# Scientists and/or mathematicians who became famous authors\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957 "2013-08-11T20:11:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/41 "2013-08-12T12:47:24Z")
No, she doesn’t. Do some research before you post. She has a bachelor’s degree in math from UCLA: > **[Danica McKellar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar)** > > Danica Mae McKellar (born January 3, 1975) is an American actress, mathematics writer, and education advocate. She played Winnie Cooper in the television series The Wonder Years from 1988 to 1993, and from 2010 to 2022, has voiced Miss Martian in the animated superhero series Young Justice. > In 2015, McKellar was cast in the Netflix original series Project Mc2. She appears in several television films for Hallmark Channel. She is the current voice of Judy Jetson from The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-Wres... ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/42 "2013-08-12T13:01:44Z")
However, working actress Mayim has undergraduate degrees in neuroscience, Hebrew and Jewish studies, and a PhD in neuroscience. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/43 "2013-08-12T14:48:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **njtt** : > > On the other hand, a British Ph.D., unlike an American one, is entirely a research degree, and anyone who has been awarded one has been judged to have made a real and significant contribution to research in their field (and very often that research will be published). This is also true of an American PhD In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s what a PhD is everywhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/44 "2013-08-12T15:16:09Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Tolkien was never in the field of linguistics. He taught Medieval literature at Oxford. He never taught linguistics courses and never published any papers on linguistics. Yes, he knew a lot of languages, but that doesn’t make him an expert on linguistics. Tolkien has often been described as a [philologist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien#Languages_and_philology). Is that considered a branch of linguistics? > [@Chronos](#): > > This is also true of an American PhD In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s what a PhD is everywhere in the world. Yeah, I wondered about **njtt** ’s implication that an American PhD isn’t a research degree. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/45 "2013-08-12T15:51:05Z")
Mid-century actress Hedy Lamarr made some discoveries that contributed heavily to the use of radar in WW II. Over the decades, there have been persistent rumors that Rush drummer Neil Peart has a Ph.D., but he doesn’t. He has, however, written several critically acclaimed (and very good) books, both before and after the loss of his first family in the late 1990s. ☹ Bruce Springsteen’s drummer, whose name escapes me right now, is a licensed attorney. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/46 "2013-08-12T16:01:13Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Bruce Springsteen’s drummer, whose name escapes me right now, is a licensed attorney. No. And so what if he was? > [@](#): > > [Max Weinberg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weinberg) > > Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey and began drumming at an early age. He attended college planning to be a lawyer but got his big break in music in 1974 when he won an audition to become the drummer for Springsteen. … > > The band breakup occurred during his second semester at Seton Hall, on his way to completing the remaining 21 credits needed to obtain his bachelor’s degree in communications.[16][49] He graduated from there later in 1989.[48] He then briefly attended Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law,[50] but withdrew after six weeks.[7] ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/47 "2013-08-12T17:17:53Z")
Cordwainer Smith is not famous outside the SF arena, but in his civilian identity as Paul Linebarger, he was a political science PHD, an accomplished Asiatic Studies professor at Duke and Johns Hopkins, and the author of a classic textbook on psychological warfare. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/48 "2013-08-12T17:23:13Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > No. And so what if he was? What—you don’t think an attorney who became a famous drummer counts as a scientist who became a famous author? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/49 "2013-08-12T18:35:11Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > The Chancellor of a British university is an honorary, ceremonial post, given to people who are some sort of celebrity (of a relatively respectable sort) in the wider world. Often it will be a member of the royal family or something like that. It is not a real job, and they do little work for the university except sometimes (by no means always) handing out the degrees in the degree ceremony. The real head of a British university is the _Vice_ Chancellor. It is he, or she, who really runs things. Thanks for the additional info. I sort of suspected that was the case, esp. given that he took over the position from Tony Blair’s wife (who is a barrister, in addition to being the spouse of the Prime Minister when she held the chancellorship). ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/50 "2013-08-12T18:50:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > What—you don’t think an attorney who became a famous drummer counts as a scientist who became a famous author? 🙂 Eh, close enough. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/51 "2013-08-12T20:08:07Z")
Larry Niven has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He also attended grad school briefly in mathematics but never got a higher degree. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/52 "2013-08-12T20:39:05Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Larry Niven has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He also attended grad school briefly in mathematics but never got a higher degree. But he did attend the [Famous Writers School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Writers_School). ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/53 "2013-08-12T21:42:25Z")
I guess if we want to continue stretching the inclusion criteria I mentioned in the OP, we might even include the high-powered constitutional lawyer and scholar [Laurence Tribe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Tribe), since he did start off, after all, with an undergraduate degree in mathematics from a place called Harvard (graduating _summa cum laude_ at that). In fact, [he has authored many books](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Tribe#Publications), some of which may even be in keeping with the original thrust of the OP (although I doubt it). ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/54 "2013-08-12T22:38:01Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Chad Oliver was an anthropologist. He was a real, practicing scientist but we’ve already questioned whether the social sciences should count. Miles J. Breuer was a doctor. > > I can’t stop anybody from bringing up any names of any kind, but I’ll note that the OP did use the word “famous” to describe author, not scientist. And if you use his footnote of “scientists or mathematicians best known for their literary achievements and not their scientific accomplishments” the list gets real short real fast. > > Asimov and Clarke and Doc Smith would make the second list. So would a bunch of others known for their sf, including Brin and Landis and Benford but probably not Cramer or Sagan or Hoyle. Outside the sf field, Primo Levi is maybe the best example. _The Periodic Table_ is flat-out great. > > If doctors are included, a bunch of famous names can be added: poets William Carlos Williams and Oliver Wendell Holmes, novelists Anton Chekhov, Kobo Abe and Somerset Maugham, that Conan Doyle guy, and bunches of people in and around sf again, from Michael Crichton to Stanislaw Lem. Other doctors that come to mind are A J Cronin and Richard Gordon. I don’t know whether C S Forester would qualify since he left medical school before competing his degree. Nevil Shute was an aeronautical engineer who designed British British British airships before becoming a famous novelist . ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/55 "2013-08-12T22:59:56Z")
Does famous in Britain even count as famous? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/56 "2013-08-12T23:02:33Z")
James Blish had a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/57 "2013-08-13T20:20:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > If doctors are included, a bunch of famous names can be added: poets William Carlos Williams and Oliver Wendell Holmes, novelists Anton Chekhov, Kobo Abe and Somerset Maugham, that Conan Doyle guy, and bunches of people in and around sf again, from Michael Crichton to Stanislaw Lem. And the very prolific [Frank G. Slaughter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_G._Slaughter) though he’s mostly forgotten now. Singer/songwriter Art Garfunkel has an M.A. in mathematics from Columbia and also completed coursework toward a doctorate in mathematics education at Teachers College, Columbia University. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/58 "2013-08-13T20:43:42Z")
Surprised no one has mentioned [Clifford Stoll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Stoll), author of [The Cuckoo’s Egg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo's_Egg). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/59 "2013-08-13T21:32:15Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Surprised no one has mentioned [Clifford Stoll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Stoll), author of [The Cuckoo’s Egg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo's_Egg). It’s because we’ve been limiting works to fiction. If you want to include nonfiction, then it’s an endlessly huge subject and not an interesting one. I may own 1000 nonfiction books by scientists myself. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957/60 "2013-08-13T21:35:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It’s because we’ve been limiting works to fiction. If you want to include nonfiction, then it’s an endlessly huge subject and not an interesting one. I may own 1000 nonfiction books by scientists myself. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scientists-and-or-mathematicians-who-became-famous-authors/665957.md?page=4)