List of people from Urbana, Illinois

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "List of people from Urbana, Illinois" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Urbana, Illinois. For a similar list, see the category page People from Urbana, Illinois.

This article contains dynamic lists that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Academics and writing

Philip W. Anderson, earned the Nobel Prize in Physics (1977)
John Bardeen, inventor of the transistor; awarded Nobel Prize in Physics (1956 & 1972); winner of IEEE Medal of Honor (1971)
Iris Chang, author (The Rape of Nanking)
Ward Churchill, author and political activist
David Forsyth, computer scientist; co-author of Computer Vision: A Modern Approach
Eugie Foster, science-fiction writer
Theodore Gray, co-founder of Wolfram Research and winner of the Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2002)
José Graziano, Brazilian agronomist; secretary general of the FAO
Robert W. Holley, earned the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1968); graduate of Urbana High School (1939)
Braj Kachru, linguist; created the "circle model" of world English varieties
Edwin G. Krebs, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1994); graduate of Urbana High School (1937)
Paul Christian Lauterbur, earned the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2003)
Sir Anthony James Leggett, earned the Nobel Prize in Physics (2003)
Revilo P. Oliver, professor, writer, University of Illinois (1977)
Hamilton O. Smith, earned the Nobel Prize in Medicine (1978)
Thelma Strabel, novelist, grew up in Urbana
James Tobin, earned the Nobel Prize in Economics (1981)
David Foster Wallace, author (Infinite Jest); graduate of Urbana High School
Brian Wansink, author (Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think); professor at Cornell University
Gregorio Weber, Argentinian spectroscopist and protein chemist, worked in Urbana from 1962
Carl Woese, microbiologist; identified Archaea as a domain of life

Fine arts

Christopher Brown, painter, printmaker, and professor.

Media and music

Ken Baumann, actor (The Secret Life of the American Teenager)
Jay Bennett, founding member of Wilco; solo musician; died in May 2009
Emily Blue, singer-songwriter, Chicago Reader Award winner
Deborah Blum, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of The Poisoner's Handbook
Roger Ebert, movie critic; Pulitzer Prize winner
Jennie Garth, actress (What I Like About You, Beverly Hills, 90210 and 90210)
Erika Harold, 2002 Miss Illinois and 2003 Miss America; graduate of Urbana High School
Michael S. Hart, author, inventor of the electronic book; founder of Project Gutenberg, first project to make ebooks freely available via the Internet
William Slavens McNutt, screenwriter (Huckleberry Finn)
Nina Paley, cartoonist, animator, and free culture activist
Mark Roberts, actor, comedian, writer, creator of the TV series Mike and Molly
Chic Sale, author, actor, and vaudevillian
Virginia Sale, actress
Gil Shaham, violinist
David Ogden Stiers, actor (Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on the TV series M*A*S*H)
Sasha Velour, drag queen, artist, fashion forward winner of Season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race
American Football (band), midwestern emo and math rock band
Jeff Austin, Founding member and frontman of the bluegrass band Yonder Mountain String Band until his departure in 2014.

Fictional

HAL 9000, character in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey; upon "dying" claims he was made operational in Urbana

Business

Brady Dougan, CEO of Credit Suisse Group
Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos
Shahid Khan, CEO of Flex-N-Gate; owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars

Military

Larry Allen Abshier, U.S. soldier who defected to North Korea after the Korean War in 1962
Charles Carpenter (Lt. Col.), U.S. Army officer and army observation pilot (Second World War); taught history at Urbana High School
Reginald C. Harmon, first US Air Force Judge Advocate General; Mayor of Urbana

Politics and law

Thomas B. Berns, Illinois state legislator, civil engineer, and surveyor
Bird Sim Coler, Comptroller of Greater New York
George W. Dilling, mayor of Seattle from 1911 to 1912
Stanley B. Weaver, Illinois state legislator, funeral director, and Mayor of Urbana
William B. Webber, Illinois state legislator, lawyer, and mayor of Urbana
Dennis Yao, member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Sports

LaToya Bond, guard for the Indiana Fever (WNBA)
Scott Garrelts, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants
Jonathan Kuck, Olympic speed skater; silver medalist
Ella Masar, forward for the Chicago Red Stars
Spencer Patton, pitcher for the Chicago Cubs

References

Landauer, Susan; Gerdts, William H.; Trenton, Patricia (2003-11-10). The Not-So-Still Life: A Century of California Painting and Sculpture. University of California Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-520-23938-8.
Michael S. Hart, Project Gutenberg, archived from the original on September 11, 2011
Christine Harper and David Clarke, "American Dougan Emulates Gruebel at Credit Suisse," Bloomberg.com https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=akg3Dpvfufoc
"Illinois businessman Shahid Khan buying Jacksonville Jaguars," bizjournals.com http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2011/11/29/illinois-businessman-shahid-kahn.html
What's New in Aviation: Piper Cub Tank Buster, Popular Science, Vol. 146 No. 2 (February 1945) p. 84
Carpenter, Leland F., Piper L-4J Grasshopper Archived 2011-09-04 at the Wayback Machine, Aviation Enthusiast Corner, retrieved 21 October 2011
In Memoriam, Urbana High School Class of 1962, retrieved 23 October 2011
'Illinois Blue Book 2001-2002,' Biographical Sketch of Stanley B. Weaver, pg. 53
"Nomination of Dennis A. Yao To Be Federal Trade Commissioner | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-11.

Categories: