cecil, who died in Detroit in 1984 while touring to promote his cartoons on home video.
Visual art · 1912–1999Harry Callahanphotographer, educatorDetroit-born photographer who took up the camera while working at Chrysler and became one of the great innovators of American modernist photography.
Science & invention · 1914–1978Ethelene Crockettphysician, obstetrician-gynecologist, activistMichigan's first African American woman board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, who practiced in Detroit for decades and led public health and women's rights campaigns.
Religion · 1911–2000Albert Cleage Jr.minister, Black nationalist leaderDetroit minister who founded the Shrine of the Black Madonna and the Black Christian Nationalist movement, a leading voice of Detroit's Black Power era.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