This list of University of Madras people includes notable graduates, professors, and administrators affiliated with the University of Madras. Five heads of state and two Nobel laureates have been associated with the university.
Arts
K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, Historian and author, Padma Bhushan (1957) Sarvepalli Gopal, Indian historian, Padma Vibhushan (1999) Ranvir Shah, Founder of Prakriti Foundation Gemini Ganesan, Tamil film actor, Padma Shri (1971) Mani Ratnam, Film director, screenwriter and producer, Padma Shri (2002) Sashi Kumar, Journalist and film director, Founder, Asianet Chitra Ramanathan, Contemporary fine artist, Painting M.G. Ramachandran, Film actor and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Bharat Ratna (1988) Mahesh Babu, Telugu film actor, Filmfare Awards South (3), Nandi Awards (7) K. C. S. Paniker, Abstract painter, Lalit Kala Akademi Ratna (1976)
Business and Economics
Jay Vijayan, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Tesla Motors Kakkadan Nandanath Raj, one of the architects of the Five-Year Plans of India, Padma Vibhushan (2000) Raja Chelliah, Founding chairman of the Madras School of Economics, Padma Vibhushan (2007) C. K. Prahalad, Prominent business thinker, Padma Bhushan (2009) Prathap C. Reddy, Founder, Apollo Hospitals, Padma Vibhushan (2010) Ram Shriram, Founding board member of Google Inc. Verghese Kurien, Father of White Revolution in India, Padma Vibhushan (1999) Indra Nooyi, chairman, PepsiCo, Padma Bhushan (2007) Srikanth Balachandran, Global CFO, Bharti Airtel Suresh Krishna, TVS Group, Padma Shri (2006) Kalanithi Maran, Founder and chairman of Sun Group Kasinathuni Nageswara Rao, Founder of Amrutanjan Healthcare and Andhra Patrika Usha Ananthasubramanian, chairman and managing director of the Bhartiya Mahila Bank Mahesh Amalean, Engineer and industrialist, Deshamanya (2005) Pushkala Prasad, Zankel Chair Professor of Management and Liberal Arts at Skidmore College
Civil Servants and Diplomats NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesBenegal Rama Rau4th Governor of Reserve Bank of IndiaC. Sylendra BabuDirector General of Police, Tamil Nadu (since 2021)C. RangarajanLoyola19th Governor of Reserve Bank of IndiaF. V. ArulLoyola; Madras Christian CollegeDirector of CBI (1968–1971)K. P. S. Menon1st Foreign Secretary of IndiaK. Vijay KumarMadras Christian CollegeDirector General of PoliceKalyan Sundaram2nd Chief Election Commissioner of IndiaM. K. NarayananLoyolaGovernor of West Bengal; 3rd National Security Adviser of IndiaN. VittalChief Vigilance Commissioner (1998–2002)R. V. S. Peri Sastri8th Chief Election Commissioner of IndiaS. Jagannathan10th Governor of Reserve Bank of IndiaT. N. Seshan10th Chief Election Commissioner of IndiaY. Venugopal ReddyM.A. in Economics21st Governor of Reserve Bank of India
Humanities and Social Sciences NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesDavid DavidarAuthor and publisher, Former CEO of Penguin GroupMuhammed MuhsinMPhilPolitician, MLA - Kerala Legislative AssemblyKaruppannan JaishankarcriminologistP. Gururaja Bhat1952historianR. S. SubbalakshmiSocial reformer and educationistS. Krishnaswami Aiyangarhistorian and indologistS. R. RanganathanBA; MAMadras Christian Collegelibrary scientist known for developing the colon classificationV. VenkayyaChief epigraphist, Government of India (1908–1912)
Literature NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesM. Govinda PaiKannada poet and writer, Rashtrakavi (1949)Madhavan Ayyappathpoet and writerSachchidananda Vatsyayan1927Hindi poet and writer, Jnanpith Award (1978), Sahitya Akademi Award (1964)Srirangam SrinivasaraoTelugu poet and lyricist, Sahitya Akademi Award (1972)KuzhanthaiTamil poetVanamaliTelugu poet and lyricist, PhD in Telugu literature
Military Every Gentlemen Cadet from Officers Training Academy (OTA) Chennai gets a masters degree from University of Madras NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesIdris Hasan LatifNizamformer Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air ForceJagath Jayasuria1990MScformer Chief of Defence Staff of the Sri Lankan Armed ForcesK. M. CariappaPresidencyformer Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian ArmyKrishnaswamy SundarjiMScformer Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian ArmyPurna Chandra Thapaformer Chief of Army Staff of the Nepalese ArmyZameer Uddin ShahMScformer Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Personnel & Systems), Indian Army Hamzah Sahat2010MPhilformer Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed ForcesAlirupendiformer Joint Force Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces
