Science & invention · 1907–1988
Seth NeddermeyerphysicistCo-discoverer of the muon and champion of the implosion design for the atomic bomb, born in Richmond, Michigan, in northern Macomb County.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.
- 1,949 famous people
- 516 Detroit places
- 22 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
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123 people · 2/3 page
Clear filtersScience & invention · 1907–1988Seth NeddermeyerphysicistCo-discoverer of the muon and champion of the implosion design for the atomic bomb, born in Richmond, Michigan, in northern Macomb County.
Science & invention · born 1947Theda Skocpolsociologist, political scientistHarvard sociologist and political scientist known for States and Social Revolutions, born in Detroit in 1947.
Science & invention · born 1969Tony Fadellengineer, designer, entrepreneurEngineer known as the 'father of the iPod', co-creator of the iPhone and founder of Nest Labs; he grew up in the Detroit area and graduated from Grosse Pointe South High School.
Science & invention · born 1981Adam Grantorganizational psychologist, authorWharton organizational psychologist and best-selling author of Give and Take and Think Again, born in West Bloomfield and raised in the Detroit suburbs.David Hahnamateur experimenterThe 'Radioactive Boy Scout' who, as a teenager in suburban Detroit, tried to build a breeder reactor in a backyard shed in Commerce Township, prompting an EPA cleanup in 1995.
Literature · born 1955Geoffrey A. LandisNASA scientist, science-fiction writer, poetDetroit-born NASA engineer and Hugo and Nebula–winning hard science-fiction author who works on Mars rovers and solar power.Ronald Inglehartpolitical scientistFounding president of the World Values Survey and theorist of 'post-materialist' values, who taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1966 until his death in 2021.
Politics · born 1964Dave Bratpolitician, economist, diplomatEconomics professor and Virginia congressman who unseated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014; born in Detroit and raised in Alma, Michigan.
Science & invention · born 1955Jerry M. Linengerastronaut, Navy physicianNavy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut from East Detroit who spent almost five months aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1997, surviving a fire on board; a Wayne State medical graduate.
Science & invention · 1922–2012Stanford R. Ovshinskyinventor, physicist, entrepreneurSelf-taught inventor of the nickel-metal hydride battery and thin-film solar panels, who built his company Energy Conversion Devices in Detroit and Troy over half a century.
Science & invention · 1919–2009Russell L. Ackofforganizational theorist, operations researcherPioneer of operations research and systems thinking in management, who began his academic career at Wayne State University in Detroit (1947–1951).Robert John Braidwoodarchaeologist, anthropologistPioneer of scientific archaeology who searched for the origins of farming in the Near East, born in Detroit and trained at the University of Michigan.
Science & invention · 1846–1933William Henry Holmesanthropologist, archaeologist, artistSmithsonian anthropologist, survey artist of the American West and director of the national art gallery, who spent his last year with his son in Royal Oak.
Business & brands · born 1954Scott McNealytechnology executive, co-founder of Sun MicrosystemsSon of an American Motors executive who grew up in Bloomfield Hills, graduated from Cranbrook and co-founded Sun Microsystems.
Science & invention · 1923–1969Walter Pittslogician, computational neuroscientistSelf-taught Detroit-born logician who, with Warren McCulloch, wrote the 1943 paper that introduced the first mathematical model of a neural network.
Science & invention · 1956–2018Richard A. Searfossastronaut, Air Force pilot, test pilotAir Force colonel and three-time Space Shuttle astronaut, commander of the 1998 Neurolab mission, born in Mount Clemens, Michigan.
Film & TV · born 1962John Knollvisual effects supervisor, co-creator of PhotoshopOscar-winning Industrial Light & Magic effects supervisor and co-creator of Adobe Photoshop, born and raised in Ann Arbor, where his brother wrote the first version.Leonard Jimmie Savagemathematician, statisticianDetroit-born statistician whose Foundations of Statistics (1954) laid the groundwork for modern Bayesian statistics and decision theory.Alexander H. SmithmycologistLeading American mushroom expert who spent his entire career at the University of Michigan Herbarium and wrote popular guides to Michigan's mushrooms.
Science & invention · born 1963
Ulana Suprunphysician, activist, health minister of UkraineDetroit-born radiologist from the city's Ukrainian community who trained at Wayne State and Henry Ford Hospital and later served as Ukraine's acting health minister (2016–2019).Thomas Knollsoftware engineerCreator of Adobe Photoshop, which he began writing in 1987 as a University of Michigan doctoral student in Ann Arbor, where he was born and raised.
Science & invention · 1919–1997Robert B. Leightonexperimental physicist, astronomerCaltech physicist who co-edited The Feynman Lectures on Physics, discovered the Sun's five-minute oscillations and helped take the first close-up pictures of Mars; born in Detroit.
Science & invention · 1868–1953Armin Otto Leuschnerastronomer, educatorFounder of astronomy teaching and research at the University of California, Berkeley, born in Detroit and educated at the University of Michigan.
Science & invention · 1942–2011David Rumelhartcognitive psychologistCognitive scientist whose work on parallel distributed processing and backpropagation laid foundations for modern neural networks; he spent his last years in the Ann Arbor area.
