In particular, a number with an asterisk (*) means the person received the award while they were working at the university (including emeritus staff). A name underlined implies that this person has been listed previously (i.e., multiple affiliations).
=== Heads of state and government ===
== In popular culture ==
The University of Edinburgh has featured prominently in a number of works of popular culture.
The events of the Burke and Hare murders, involving Edinburgh lecturer Robert Knox and the anatomical department, have made a wide range of appearances in popular culture. They became the basis for Robert Louis Stevenson's short story The Body Snatcher (1884), and most recently in 2010 for Burke & Hare, a black comedy film starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis. Scenes were filmed at the old School of Anatomy.
Many of Arthur Conan Doyle's works drew inspiration from his mentors at the university. Joseph Bell, a lecturer and surgeon famous for drawing conclusions from minute observations, became the archetype for Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. William Rutherford, Conan Doyle's physiology professor, provided the template for Professor Challenger, the protagonist of his science fiction work The Lost World (1912). Edinburgh is also Challenger's alma mater in the books.
Dr. Fu Manchu, a fictional supervillain created by Sax Rohmer in 1912, stated that "I am a doctor of philosophy from Edinburgh, a doctor of law from Christ's College, a doctor of medicine from Harvard. My friends, out of courtesy, call me 'Doctor'." In 2010, Fu Manchu's connections with the University where he supposedly obtained a doctorate were investigated in a mockumentary by Miles Jupp (also an Edinburgh alumnus) for BBC Radio 4.
In the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), an adaptation of Jules Verne's novel of the same name, the protagonist Sir Oliver Lindenbrook is a Professor of Geology at the university. An early scene where Lindenbrook addresses the students is filmed at the central quadrangle of Old College.
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