Politics and Law
Heads of State NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesChakravarthi Rajagopalachari1897PresidencyGovernor-General of India (1948–1950)Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan1906Madras Christian College2nd President of India (1962–1967)Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy6th President of India (1977–1982)R. VenkataramanLoyola8th President of India (1987–1992)A. P. J. Abdul KalamSt. Joseph'sThe St. Joseph's College was affiliated to the University of Madras between 1869 and 1982.11th President of India (2002–2007)
Supreme Court Judges NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesPatanjali Sastri2nd Chief Justice of IndiaK. Subba Rao9th Chief Justice of IndiaMuhammad Shahabuddin3rd Chief Justice of PakistanP. Sathasivam40th Chief Justice of IndiaV. Balakrishna EradiJudge of the Supreme Court of India; 9th Chief Justice of Kerala High CourtDoraiswamy RajuJudge of the Supreme Court of India
Others +NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesA. J. John1919Madras Law CollegeFormer Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin and Governor of MadrasArcot Ramasamy MudaliarMadras Christian CollegeLast Diwan of Mysore, Padma Vibhushan (1970)B. Munuswamy NaiduMadras Christian CollegeChief Minister of Madras PresidencyCN AnnaduraiFirst Chief Minister of Tamil NaduC. P. Ramaswami IyerDiwan of Travancore (1936–1947)C. Joseph VijayDid not graduateLoyola CollegeChief Minister of Tamil Nadu (2026–present)C. Vijayaraghavachariar1875PresidencyPresident of the Indian National Congress (1920)Chidambaram SubramaniamBSc in PhysicsPresidency; Madras Law CollegeThe Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College (also known as Government Law College and Madras Law College) was affiliated to the University of Madras between 1891 and 1996.Indian independence activist, Bharat Ratna (1998)K. K. NayarMember of Parliament, Lok SabhaK. V. Reddy NaiduChief Minister of Madras Presidency (1937)Kasu Brahmananda ReddyPresidencyChief Minister of Andhra PradeshM. ThambiduraiDeputy Speaker of the Lok SabhaMukhtar Ahmed AnsariMadras Medical CollegeThe Madras Medical College was affiliated to the University of Madras between 1857 and 1988.surgeon and President of the Indian National CongressNittoor Srinivasa Rau1927LLBMadras Law CollegeChief Justice of the High Court of Mysore StateP. SubbarayanPresidencyChief Minister of Madras Presidency (1924–1930)P. V. Rajamannar1921PresidencyChief Justice of Madras High CourtPalaniappan ChidambaramMinister of FinanceParavoor T. K. Narayana PillaiPrime Minister of Travancore and the first Chief Minister of Travancore-CochinShankarrao ChavanCabinet MinisterV. K. Krishna Menon1918PresidencyMinister of Defence
Educationists
M. Aram, Educator and peace advocate, Padma Shri (1990) G. Viswanathan, Founder and chancellor, VIT University V. M. Muralidharan, Chairman, Ethiraj College for Women Swami Atmapriyananda, Physics academic, Vice-Chancellor, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute(2005-2020)
Religion NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesIan ErnestArchbishop of the Indian OceanJoshua Russell ChandranBA; MA
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Nobel Laureates NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesC. V. Raman 1904; 1907BA; MAPresidencyNobel Prize in Physics (1930), Bharat Ratna (1954)Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar1930BSc in PhysicsPresidencyNobel Prize in Physics (1983), Padma Vibhushan (1968)"Chandra studied at Presidency College, University of Madras, and he wrote his first research paper", http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Chandrasekhar.html
Abel Prize Winners NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesS. R. Srinivasa Varadhan1959BScPresidencyAbel Prize (2007), Padma Bhushan (2008), National Medal of Science (2010), Birkhoff Prize (1994)Announcement of the 1996 Steele Prizes at the American Mathematical Society web site. Retrieved 21 February 2007.Citation for the Abel Prize (PDF). Retrieved 22 March 2007.
