Famous Scottish People a to z

Robert Adamson was a Scottish chemist and photographer who is best known for producing 2500 Calotype photographic prints with painter David Octavius Hill.

Scottish mathematician, physician and satirist John Arbuthnot is known for his satirical writings, which include a political allegory, The History of John Bull.

Scottish engineer John Logie Baird was the first man to televise pictures of objects in motion. He also demonstrated color television, in 1928.

Sir James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish dramatist, best known for writing the play Peter Pan.

Alexander Graham Bell was one of the primary inventors of the telephone, did important work in communication for the deaf and held more than 18 patents.

Tony Blair was leader of the British Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, and prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007.

Scottish gang member Jimmy Boyle got a life sentence for killing Babs Rooney. After his release, Boyle became a businessman and worked with young offenders.

Plucked from obscurity when she stunned the judges on the UK TV show Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle has gone on to great singing success.

Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister of the United Kingdom in 2007, and served against the backdrop of a worldwide financial crisis.

Poet Robert Burns is considered one of the most famous characters of Scotland's cultural history. He is best known as a pioneer of the Romantic movement.

David Byrne is a singer/songwriter who is best known as the front man for the art-rock musical group the Talking Heads.

Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish essayist, historian and satirical writer. His best know works include Life of Schiller, Sartor Resartus and The French Revolution.

Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane is best known for his roles such as Hagrid the Giant in the Harry Potter series and Mr. Hyde in Van Helsing.

Oscar-winning Scottish actor Sean Connery played "007" in the first James Bond spy movies. He also played the Indiane Jones's father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Robin Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 1983 until his death.

Scottish soccer legend Kenny Dalglish was a star striker for Celtic and Liverpool before becoming a successful manager.

Alex Ferguson is a Scottish soccer player known for his highly successful, long-term management of the Manchester United league.

Alexander Fleming was a doctor and bacteriologist who discovered penicillin, receiving the Nobel Prize in 1945.

Serial killer Roy Fontaine, originally Archibald Hall, killed a former lover, his employers, an accomplice and another man in England in the 1970s.

John Galt was a prolific Scottish novelist admired for his depiction of country life. His masterpieces include The Ayrshire Legatees and Lawrie Todd.

Andrew Hamilton was a lawyer who defended John Peter Zenger in a case that marked the first victory for freedom of the press in the American colonies.

In 1966, Thomas Watt Hamilton attacked a classroom at the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland.

Scottish actor John Hannah played a supporting role opposite Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral and was also in Sliding Doors.

James Herriot was a British veterinarian and author best known for his books detailing life as a country vet. Two films and a TV series were based on his book All Creatures Great and Small.

Deborah Kerr was a Scottish actress known for the poise and serenity she exhibited in portraying complex, prim characters.

William Kidd is one of the most famous pirates in history, remembered for his execution for piracy on the Indian Ocean.

The foremost leader of the Scottish Reformation, John Knox set the moral tone of the Church of Scotland and shaped the democratic form of government it adopted.

Annie Lennox is a singer/songwriter known for her work with the Eurythmics and as a solo act. Her hits include “Sweet Dreams,” “Who’s That Girl?” and “Why.”

American actor Ray Liotta is best known for his on-the-edge tough-guy characterizations in films like Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1992) and No Escape (1994).

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, abolitionist and physician known for his explorations of Africa, having crossed the continent during the mid-19th century.

Ramsay MacDonald was the first Labour Party prime minister of Great Britain, in Labour governments and the national coalition government.

Macbeth was king of Scotland during the 11th century. He was also the basis for Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

William Lyon Mackenzie was a journalist and political agitator who led an unsuccessful revolt against the Canadian government in 1837.

Kirkpatrick Macmillan is best known for inventing the first pedal bicycle.

Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell originated the idea of electromagnetic radiation. His ideas formed the basis for quantum mechanics.

James McAvoy is a Scottish actor best known for his roles in The Last King of Scotland (2006), Atonement (2007) and X-Men: First Class (2011).

Scottish actor Ewan McGregor first received worldwide acclaim with his role in Trainspotting, and has since played Obi-Wan in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

James Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher. He supported the radical philosophical belief called Utilitarianism.

A legendary tough guy on and off-screen, Robert Mitchum was one of the most memorable leading men of the twentieth century.

Naturalist, writer, and advocate of U.S. forest conservation, John Muir founded the Sierra Club and helped establish Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.

Dennis Nilsen is best known as the English murderer of many young men in the late 1970's and early 80's.

David Niven was an actor of stage and the big screen who epitomized dapper charm in films like The Pink Panther.

Robert Dale Owen, son of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen, is best known for being integral to the founding of the Smithsonian Institution.

Sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi's collage work combining surrealism with elements of popular culture and technology led him to be credited as the inventor of Pop Art.

Scottish explorer Mungo Park (1771–1806) wrote Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa about his expeditions to find the source of the Niger River.

Mina Stevens was an astronomer who was a pioneer in the classification of stellar spectra.

Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish-born detective and founder of a famous American private detective agency, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

Mary Queen of Scots is one of the most fascinating and controversial monarchs of the 16th century who claimed the crowns of four nations in her lifetime.

Queen Elizabeth was the Queen consort of King George VI until his death in 1952. She is best known for her moral support to the British people during WWII and her longevity.

Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish painter known for his full-scale portraiture from the late 18th to early 19th century.

Hot-tempered chef Gordon Ramsay owns a number of successful restaurants but is best known as the star of television series Hell's Kitchen.

Robert II was king of Scotland from 1371 to 1390, and is best known for his largely ineffectual reign.

Scottish Rob Roy, also known as Red MacGregor was the famous Scottish folk hero of the 18th century best known as the Scottish Robin Hood.

Mary Seacole was a Jamaican nurse who cared for British soldiers at the battlefront during the Crimean War.

Kate Sheppard was a leader in the New Zealand women's suffrage movement, helping women gain the right to vote in New Zealand.

Dame Muriel Spark was a Scottish novelist, poet and literary critic best known for her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Ian Stewart was one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones, later serving as their road manager and pianist.

Pierre Trudeau was the 15th prime minister of Canada, famous for his youthful energy, his stance against a separate Quebec and suppressing violent revolt.

William Wallace, a Scottish knight, became a central early figure in the wars to secure Scottish freedom from the English, becoming one of his country's greatest national heroes.