List of Uppsala University people

This is a list of notable people affiliated with Uppsala University.

For a list of chancellors of the university, see Chancellor of Uppsala University.

The statue of Linnaeus in the entrance hall of Carolina Rediviva, the main building of the university library, Uppsala

Nobel laureates affiliated with Uppsala University

Svante Arrhenius (1859–1927), Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1903
Allvar Gullstrand (1862–1930), Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1911
Robert Bárány (1876–1936), Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1914
Theodor (The) Svedberg (1884–1971), Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1926
Manne Siegbahn (1886–1978), Nobel Laureate in Physics 1924
Arne Tiselius (1902–1971), Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1948
Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995), Nobel Laureate in Physics 1970
Kai Siegbahn (1918–2007), Nobel Laureate in Physics 1981
Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931), Nobel laureate in literature 1931 (posthumously)
Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974), Nobel laureate in literature 1951
Hjalmar Branting (1860–1925), Nobel Peace Laureate in 1921
Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931), Nobel Peace laureate in 1931
Alva Myrdal (1902–1986), Nobel Peace Laureate in 1982
Hugo Theorell (1903–1982), Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1955 (worked at Uppsala University 1932–33 and 1935–36)
Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961), Nobel Peace Laureate in 1961 (posthumously)
Svante Pääbo (born 1955), Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022

Government, politics and civil service

Royalty

King Charles X of Sweden, matriculated 1638
King Charles XV of Sweden, student in Uppsala 1843 and 1845 (spring semester 1844 in Christiania)
Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland (1827–1852), song composer, matriculated 1844 and studied several semesters in Uppsala
King Oscar II of Sweden
Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland (born 1861), student 1881–1882
Prince Eugén, Duke of Närke, artist and art collector
King Gustav V of Sweden
King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, also known as an accomplished archaeologist and connoisseur of East Asian art
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland^[1]

International work

Hans Blix (born 1928), diplomat; Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs 1978–1979, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency 1981–1997; head of the UNMOVIC 2000–2003
Hjalmar Branting (1860–1925), Prime Minister of Sweden (first Social Democrat in that position) for three periods, 1920-1925; Nobel Peace Laureate in 1921
Hans Corell (born 1939), diplomat; UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs
Kåre Pugerup (born 1964), Chief of Staff at the United Nations agency IFAD in Rome
Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961), UN Secretary General; Nobel Peace Laureate in 1961 (posthumously)
Samuel Gustaf Hermelin, Swedish Ambassador to the United States^[2]
Per Jacobsson (1894–1963), Managing Director of the IMF 1956–1963
Anna Lindh (1957–2003), Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs; assassinated in 2003
Alva Myrdal (1902–1986), politician, diplomat; Nobel Peace Laureate in 1982
Trita Parsi (born 1974), founder and president of National Iranian American Council
Jenny Ohlsson, diplomat; Swedish ambassador to Rwanda

Swedish politicians

Nils Edén (1871–1945), historian and liberal politician; Prime Minister of Sweden 1917–1920
Hjalmar Branting (1860–1925), Prime Minister 1920-1925
Yngve Larsson (1881–1977), municipal commissioner (Borgarråd) of Stockholm, urbanist, statesman
Paul Lindquist (born 1964), Mayor of Lidingö, BSc in Business Administration (1989)
Valfrid Palmgren (1877–1967), one of the first female members of the Stockholm City Council; a reformer of the public libraries
Lena Sommestad (born 1957), Minister for the Environment (as of 2005), Ph.D. in history (1992)
Gustaf Nils Algernon Stierneld (1791–1868), Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs, 1838-1842 and 1848-1856
Östen Undén (1886–1974), professor of civil law at UU, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden 1924–1926 and 1945–1962
Hans Henric von Essen (1755–1824), Governor of Stockholm, Governor-general of Norway
Karl Gustaf Westman (1876–1944), leader of Bondeförbundet; held several ministerial posts; Minister of Justice 1936–1944

Non-Swedes

Stane Dolanc (1925–1999), Yugoslav (Slovenian) politician, head of the security service under Tito
Onésimo Silveira, Cape Verdean diplomat, politician and writer (Ph.D., Political science, 1976)
Guðmundur Steingrímsson (born 1972), Icelandic politician

Religion

As Uppsala University has one of only two faculties of theology in Sweden, and the older one of the two (the other is in Lund), most Swedish churchmen of note have actually graduated from the university.

