A couple of discussions that I had this week, plus coming across this post, got me thinking about what people end up doing with their university degrees – especially with Ph.D.s. Yes, people with Ph.D.’s generally teach or do research, and can have very narrow academic specialties that might not seem to have a lot to do with life in the real world. But some people with Ph.D.s fall into careers that are very different from what their doctoral degree is about. So, just for fun, here’s a little list of famous people who have Ph.D.s but are famous for other reasons. (Note: this list only includes people with earned Ph.Ds., not honourary Ph.D.s.)
| Famous Person | How You Know Them | What Their Ph.D. is In |
| Mayim Bialik | actress (Blossom, The Big Bang Theory) | neuroscience |
| Brian May | guitarist in Queen | astrophysics |
| Milo Aukerman | singer in The Descendents | biochemistry |
| Angela Merkel | chancellor of Germany | quantum chemistry |
| E.J. Dionne | Washington Post columnist | sociology |
| Rachel Maddow | host of current affairs show on MSNBC | politics |
| Barbara Ehrenreich | author (Nickel and Dimed) and commentator | cellular immunology |
| Greg Graffin | singer in Bad Religion | zoology |
| Newt Gingrich | politician | modern European history |
| Sterling Morrison | guitarist in the Velvet Underground | medieval literature |
Dr. May rocks the house. (Credit: Laurence Boyce/Creative Commons)
And a couple of people who almost got there or who are about to get there:
| Famous Person | How You Know Them | Subject of their Ph.D., and What Happened |
| Dexter Holland | singer in The Offspring | molecular biology; dropped out of USC Ph.D. program to pursue music full-time |
| David Duchovny | actor (The X-Files, Californication) | English literature; dropped out of Yale Ph.D. program to become an actor |
| James Franco | actor/writer (127 Hours) | English; still enrolled in Ph.D. program at Yale |
| Peter Weller | actor (Robocop) | Italian renaissance art history; plans to complete dissertation at UCLA this year |
There’s a wide range of academic interests on this list, but it’s also notable that these people all pursued their degrees at different times in their lives. Some finished their Ph.D.s before embarking on their primary careers. Others took their programs during slow times in their work, or after their initial careers had wound down. And a few started their Ph.D. programs, dropped out to do other things, and then came back decades later to finish. Not only are these people great examples of “lifelong learning”, they’re also great examples of how education can take you to all kinds of different places – even ones where you never expected to go.
All About Work 