The following list predominantly names notable alumni of the Jagiellonian University (its faculty and other prominent figures affiliated with the university are mostly not featured on this list).

History Founded in 1364 by King of Poland Casimir the Great, the Jagiellonian University (Polish: Uniwersytet Jagielloński) is considered among the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world as well as one of Poland's two most prestigious academic institutions alongside the University of Warsaw. Alumni and faculty of the university include many internationally acclaimed philosophers, composers, politicians, poets, writers, historians, natural and social scientists.

Among the most distinguished alumni of the university are: Renaissance polymath Nicolaus Copernicus, theologian and Saint John Cantius, chronicler Jan Długosz, poet Jan Kochanowski, King of Poland John III Sobieski, Enlightenment-era thinker Hugo Kołłątaj, inventor and pioneer of oil industry Ignacy Łukasiewicz, chemist Jan Olszewski, social anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, mathematician Wacław Sierpiński, playwright Stanisław Wyspiański, Nobel Prize winners Ivo Andrić and Wisława Szymborska, chemist Leo Sternbach, psychiatrist Antoni Kępiński, science fiction writer Stanisław Lem, composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, Pope John Paul II, 6th President of Poland Andrzej Duda, historian Norman Davies, physicist Artur Ekert and neuroscientist Jerzy Vetulani.

List of notable alumni

John Cantius (1390–1473), scholastic, theologian Jan Długosz (1415–1480), historian and chronicler Stanisław Kazimierczyk, also known as Saint Stanislaus of Kazimierz (1433–1489), Polish Catholic priest, saint and theologian Michał Falkener (ca. 1450–1534), SilesianBibliografia Literatury Polskiej – Nowy Korbut, t. 2 Piśmiennictwo Staropolskie, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 1964, pp. 154-155 Scholastic philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, theologian and philologistNorman Davies, Roger Moorhouse: Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City, Jonathan Cape, 2002 . 585 pages p. 134 Albert Brudzewski (1445–c.1497), astronomer, mathematician, philosopher and diplomat Yuriy Drohobych (1450–1494), Ruthenian philosopher, astronomer, writer and medical doctor Laurentius Corvinus (1465–1527), humanist; lecturer at the university Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), astronomer; promoter of heliocentrism Maciej Miechowita (1457–1523), Renaissance scholar, historian, chronicler, geographer, medical doctor, alchemist and astrologer Francysk Skaryna (1485?–1540?), pioneer of the Belarusian language; first to print a book in an Eastern Slavic language (1517 in Prague) Johannes Honter (1498–1549), Transylvanian Saxon, renaissance humanist, Protestant reformer, and theologian Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski (1503?–1572), diplomat; political thinker; religious thinker Mikołaj Rej (1505–1569), Renaissance poet, writer, translator and theologian Marcin Kromer (1512–1589), historian; Prince-Bishop of Warmia Ivan Fyodorov (c. 1525–1583), Russian printer regarded as one of the fathers of Eastern Slavonic printing Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), Polish Renaissance poet Wawrzyniec Goślicki (ca. 1530–1607) Polish nobleman, Bishop of Poznań, political thinker and philosopher best known for his book De optimo senatore (1568) Cyprian Bazylik (1535–1600), composer; musician; poet Wojciech Oczko (1537–1599), philosopher, doctor, Royal Secretary to King Sigismund II Augustus Bartosz Paprocki (c. 1543 – 1614), writer; historiographer; translator; poet; genealogist Jan Brożek (1585 –1652), mathematician, astronomer, physician, poet, writer, musician Stanisław Koniecpolski (1590?