(Chemistry, 1984), William F. Sharpe (Economic Sciences, 1990), Elinor Ostrom (Economic Sciences, 2009), Richard F. Heck (Chemistry, 2010), Randy W. Schekman (Physiology or Medicine, 2013), and Ardem Patapoutian (Physiology or Medicine, 2021). Fifty-two UCLA professors have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships, and seventeen are MacArthur Foundation Fellows. Mathematics professor Terence Tao was awarded the 2006 Fields Medal.
Geography professor Jared Diamond won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his book Guns, Germs, and Steel. Two UCLA history professors have each won 2008 Pulitzer Prizes for general nonfiction and history. Saul Friedländer, noted scholar of the Nazi Holocaust, won the prize for general nonfiction for his 2006 book, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945, and Daniel Walker Howe for his 2007 book, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848.
A number of UCLA alumni are notable politicians. In the State of Hawaii, Ben Cayetano ('68), became the first Filipino …