Israel Acrelius (1714–1800), Lutheran missionary to New Sweden; author of History of New Sweden
Johan Campanius (1601–1683), Lutheran clergyman assigned to New Sweden
Nicolaus Olai Campanius (1593–1624), priest
Lars Levi Laestadius (1800–1861), clergyman and botanist, founder of the conservative laestadian movement
Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931), professor of comparative religion; later archbishop of Uppsala and Nobel peace laureate in 1931
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), scientist, philosopher and religious mystic
Carl Aaron Swensson (1857–1904), American Lutheran minister; founder of Bethany College
Gustaf Unonius (1810–1902), Episcopalian priest

Natural sciences and medicine

Mathematics, physics and astronomy

Christopher Polhem (1661–1751), mechanical engineer and inventor
Samuel Klingenstierna (1698–1765), mathematician and physicist
Anders Celsius (1701–1744), physicist and astronomer; inventor of the centigrade scale, the predecessor of the Celsius scale
Nils Wallerius (1706–1764), physicist, philosopher and theologian, made important discoveries in the field of hydrology
Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin (1717–1783), astronomer, first head of the Stockholm Observatory
Johan Carl Wilcke (1732–1796), physicist
Anders Jonas Ångström (1814–1874), physicist, eponym of the unit ångström
Herman Schultz (1823–1890), astronomer
Tobias Robert Thalén (1827–1905), astronomer and physicist, awarded Rumford Medal 1884 "for his spectroscopic researches"
Nils Christoffer Dunér (1839–1914), astronomer; professor of astronomy in Uppsala from 1888; awarded the Rumford Medal in 1892
Oskar Backlund (1846–1916), astronomer
Gösta Mittag-Leffler (1846–1927), mathematician; professor and Rector at Stockholm University College; founder of the journal Acta Mathematica (1882–); founder of the Mittag-Leffler Institute (Ph.D. 1872)
Knut Ångström (1857–1910), physicist
Ivar Otto Bendixson (1861–1935), mathematician, professor and Rector at Stockholm University College (M.A. 1881, Ph.D. 1890)^[3]
Carl Charlier (1862–1934), astronomer, awarded the James Craig Watson Medal in 1924 and the Bruce Medal in 1933; professor and head of the Astronomical Observatory at Lund University
Erik Ivar Fredholm (1866–1927), mathematician who established the modern theory of integral equations
Helge von Koch (1870–1924), mathematician
Thomas Hakon Grönwall (1877–1932), mathematician best known for Grönwall's inequality, taught at Princeton and Columbia (studied in Uppsala and Stockholm, awarded Ph.D. by Uppsala University in 1898)^[4]
David Enskog (1884–1947), mathematician, Professor at the Royal Institute of Technology (Ph.D. 1917)^[5]
Manne Siegbahn (1886–1978), physicist; Nobel Laureate in Physics 1924
Fritz Carlson (1888–1952), mathematician, Professor at the Royal Institute of Technology and later at the Stockholm University College (Ph.D. 1914)^[6]
Torsten Carleman (1892–1949), mathematician, Professor and Director of the Mittag-Leffler Institute in Stockholm (Ph.D. 1917)^[7]
Gunnar Malmquist (1893–1982), astronomer, professor in Uppsala 1939–1959
Bertil Lindblad (1895–1965), astronomer; professor and head of the Stockholm Observatory; awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 1948 and the Bruce Medal 1954
Rolf Maximilian Sievert (1896–1966), physicist, professor at Stockholm University, eponym of the unit sievert (M.A. 1919)
Erik Björkdal (1899–1952), meteorologist who studied at the Bergen School of Meteorology and was active in the World Meteorological Organization.
Åke Wallenquist (1904–1994), astronomer
Arne Beurling (1905–1986), mathematician
Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995), physicist; Nobel Laureate in Physics 1970
Kai Siegbahn (1918–2007), physicist; Nobel Laureate in Physics 1981; son of Manne Siegbahn
Carl-Gösta Borelius (1919–1995), World War II cryptanalyst
Lennart Carleson (born 1928), mathematician (Ph.D. 1950); professor at UU; later (after retirement) professor at UCLA; awarded the Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 1992 and the Abel Prize in 2006
Ragnar Stefánsson (born 1938), physicist (1961) and seismologist (Ph.D. 1966); professor at the University of Akureyri
Björn Engquist (born 1945), mathematician (Ph.D. 1975), professor at the Royal Institute of Technology and Princeton University
Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist (born 1944), astronomer
Johan Håstad (born 1960), mathematician and computer scientist (M.Sc. 1984)
Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Professor of Hydrology, Director of the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science, Sweden

