Isn’t Harry Ferguson of tractor fame from NI? Some of the older guys at my Dad’s car club can remember seeing him at work. I think the work he was best known for was a mechanism of some sort at the rear of modern tractors (I’m culchy ok) and the four wheel drive version of the Jensen Interceptor.
Well, after seeing the title of the thread the first person that came to mind was C.S. Lewis. If you want to keep it to the living, Seamus Heaney get’s my vote.
Kenneth Branagh was born and grew up in Belfast.
Owen Nolan of my beloved San Jose Sharks was born in Belfast. But he plays for Canada in international competitions.
Bob Shaw, science fiction author best known for his classic story “Light of Other Days.”