Chemistry is not just for chemists! An education in a scientific discipline teaches you critical thinking, problem analysis, and how to iterate towards solutions, all of which are valuable in a wide variety of career paths. Here's list of people who majored in chemistry, then went on to make significant contributions to the world in different fields. I'm willing to bet some of the names will surprise you!
Actor, Dolph Lundgren, (A View to a Kill, Rocky IV, etc.) Masters degree in chemical engineering from the Univ. of Sydney. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, but quit after two weeks to pursue acting
Actor Ashton Kutcher, Biochemical Engineering Student at the University of Iowa (1997, did not graduate)
Artist, San Francisco artist known as Jess, BS in Chemistry from Caltech (1948) under his given name Burgess Collins
Author, Primo Levi, graduated from the University of Turin in 1941, with full marks and merit, having submitted additional theses on X Rays and Electrostatic Energy.
Author and playwright, Carl Djerassi, Kenyon College (A.B. summa cum laude, 1942) and the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D., 1945). First synthesis of a steroid contraceptive.
Composer, Alexandr Borodin -- doctorate in medicine at the Medico–Surgical Academy, earned his living as a synthetic organic chemist, and was a "Sunday composer". See also http://www.geocities.com/cahmn/Essays/Borodin.htm
Composer, Morris Kates, PhD in biochemistry. See also http://www.lib.umd.edu/CHEM/mkates.pdf and http://www.lib.umd.edu/CHEM/interviews.html
Film Director, Frank Capra, studied chemistry at the Throop College of Technology, part of the California Institute of Technology (graduated 1918)
Harmonica player, Robert Bonfiglio, Bachelor's degree in chemistry, University of Arizona. See also http://www.robertbonfiglio.com/
Opera and lied soprano, Barbara Hendricks, BS in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Nebraska.
Science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, B.S. (1939), M.A. (1941), Ph.D. (May 1948) all in chemistry and from Columbia University.
Singer for the hardcore/punk band The Descendents, Milo Aukerman, Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Writer Barbara Ehrenreich, "started out majoring in chemistry but after a couple of years decided I would only get to the bottom of things with physics", bachelor's in physics from Reed College (1963). In 1968, Ph.D in cell biology from Rockefeller University (1968).
Chairman, chief executive, PepsiCo (2001 - present), Indra Nooyi, Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Madras Christian College (1974).
Chairman and CEO of General Electric (1981 - 2001), John Francis "Jack" Welch, Jr., Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst (1957). M.S. and Ph.D in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois (1960).
Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation, Gordon Earle Moore, author of Moore's Law (published in 1965 April 19 in Electronics Magazine). Bachelor's in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley (1950), and a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the California Institute of Technology (1954).
President and Chief Operating Officer Eli Lilly, John C. Lechleiter, BS (summa cum laude) in chemistry from Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1975. Harvard University, master's and doctorate degrees in organic chemistry 1980.
Attorney General of the United States (1993–2001), Janet Reno, majored in chemistry at Cornell University in New York.
Chancellor of Germany, Angela Dorothea Merkel, Doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) for thesis on quantum chemistry.
Congressman, John Olver, (United States House of Representatives since 1991, MA-1st). B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, M.A. from Tufts University, and Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Governor, State of North Carolina (1985 to 1993), James Martin, PhD in chemistry from Princeton University in 1960.
Mayor of Washington DC (1979-1991, 1995-1999), Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr., Masters of organic chemistry, Fisk University (1960).
Member of Parliment (until 2005), John Anderson "Jack" Cunningham, BSc in Chemistry (1962), and PhD (1967) from Bede College of the University of Durham.
President, State of Israel (1949-1952), Chaim Weizmann, studied chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of Darmstaat, Germany, received PhD with honors, University of Freiburg, Switzerland, (1899).
Prime Minister of United Kingdom (1979-1990), Margaret Thatcher, graduated from Somerville College, Oxford in 1947 studying Chemistry, specifically crystallography. She worked as a research chemist for British Xylonite and then J. Lyons and Co., where she helped developed the first soft frozen ice cream. Some of her chemistry notebooks are archived online.
Princess of Thailand, Chulabhorn Walailak, graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Faculty of Science at Kasetsart University (1979), First Class Honours. She continued to study Science at Mahidol University, where she received her Doctorate in 1985.
Vice Prime Minister of Romania and wife of Romania's Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu, Elena Ceausescu, her education ended at 4th grade but she was given many honorary awards for scientific achievement in the field of polymer chemistry during the period when her husband ruled Romania.
L A Lakers owner, Gerald Hatten “Jerry” Buss, owner of the L.A. Lakers,... Ph.D. in physical chemistry at USC in Los Angeles
Marathon world record holder, Ron Hill, B.Sc. (Tech) (1960) and his Ph.D (1964) in Textile Chemistry, at Manchester University. Also holds a record for running at least one mile a day every day since 1964 December 20th.
Astronaut (first Briton in space), Helen Patricia Sharman, B.Sc. in chemistry at the University of Sheffield (1984) and a Ph.D. from Birkbeck, University of London.
Astronaut, Catherine Coleman (Colonel, USAF), Bachelor of science in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in (1983), PhD in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts (1991).
Astronaut, Anna Lee Fisher, BS in Chemistry in 1971 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, 1961). She started graduate school in chemistry in the field of x-ray crystallographic studies of metallocarbonanes, but after one year moved to the UCLA medical school and received an MD (1976).
Computer Scientist (outstanding mathematicians, member of the Manhattan Project and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and a key figure in the development of game theory, cellular automata and the universal constructor), John von Neumann got a Diplom (Master) in chemical engineering at ETH Zuerich simultaneously with a Ph.D. in mathematics (with minors in experimental physics and chemistry) from the University of Budapest.
Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Cornell University in 1919
Founder of Science Citation Index, Dr. Eugene Garfield, BSc in chemistry, MS in Library Science, PhD in structural linguistics.
Paul James, who has a gardening show on HGTV-Gardening By the Yard was a chem major.
Alton Brown, of Good Eats was a Chem E major.
Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) might have been a chemistry major. (http://bipac.net/incumbent_detail.asp?g=ACC&leg_id_num=7748).
See also: "Chemists Who Fulfilled Themselves in Other Fields", Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Volume 56, Number 5 / May, 2001 and http://www.nt.ntnu.no/users/ystenes/vitenskap/kjemi/chemists.html
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