Chemistry, geology and mineralogy

Johan Gottschalk Wallerius (1709–1785), chemist and mineralogist
Torbern Bergman (1735–1784), chemist
Johan Gottlieb Gahn (1745–1818), mineralogist, discoverer of manganese
Johan Gadolin (1760–1852), chemist, physicist and mineralogist
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg (1767–1813), chemist, discoverer of tantalum
Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779–1848), physician and chemist, considered one of the fathers of modern chemistry; invented modern chemical notation and discovered the elements silicon, selenium, thorium, and cerium
Nils Gabriel Sefström (1787–1845), chemist, discoverer of vanadium
Johan August Arfwedson (1792–1841), chemist, discoverer of lithium
Lars Fredrik Nilson (1840–1899), chemist, discoverer of scandium
Per Teodor Cleve (1840–1905), chemist and geologist
Gerard De Geer (1848–1943), geologist who made significant contributions to quaternary geology
Svante Arrhenius (1859–1927), physicist and chemist; Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1903
Abraham Langlet, chemist who discovered helium in 1895 together with Per Teodor Cleve (independently from William Ramsay) and defined its atomic weight correctly; later professor at the Chalmers University of Technology
V. Walfrid Ekman (1874–1954), oceanographer (Ph.D. 1902)
Theodor (The) Svedberg (1884–1971), chemist; Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1926
Filip Hjulström (1902–1982), geographer (Professor 1944)

Medicine and life sciences

Olaus Rudbeckius (1630–1702), a physician and professor of medicine as well as an engineer, architect and an imaginative writer of chauvinistic (pseudo)history
Olaus Rudbeckius, junior (1660–1740), botanist
Peter Artedi (1705–1735), naturalist and friend of Linnaeus; "the father of ichthyology"
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), botanist, the father of taxonomy
Students of Linnaeus:
- Pehr Kalm (1716–1779), botanist
- Fredric Hasselquist (1722–1752), naturalist and traveller
- Peter Forsskål (1732–1763), explorer, orientalist and naturalist
- Daniel Solander (1733–1782), botanist
- Johann Beckmann (1739–1811), German scientific author, coiner of the word technology
- Adam Kuhn (1741–1817), one of the first professors of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and thus one of the first in North America; for a time the family physician of George Washington; probably the only American student of Linnaeus
- Johan Zoega (1742–1788), Danish botanist and economist
- Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828), botanist
- Johan Christian Fabricius (1745–1808), Danish entomologist
- Anders Sparrman (1748–1820), physician and naturalist
- Adam Afzelius (1750–1837), botanist
- Anders Dahl (1751–1789), botanist, namesake of the dahlia flower
- Jonas C. Dryander, naturalist and bibliographer, Librarian of the Royal Society, Vice-President of the Linnean Society of London
- Peter Gustaf Tengmalm (1754–1803), physician and naturalist
- Erik Acharius (1757–1819), botanist
Göran Wahlenberg (1780–1851), botanist
Elias Magnus Fries (1794–1878), botanist, the father of modern mushroom taxonomy
Alarik Frithiof Holmgren (1831–1897), physiologist
Gustaf Retzius (1842–1919), anatomist; professor at Karolinska Institutet 1877–1890; member of the Swedish Academy; began his studies in Uppsala, where he took his med.kand., later transferred to KI and Lund University
Karl Oskar Medin (1847–1928), paediatrician, famous for his study of poliomyelitis; professor at the Karolinska Institutet 1883–1914; completed his doctorate in Uppsala 1880
Adolf Appellöf (1857–1921), teuthologist
Allvar Gullstrand (1862–1930), ophthalmologist; Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1911
Robert Bárány (1876–1936), physician, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1914 (professor in Uppsala from 1917)
Erik Stensiö (1891–1984), paleozoologist, professor at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm; awarded the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London 1957
Erik Jarvik (1907–1998), paleozoologist, Professor at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm (succeeded Erik Stensiö) (Ph.D. in Uppsala 1942)
Arne Tiselius (1902–1971), biochemist; Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1948
Hans Rosling (born 1948), medical doctor, academic, statistician and public speaker
Hildegard Björck, first woman to complete an academic degree in Sweden
Hilda Cid (born 1933), Chilean crystallographer
Svante Pääbo (born 1955), evolutionary biologist
Frederik Kugelberg (1880–1963) MD and missionary

