List of Tartu University people

This is a list of notable people associated with the University of Tartu at Tartu, Estonia.

Notable lecturers and professors

Nobel laureate

Wilhelm Ostwald

• Wilhelm Ostwald, Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1909)

Humanities and social sciences

• Jüri Allik, psychologist
• Walter Anderson, folklorist
• Paul Ariste, linguist
• Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, linguist
• Karl Bücher, economist and anthropologist
• Vladimir Dal, lexicographer
• Gustav von Ewers, legal historian
• Lazar Gulkowitsch, Jewish Studies scholar, supported by Albert Einstein
• Theodosius Harnack, Lutheran theologian
• Siim Kallas, economist and politician (EU Commissioner; former Prime Minister)
• Andres Kasekamp, historian
• Emil Kraepelin, psychiatrist
• Jaan Kross, writer
• Kalevi Kull, biosemiotician
• Madis Kõiv, philosopher and physicist
• Helga Kurm, Dean of the Pedagogical Division
• Marju Lepajõe, classical philologist and religious historian
• Étienne Laspeyres, economist and statistician
• Wilhelm Lexis, economist, insurance scholar
• Eero Loone, philosopher
• Mihhail Lotman, semiotician
• Juri Lotman, semiotician, historian of literature
• Uku Masing, theologian and poet
• Zara Mints, literary scholar
• Johann Karl Simon Morgenstern, philologist
• Alexander von Oettingen, Lutheran theologian, famous as statistics theoretician
• Ludwig Preller, philologist and antiquarian
• Villem Raam, art historian
• Konstantin Ramul, psychologist
• Leonid Stolovich, philosopher (aesthetic)
• Rein Taagepera, political scientist
• Gustav Teichmüller, philosopher
• Peeter Torop, semiotician
• Grigol Tsereteli, classicist and papyrologist
• Jüri Uluots, lawyer and politician
• Jaan Valsiner, psychologist
• Alexander Vasiliev, Byzantinist and Arabist
• Adolph Wagner, economist and social policy scholar

Natural science

• Marlon Dumas, computer scientist
• Wilhelm Anderson, astrophysicist
• Ernst von Bergmann, surgeon
• Friedrich Bidder, physiologist and anatomist
• Alexander Andrejewitsch von Bunge, botanist
• Karl Friedrich Burdach, biologist
• Jaan Einasto, astrophysicist
• Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, biologist and explorer
• Moses Wolf Goldberg, chemist
• Germain Henri Hess, chemist
• Jaan Kalviste, chemist, mineralogist, educator and translator
• Toomas Kivisild, geneticist
• Emil Kraepelin, psychiatrist
• Kalevi Kull, biologist
• Olevi Kull, ecologist
• Eerik Kumari, ornithologist
• Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer, anatomist, embryologist
• Carl Friedrich von Ledebour (professor of natural sciences, 1811–1836), botanist
• Anders Lindstedt (1854-1939) mathematician, astronomer and pioneer of actuarial science.
• Teodor Lippmaa, botanist
• Viktor Masing, ecologist
• Andres Metspalu, biotechnologist
• Carl Anton von Meyer, botanist
• Ferdinand Morawitz, entomologist
• Arthur von Oettingen, physicist
• Georg von Oettingen, physician
• Ernst Öpik, astronomer
• Georg Friedrich Parrot, physicist
• August Rauber, anatomist
• Alma Johanna Ruubel, mathematician
• Matthias Jakob Schleiden, botanist
• Carl Schmidt, chemist
• Oswald Schmiedeberg, pharmacologist
• Peter Hermann Stillmark, founder of lectinology
• Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, astronomer
• Eduard Toll, polar explorer
• Ernst Rudolf von Trautvetter, botanist

Rectors

Main article: List of rectors of the University of Tartu

Notable alumni

• Khachatur Abovian, Armenian writer
• Karl Ernst von Baer, zoologist and "father" of embryology
• Kārlis Balodis, Latvian economist, author of the civilian rationing
• Krišjānis Barons, Latvian folklorist
• Pan Halippa, politician in Moldova and Romania
• Adolf von Harnack, Protestant theologian and science administrator
• Nicolai Hartmann, philosopher
• Germain Henri Hess, physician and chemist
• Jakob Hurt, folklorist
• Hermann Johansen, ornithologist
• Küllike Jürimäe, judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union
• Elise Käer-Kingisepp, physician and pharmacologist
• Wassily Kandinsky, abstract artist
• Jaan Kaplinski, poet
• Paul Keres, chess Grandmaster
• Woldemar Kernig, internist, neurologist
• Hermann von Keyserling, philosopher
• Alberts Kviesis, Latvian statesman
• Heinrich Lenz, physicist
• Anne Lill, classical philologist
• Emil Mattiesen (1875–1939), composer, pianist and philosopher
• Gerhard von Maydell (1835 – 1894), explorer, cartographer and ethnologist
• Lennart Meri, Estonian President
• Leo Michelson, Latvian-American painter
• Kārlis Mīlenbahs, Latvian linguist
• Stepanos Nazarian, Armenian publisher
• Tõnu Õnnepalu, author, poet
• Ernst Öpik, astronomer
• Friedrich Parrot, naturalist
• Juhan Parts, Estonian Economic and former Prime Minister
• Konstantin Päts, Estonian president
• Ion Pelivan, Foreign Minister of Moldova
• Kristjan Jaak Peterson, linguist
• Nikolay Pirogov, medical doctor
• Vera Poska-Grünthal, lawyer and feminist
• Georg von Rausch, historian
• Alfons Rebane, military commander
• Urmas Reinsalu (born 1975), politician
• Karl Ristikivi, writer
• Grigol Robakidze, Georgian writer
• Paul Saagpakk, linguist
• Alexander Schmidt (physiologist)
• Leopold von Schrenck, zoologist, geographer and ethnographer
• Josephine Serre, first woman to receive a dentistry degree from the University of Tartu, which occurred in 1814
• Otto Strandman, Estonian Prime Minister and Head of State
• Apolinary Szeluto, Polish composer
• Gustav Heinrich Johann Apollon Tammann, pioneer physical metallurgist
• A. H. Tammsaare, eminent Estonian writer
• Otto Tief, Estonian Prime Minister
• Jaanus Teppan, olympic cross-country skier
• Valentin Tomberg, "mystic" and "magician"
• Jakob von Uexküll, biologist
• Krišjānis Valdemārs, Latvian writer
• Mall Vaasma, mycologist
• Eduards Veidenbaums, Latvian poet

Honorary doctorates

• Umberto Eco, semiotician and novelist
• Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay, linguist
• Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
• Vello Helk, historian
• Otto Kaiser, Protestant theologian
• Ivan Pavlov, physiologist
• Arvo Pärt, classical composer
• Konstantin Päts, Estonian president
• Thure von Uexküll, semiotician and medical scientist