There are several notable individuals who have studied
mathematics at
university, but later became accomplished in other fields.
Mathematics may steel one's mind to approach challenges with a iron
logic and a determined attitude. People who are curious about life may find enjoyment in being able to explain the world through a simple
formula. The subject certainly is no place for sloppy, undisciplined thinkers.
Actors
Omar Sharif (of Lawrence of Arabia fame; maths and physics major, Victory College, Cairo)
Teri Hatcher (Bond Girl and Desperate Housewife; maths and engineering major, de Anza College, California)
Danica McKellar (from The Wonder Years; maths major, University of California at Los Angeles - graduated summa cum laude)
Activists
Florence Nightingale (founder of modern nursing; privately taught and considered first person in the English-speaking world to introduce statistics to public health. Also invented the pie chart)
Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber; maths major from Harvard University, Masters and PhD in maths from the University of Michigan)
Ralph Abernathy (US civil rights leader; maths major, Alabama State University)
Athletes
Michael Jordan (basketballer; studied maths in his junior year at the University of North Carolina)
Frank Ryan (US footballer; holds a PhD in mathematics from Rice University, having written a thesis entitled Characterization of the Set of Asymptotic Values of a Function Holomorphic in the Unit Disc)
Virginia Wade (1977 tennis champion at Wimbledon; majored in maths and physics at the University of Sussix)
David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs basketballer; majored in maths at the United States Naval Academy)
Entertainers
Carol King (Sixties pre-Martika singer of I Feel the Earth Move; studied maths but later dropped out from Queens College, New York)
Art Garfunkel (one half of Simon and Garfunkel; maths and music major, Columbia University)
Paul Vanhoeven (director of Total Recall, Robocop and Starship Troopers; holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Leiden)
Adam Spencer (Australian radio presenter and comedian; maths major and a partially completed PhD, University of Sydney)
Tom Lehrer (musical satirist; maths major - Magna Cum Laude - earnt at aged 18 from Harvard University, followed by a Masters and Doctorate also from Harvard)
Philosophers
Bertrand Russell (maths major, Trinity College, Cambridge University)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (maths major, Trinity College, Cambridge University)
Simone de Beauvoir (feminist; studied maths at Institut Catholique, Paris)
Politicians
Alberto Fujimori (President of Peru; Masters degree, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)
Arthur Meighen (Prime Minister of Canada; maths major, University of Toronto)
Corozon Aquino (President of the Philippines; maths minor, College of Mount Saint Vincent, New York)
David Dinkins (Mayor of New York; maths major, Howard University, New York)
Leon Trotsky (Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs; incomplete studies maths in Odessa)
William J. Perry (US Secretary of Defence; maths major and Masters, Stanford University, and Doctorate in pure mathematics, Penn State University)
Paul Wolfowitz (President of the World Bank; maths and chemistry major, Cornell University)
Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister of Singapore; maths major, Cambridge University)
Ahmad Chalabi (Iraqi politician; maths major, University of Chicago)
Eamon de Valera (Prime Minister of Ireland; maths major, Royal University of Ireland, Dublin)
Writers
Bram Stoker (author of Dracula; maths major, Trinity College, Dublin)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Soviet-era dissident; maths and physics major, University of Rostov-on-Don)
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Louis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland; maths major, Christ Church College, Oxford University)
Omar Khayyam (author of The Rubaiyat; developed several principles of mathematics, including geometry, algebra and trigonometry. He worked out that an Earth year is 365.24219858156 days)
Miranda Devine (Australian journalist; maths major, Macquarie University, Sydney)