Explorers

Sven Hedin (1865–1952; fil. kand. 1888; honorary doctorate 1935), known for his travels through Central Asia; last person to be ennobled in Sweden
Finn Malmgren (1895–1928), Arctic explorer (Ph.D. in meteorology 1927, participated in several Arctic expeditions and died in one 1928)

Humanities and social sciences

Anna Ahlström (1863–1943), teacher, principal, school founder
Johan Gunnar Andersson, archaeologist
Tor Andræ, scholar of Comparative religion, orientalist, Bishop
Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, poet, professor of poetry
Anders Chydenius, clergyman, economist
Bengt Danielsson, ethnologist, crewmember of Kon Tiki expedition
Georges Dumézil, scholar of comparative religion, lecturer of French 1931–1933
Michel Foucault, lecturer of French 1954–1958 (received the position through Dumézil)
Erik Gustaf Geijer, historian, poet, composer
Carl August Hagberg (1810–1864), linguist and translator
Artur Hazelius (1833–1901), founder of the Nordic Museum and the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm (Ph.D. 1860)
Eli Heckscher, economic historian
Johan Ihre, philologist
Bernhard Karlgren, sinologist
Rudolf Kjellén, political scientist
Gerhard Lindblom (1887–1969), ethnographer, working in East Africa
Mia Lövheim, professor of religious sociology
Eva Lundgren, feminist scholar and sociologist
Oscar Montelius, archaeologist
Carl Gustaf Nordin (1749–1812), historian, antiquarian and politician, Bishop of Härnösand from 1812
Adolf Noreen (1854–1925), linguist
Chantal Radimilahy, archaeologist
Henrik Samuel Nyberg, orientalist
Ferdinando Sardella, historian of religions
August Ludwig von Schlözer, studied 1755/56 with Johan Ihre
Knut Wicksell (1851–1926), economist
Johan Widekindi (c 1619–1675), historian
Raj Somadeva, Archaeologist, Professor in Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri lanka

Industry

Christopher Polhem (1661–1751)
Gustaf de Laval (1845–1913), engineer, co-founder of the present Alfa Laval
Jan Stenbeck (1942–2002)
Karl Jöreskog (born 1935), Professor Emeritus, co-author (with Dag Sörbom) of LISREL statistical program
Hans Dalborg (born 1941)
Carl-Henric Svanberg (born 1952)
Maarit Toivanen (born 1954), Finnish business executive and Vuorineuvos
Gunilla Asker (born 1962) CEO of Svenska Dagbladet
Niklas Zennström (born 1966)

Arts

Literature

Georg Stiernhielm (1598–1672), poet, linguist and civil servant
Carl Michael Bellman (1740–1795), poet and composer (matriculated 1758 but left after less than a year)
Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847), historian, poet and composer
Erik Johan Stagnelius (1793–1823), poet
Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, poet
Anders Leonard Bygdén (1844–1929), historian
August Strindberg (1849–1912), novelist and playwright
Henrik Schück (1855–1947), literary historian
Axel Munthe (1857–1949), physician and writer
Gustaf Fröding (1860–1911), poet
Oscar Levertin (1862–1906), poet and critic
Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931), poet; Nobel laureate in literature 1931 (posthumously)
Hjalmar Söderberg (1869–1941), novelist
Klara Johanson (1875–1948), literary critic, essayist
Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974), novelist, playwright; Nobel Laureate in Literature 1951
Karin Boye (1900–1941), poet and novelist
Gösta Knutsson (1908–1973), radio producer and author of children's books
Sara Lidman (1923–2004), novelist
Kerstin Ekman (born 1933), novelist
Per Olov Enquist (born 1934), novelist
Lars Gustafsson (1936–2016), novelist
Peter Nilson (1937–1988), novelist, essayist and astronomer
Håkan Nesser (born 1950), detective novelist
Mari Jungstedt (born 1962), journalist and novelist
Ola Larsmo (born 1957), novelist
Kevin MacNeil, novelist, poet and playwright; former Writer in Residence at Uppsala
Katrine Marçal, journalist and author

Music

Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland (1827–1852), song composer, matriculated 1844 and studied several semesters in Uppsala
Gunnar Wennerberg, composer, politician and civil servant
Hugo Alfvén, composer, director musices of Uppsala University
Wilhelm Stenhammar, composer, director musices of Uppsala University
Lars-Erik Larsson, composer, director musices of Uppsala University
Herbert Blomstedt, orchestral conductor
Petter Askergren (known as "Petter"), Swedish rap artist
Rickard Westman, member of folk music group Garmarna