Since its inception in 1636, Harvard University has produced some of the most influential people in the world, who have time and again proved the varsity’s excellence not only in academics but in moulding global leaders as well. From Nobel laureates, Oscar award-winning actors, Pulitzer prize-winning authors to US presidents, the Harvard alumni list comprises the most successful and influential people the world has ever known. Among them:

Political leaders. John Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Al Gore, Benazir Bhutto and Rahul Gandhi.

Entrepreneurs. An Wang, Leo Beranek, Mark Canha, Richard Peisch, William H. Gates and Vincent Astor.

Economists. Simon S. Kuznets, Amartya Sen, Kenneth J. Arrow, Wassily W. Leontief, Robert C. Merton, Michael Spence and Daniel Cosfo Villegas.

Scientists. Benjamin Franklin, Julian S. Schwinger, William P. Murphy, George Minot, Sheldon L. Glashow and Steven Weinberg.

Sports. Andrew Beyer and James Blake.

Others. Norman Mailer, Monatana Miller, Elisabeth Shue, Mira Sorvino, John Updike, Tommy Lee Jones and T.S. Eliot.

Source: The Harvard Guide & alumni listings of Harvard Schools