Turing Awardee NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesRaj Reddy1958 Bachelors in Civil Engineering College of Engineering, Guindy (Then affiliated to Madras University) Turing Award (1994), Legion of Honour (1985), Padma Bhushan (2001)
Others NameClass YearDegreeCollegeNotabilityReferencesA. Lakshmanaswami MudaliarMadras Christian CollegePadma Vibhushan (1963)Alladi RamakrishnanTheoretical physicist, founder of the Institute of Mathematical SciencesArunachala SreenivasanNutritional scientist and Padma Bhushan awardeeC. V. SubramanianMycologist and plant pathologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1965)E. C. George SudarshanTheoretical physicist, Dirac Prize (2010), Padma Vibhushan (2007)G.N. RamachandranBiophysicist who described the structure of CollagenGunamudian David Boaz1st Indian Psychologist (1943)Janaki AmmalBotanist and Cytologist, Padma Shri (1977)K. G. RamanathanM.A. in MathematicsPadma Bhushan (1983), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1965)K. S. KrishnanPhysicist, Co-discoverer of Raman scattering, Padma Bhushan (1954)M. Visveshwarya1881B.A.Central College of BangaloreThe Central College of Bangalore was affiliated to the University of Madras between 1858 and 1964.Civil engineer, Bharat Ratna (1955)Mushi SantappaPolymer chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1967)Natchimuthuk GopalswamySolar physicist, President of International Astronomical Union Commission 49Om Dutt Gulatipharmacologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and B. C. Roy laureateSrinivasan Chandrasekaranorganic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureateRaja RamannaNuclear scientist, Padma Vibhushan (1975)Rajagopala ChidambaramNuclear scientist, Padma Vibhushan (1999)Srinivasa RamanujanMathematical prodigySrinivasan VaradarajanChemist and Padma Bhushan awardeeTanjore R. AnantharamanMaterials scientist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1967)Toppur Seethapathy SadasivanPlant pathologist and Padma Bhushan (1974) awardeeUdupi Ramachandra Rao1952BScspace scientist, Padma Vibhushan (2017)V. SasisekharanMolecular biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1978)Vasanthy ArasaratnamBScBiochemist, Vice-chancellor of the University of Jaffna (2011 – present)Vilayanur S. RamachandranCognitive neuroscientist, Ariëns Kappers Medal (1999)
Pakkiriswamy Chandra Sekharan, Forensic expert and Padma Bhushan winner John Barnabas, Evolutionary biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1974) Avadhesha Surolia, Glycobiologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1987) Thavamani Jegajothivel Pandian, Geneticist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1984) Narayanaswamy Srinivasan, Molecular biophysicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2007) T. R. Govindachari, Natural product chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1960) P. T. Narasimhan, theoretical chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (1970) Paramasivam Natarajan, photochemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (1984) Siva Umapathy, organometallic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate. Subramania Ranganathan, organic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate Govindasamy Mugesh, physical chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate Kunchithapadam Gopalan, geochronologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate Rengaswamy Ramesh, geophysicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate Mangalore Anantha Pai, electrical engineer, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate Nuggehalli Raghuveer Moudgal, endocrinologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate E. S. Raja Gopal, physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate Muthusamy Lakshmanan, theoretical physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate