Academics
*** A
Antipater of Sidon ..... in the second century AD he was the FIRST to list the seven wonders of the world
*** B
Balfour - Francis Maitland ..... born 1851 died 1882 ..... Scottish embryologist who was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1882 became the FIRST professor of animal morphology there after publishing his Treatise on Comparative Embryology in 1880
Bateson - William ..... born 1861 died 1926 ..... English geneticist who became Britain's FIRST professor of genetics at Cambridge 1908-1910
Baxter - William.....FIRST person to hold the post of Professor of Accounting in Britain
Berthelot - Pierre-Eugene Marcellin ..... born 1827 died 1907 ..... French chemist and politician who became the FIRST professor of organic chemistry at the Collège de France in 1865
Biffen - Sir Rowland ..... born 1874 died 1949 ..... English botanist and geneticist who became the FIRST professor of agricultural botany at Cambridge in 1908
Bjerknes - Jacob Aall Bonnevie ..... born 1897 died 1975 ..... Norwegian-born American meteorologist who became the FIRST professor of meteorology at the University of California in 1940. In the same year he was awarded the Symons gold medal by the Royal Meteorological Society
Blenkhorn - Paul.....FIRST professor of assisted technology in the UK when appointed by UMIST in August 2001
*** E
Euclid ….. Greek mathematician who lived about 300 BC. He wrote Elements, the FIRST book on mathematics to be printed. His Elements of Geometry is the best known mathematics textbook of all time, has been printed in countless editions and was still in use as a school textbook in the early part of the 20th century
*** F
Flamsteed - John….born 19th August 1646 died 1719 ….. FIRST Astronomer Royal of England in 1675
Franklin - Benjamin …..born 7th January 1706 died 1790 …..the great 18th century American statesman, diplomat, philosopher, scientist and author, he founded the FIRST public library in Philadelphia and improved street paving and lighting and was also the FIRST Postmaster General in America (10th August 1753). He was also the FIRST scientist to make a study of the Gulf Stream, created the FIRST pair of bifocal lenses and was the FIRST ambassador of the American Republic to France. He helped to draft the Declaration of Independence, signed it and was one of three men appointed to conclude the peace treaty with Great Britain, which was signed in 1783
*** H
Halsey - Professor An ..... born April 13th 1923 ..... Britain's FIRST Professor of Sociology
Hamilton - Sir William ..... born 1805 died 2nd September 1865 ..... mathematician who was the FIRST foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
Hawksmoor - Nicholas ….. born 1661 died 1736 ..... England's FIRST professional architect
*** K
Kirkwood - Professor Tom ..... the U.K's FIRST professor of Biological Gerontology when appointed by the University of Manchester in 1993
Kopal - Zdenek ….. died 1993 ..... FIRST professor of astronomy at Manchester University (UK) who helped to draft the charts which were used by the American astronauts for the first moon landing in 1969
*** N
Newman - John Henry ..... established the Catholic University in Dublin and Eugene O' Curry (1796-1862) was hired as professor of Irish history and archaeology in 1854, the FIRST professorship of archaeology in the world. His inaugural lectures, published in 1861, covered the whole range of Irish manuscript materials
*** O
Obama - Barack - Sr ..... FIRST African graduate of the University of Hawaii where he went to study economics
*** P
Plato ….. born c 428 BC died c 348 BC ..... Greek philosopher born in Athens who founded the Athenian Academy, the FIRST university, which became a renowned centre for learning and research into philosophy, mathematics and science
Ptolemy neé Claudius Ptolemaeus ..... astronomer born at Ptolemais Hermii, a Greek colony town in Egypt. He produced the FIRST scientifically-based world map and also produced regional maps, in effect he invented the atlas
*** S
Sedgwick - Adam ….. born 1785 died 1873..... English geologist who was the FIRST Professor of Geology at Cambridge in 1818
*** T
Thwe - Pascal Khoo..... FIRST Burmese ethnic minority tribesman to enter Cambridge when he became an undergraduate reading for a degree in English. He was a member of the Padaung whose women were famous for stretching their necks with metal circlets
Tomlinson - Ray ….. IT boffin who sent the FIRST e-mail as we know it in 1971 and adopted the @ sign for addresses
Twilight - Alexander Lucius ….. the FIRST African American to graduate from college - Vermont - 1823
*** V
Viète - Francois ..... born 1540 died 1603 ..... French mathematician who developed algebra and its notation and was the FIRST mathematician to use letters of the alphabet to denote both known and unknown quantities
*** W
Wilks-Hegg - Stuart ….. in November 2000 he became the FIRST research fellow of Salford University’s newly-established Sustainable Urban and Regional Future (SURF) centre. His appointment was sponsored by Peel Holdings plc