Science & invention · born 1945Deborah Tannenlinguist, authorGeorgetown linguist and author of the long-running best-seller You Just Don't Understand, who earned a master's degree in English literature at Wayne State University.Robert Kearnsengineer and inventor of the intermittent windshield wiperDetroit-educated engineer who invented the intermittent windshield wiper and fought Ford and Chrysler in court for decades; his story is the film Flash of Genius.
Science & invention · 1927–2005Emmett Leithelectrical engineer, physicistDetroit-born co-inventor of three-dimensional laser holography, who studied at Wayne State and did his pioneering work at the University of Michigan's Willow Run Laboratories.
Business & brands · 1901–1996
Alex Manoogianindustrial engineer, businessman, philanthropistArmenian-born engineer who came to Detroit in 1924, founded Masco, introduced the Delta washerless faucet, and donated the Manoogian Mansion, the official home of Detroit's mayors.
Science & invention · 1919–2011Mildred Rebstockpharmaceutical chemistParke-Davis research chemist in Detroit who led the first complete synthesis of an antibiotic, chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin), in 1947.
Science & invention · born 1950Alexa Canadypediatric neurosurgeonThe first African American woman board-certified in neurosurgery in the United States, chief of neurosurgery at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit from 1987 to 2001.
Science & invention · born 1952Guy Consolmagnoastronomer, Jesuit brotherDetroit-born planetary scientist and Jesuit brother who directs the Vatican Observatory; a graduate of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School.
Science & invention · 1915–1994Jerome Wiesnerelectrical engineer, science adviser, university presidentPresident John F. Kennedy's science adviser and later president of MIT, born in Detroit and raised in Dearborn, where he attended Fordson High School.
Science & invention · born 1944Larry Brilliantepidemiologist, technologist, philanthropistDetroit-born epidemiologist and Wayne State medical graduate who helped the World Health Organization eradicate smallpox and later led Google.org.Earle S. MacPhersonautomotive engineer, inventor of the MacPherson strutGM and Ford engineer whose MacPherson strut suspension, developed in Detroit in the 1940s, is now used on most of the world's cars.
Science & invention · 1844–1929
Elijah McCoyengineer and inventor of automatic lubricatorsCanadian-born Black engineer whose automatic lubricators kept North America's locomotives running; he spent his last decades inventing in Detroit.
Auto industry · 1881–1955
József Galambmechanical engineer, chief designer of the Ford Model THungarian engineer from Makó who became Ford's chief designer and drew up much of the Model T at the Piquette Avenue Plant.
Military · 1928–1958Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr.test pilot, Air Force officerKorean War ace and test pilot called 'the First Spaceman' after flying the Bell X-2 to a record altitude in 1956; born in Detroit.
Architecture & design · born 1945Charles Bigelowtype designer, type historianType designer who grew up in the Detroit suburbs and attended Cranbrook School, and co-created the Lucida and Wingdings font families.
Politics · born 1982Garlin Gilchristsoftware engineer, lieutenant governor of MichiganDetroit-born Microsoft engineer and civic-tech organizer who built the Improve Detroit app for the city and in 2019 became Michigan's first African American lieutenant governor.Ernest Kirkendallchemist, metallurgistMetallurgist raised in Highland Park who discovered the Kirkendall effect in atomic diffusion while teaching at Wayne State University in 1947.Abraham Nemethmathematician, inventor of Nemeth BrailleBlind mathematician from a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant family who taught at the University of Detroit for three decades and created the Nemeth Braille Code for mathematics.
Science & invention · 1809–1845Douglass Houghtongeologist, physician, mayor of DetroitDetroit's beloved 'little doctor,' Michigan's first state geologist whose surveys set off the Keweenaw copper boom, and mayor of Detroit in 1842.Agnes Mary Mansourformer nun, college president, Michigan social services directorDetroit-born Sister of Mercy and biochemist who led Mercy College of Detroit, then left religious life in 1983 in a Vatican dispute over her state social services post.
Auto industry · 1928–2024Ferenc Pavlicsmechanical engineer, developer of the Apollo Lunar Roving VehicleA 1956 refugee who began his American career in GM's off-road vehicle lab in Detroit and went on to develop the wheels and drive of the Apollo moon buggy.Werner Emmanuel Bachmannorganic chemistDetroit-born chemist who achieved the first total synthesis of a steroid hormone and devised a wartime process for mass-producing the explosive RDX.
Science & invention · born 1976Mona Hannapediatrician, public health researcherPediatrician raised in Royal Oak and trained at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, whose research exposed the Flint water crisis and who created the Rx Kids cash program.
Auto industry · 1868–1957Charles Brady Kingengineer, automotive pioneerEngineer who drove the first gasoline car on Detroit's streets on March 6, 1896, with Henry Ford following on a bicycle.
Business & brands · 1893–1932Eddie Stinsonpilot, aircraft manufacturerStunt flyer and record-setting pilot who, backed by Detroit investors, founded the Stinson Aircraft Company, maker of the SB-1 Detroiter, one of the first enclosed-cabin airliners.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 ↗
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