–1646), military commander; military politician; Grand Hetman of the Crown Kasper Twardowski (ca. 1592–ca. 1641), poet of the early Polish Baroque period John III Sobieski (1629–1696), military leader; monarch of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; victor of the Battle of Vienna Stanisław Dąmbski (ca. 1638–1700), Bishop of Krakow Kasper Niesiecki (1682–1744), heraldist, lexicographer and theologian Hugo Kołłątaj (1750–1812), a constitutional reformer and educationalist, one of the most prominent figures of the Polish Enlightenment Wincenty Pol (1807–1872), poet; geographer Ignacy Łukasiewicz (1822–1882), pharmacist and a pioneer of oil industry; deviser of the first method of distilling kerosene from seep oil and builder of the world's first modern oil refinery Edmund Matejko (1829–1907), insurgent, teacher, and older brother of the painter Jan Matejko Carl Menger (1840–1921), Austrian economist; lawyer; founder of the Austrian School of economics Henryk Jordan (1842–1907), philanthropist, physician and pioneer of physical education Edward Janczewski (1846–1918), biologist Karol Olszewski (1846–1915), physicist; chemist; the first to liquefy oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere Feliks Koneczny (1862–1949), historian, theatrical critic, librarian, journalist and social philosopher Józef Paczoski (1864–1942), botanist Aleksander Meysztowicz (1864–1943), politician, landowner Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1865–1940), Polish Goral poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and writer, a prominent member of the Young Poland movement Ignacy Daszyński (1866–1936), socialist politician and journalist Stanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907), playwright, painter and poet, as well as interior and furniture designer Stanisław Estreicher (1869–1939), historian of law and bibliographer Tadeusz Estreicher (1871–1952), chemist, historian and cryogenics pioneer Vasyl Stefanyk (1871–1936), Ukrainian modernist writer and political activist Bohdan Lepky (1872–1941), Ukrainian writer and poet Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński (1874–1941), writer, poet, critic and translator Marian Dąbrowski (1878–1958), journalist, entrepreneur and publisher, the biggest and the most influential press magnate of the Second Polish Republic Maria Grzegorzewska (1888–1967), educator, propagator of the special education movement Wacław Sierpiński (1882–1969), mathematician Władysław Ślebodziński (1884–1972), mathematician Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942), anthropologist Stanisław Kot (1885–1975), Polish historian and politician Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė (1886–1958), Lithuanian writer, educator, and activist. Stefan Kopeć (1888–1941), biologist and pioneer of insect endocrinology Kazimierz Papée (1889–1979), Polish Ambassador to the Holy See 1939–1958 Tomasz Dąbal (1890–1937), lawyer, activist and politician Bronisław Hager (1890–1969), physician, public health pioneer, and political activist Stanisław Janikowski (1891–1965), diplomat and an Etruscologist Oskar Halecki (1891–1973), historian, social and Catholic activist Ivo Andrić (1892–1975), Yugoslav novelist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna (1892–1983), poet, prose writer, playwright and translator Adam Obrubański (1892–1940), reporter, manager of the Polish National Team, murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn Massacre Wacław Jędrzejewicz (1893–1993), Polish Army officer, diplomat, politician and historian Adam Heydel (1893–1941), economist and representative of the Cracow School of Economics Henryk Sławik (1894–1944), diplomat recognised as Righteous Among the Nations for the rescue of Jews in World War II Hungary Arkady Fiedler (1894–1985), writer, journalist and adventurer best known as the author of Squadron 303 Stanisław Sosabowski (1892–1967), Polish general in World War II Leopold Infeld (1898–1968), physicist Józef Feldman (1899–1946), historian Volodymyr Kubiyovych (1900–1985), Ukrainian geographer, cartographer, encyclopedist, politician, and statesman Adam Vetulani (1901–1976), historian of medieval and canon law Yaroslav Halan (1902–1949), Ukrainian anti-fascist playwright and publicist Kazimierz Kordylewski (1903–1981), astronomer Józef Pieter (1904–1989), psychologist, philosopher, pedagogue, researcher, and lecturer Oskar R. Lange (1904–1965), economist and diplomat Ludwik Gross (1904–1999), Polish-American virologist Wanda Wasilewska (1905–1964), novelist and journalist and a left-wing political activist Iwo Lominski (1905–1968), bacteriologist Edward Rydz-Śmigły (1886–1941), politician, statesman, Marshal of Poland and Commander-in-Chief of Poland's armed forces, as well as a painter and poet Kazimierz Lejman (1907–1985), dermatologist and college department head Tadeusz Pankiewicz (1908–1993), pharmacist and a Righteous Among the Nations Lelord Kordel (1908–2001) Polish-American nutritionist and author of books on healthy living Adolf Fierla (1908–1967), writer and poet Maria Irena Mileska (1908 –1988), Polish educator, war resister, scoutmaster and doctor of geography Janina Oszast (1908–1986), Polish biologist and resistance movement member Andrzej Dunajewski (1908–1944), zoologist and ornithologist Leo Sternbach (1908–2005), chemist; inventor of the benzodiazepine Tadeusz Pankiewicz (1908–1993), pharmacist; Righteous Among the Nations who aided Jews in the Kraków Ghetto Danuta Gierulanka (1909–1995), mathematics educator, psychologist, philosopher, and translator Józef Cyrankiewicz (1911–1989), Communist politician; Prime Minister of Poland 1947–1952, 1954–1970 Jerzy Turowicz (1912–1999), journalist Poldek Pfefferberg (1913–2001), business owner who inspired Schindler's Ark, and its film adaptation, Schindler's List Artur Jurand FRSE (1914–2000), geneticist Herbert Czaja (1914–1997), German Christian democratic politician George Zarnecki (1915–2008), art historian specializing in English Romanesque art Sigmund Strochlitz (1916–2006), American activist and Holocaust survivor Wilhelm Mach (1916–1965), writer, essayist, poet and literary critic. Jerzy Tabeau (1918-2002), cardiologist one of the few escapees from Auschwitz concentration camp Antoni Kępiński (1918–1972), psychiatrist Mietek Pemper (1920–2011), law student, Holocaust survivor who compiled Schindler's list Karol Wojtyła (1920–2005), later John Paul II, Pope of the Catholic Church Tadeusz Różewicz (1921–2014), poet, playwright, writer, and translator Zbigniew Czajkowski (born 1921), fencer ("Father of the Polish School of Fencing") Andrzej Łobaczewski (1921–2007), psychologist who studied totalitarianism and introduced the concept of political ponerology Stanisław Lem (1921–2006), science-fiction writer Piotr Słonimski (1922–2009), Polish-born French geneticist, pioneer of yeast mitochondrial genetics Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012), poet, 1996 Nobel laureate in Literature Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (1923–2014), philosopher, phenomenologist, founder and president of the World Phenomenology Institute Zofia Szmydt (1923–2010), mathematician Zygmunt Szweykowski (1929–2023), musicologist Edmund Niziurski (1925–2013), writer of children's literature Józefa Hennelowa (1925–2020), publicist, journalist, columnist and politician Stanisław Łojasiewicz (1926–2002), mathematician Yoram Gross (1926–2015), Australian animation producer Andrzej Wróblewski (1927–1957), figurative painter Franciszka Szymakowska (1927–2007), geologist Krystyna Zachwatowicz (born 1930), scenographer, costume designer and actress Czeslaw Olech (1931–2015), mathematician Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020), composer and conductor Andrzej Trzaskowski (1933–1998), jazz composer and musicologist Jerzy Vetulani (1936–2017), neuroscientist, pharmacologist and biochemist Norman Davies (born 1939), British historian Krzysztof Zanussi (born 1939), film and theatre director, producer and screenwriter Wojciech Dziembowski (born 1940 in Warsaw), astronomer, member of Polish Academy of Sciences and Polish Academy of Learning Maria Olech (born 1941), Antarctic researcher; namesake of the Olech Hills in the Three Sisters point area of Antarctica