- Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is a former American astronaut, test pilot, university professor, and naval aviator. He was the first human being to set foot on an extraterrestrial world (The Moon). His first spaceflight was "Gemini 8" in 1966, for which he was the command pilot. On this mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft together with pilot David Scott.
- Eugene Cernan
Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) is a former American astronaut of Czech and Slovak ancestry. He has been into space three times: as co-pilot of Gemini 9A in June 1966; as lunar module pilot of Apollo 10 in May 1969; and as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972. In that final lunar landing mission, Cernan became "the last man on the moon" since he was the last to re-enter the Apollo Lunar Module during its third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA).
- Gus Grissom
Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom was a United States Air Force pilot and a NASA astronaut. A native of Mitchell, Indiana, he was the second American to fly in space and the first person to fly in space twice. He was killed during a training exercise for the Apollo One mission on January 27, 1967, at Launch Complex 34 at Cape Kennedy, along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
- George Ade
George Ade was born in Kentland, Indiana, and graduated from Purdue University in 1887, where he displayed interest in the literary field. He did journalistic work in Lafayette, Indiana, until 1890, when he moved to Chicago and started work on the Chicago Daily News (later renamed The Chicago News Record , then The Chicago Record ). He was a prolific writer and often collaborated with college classmate John T. McCutcheon , the renowned cartoonist.
- Birch Bayh
Birch Evans Bayh II (born January 22, 1928) was a U.S. Senator from Indiana between 1963 and 1981. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in the 1976 election but lost to Jimmy Carter. He is the father of former Indiana governor and current U.S. Senator Evan Bayh. Bayh was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Leah Ward Hollingsworth and Birch Evans Bayh, Sr. After serving in the United States Army, …
- Arthur G. Hansen
Arthur G. Hansen (born February 28, 1925) is a philanthropist and former chancellor of several American universities.
- John Casper
John Howard Casper (born July 9 1943) is an American astronaut. Although born in South Carolina, he considers Gainesville, Georgia to be his hometown. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. He graduated with a bachelor of science in engineering science from the United States Air Force Academy in 1966 and a master of science in astronautics from Purdue University in 1967.
- Roger B. Chaffee
Roger Bruce Chaffee was a U.S. Navy pilot who became an American astronaut in the Apollo program.
- Drew Brees
Andrew Christopher Brees (born January 15, 1979 in Austin, Texas) is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the NFL. The San Diego Chargers originally selected him as the first pick of the 2001 NFL Draft's second round.
- Bob Griese
Robert Allen Griese (born February 3, 1945 in Evansville, Indiana) is a former American football quarterback who earned All-American honors with the Purdue Boilermakers before being drafted in 1967 by the American Football League's Miami Dolphins. Griese's talents eventually resulted in his induction to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990. He is a television commentator for college football on ABC-TV.
- John T. McCutcheon
John Tinney McCutcheon (May 6, 1870-June 10, 1949) was an American newspaper political cartoonist. McCutcheon was born near South Raub, Tippecanoe County, Indiana to Captain John Barr McCutcheon and Clara Glick McCutcheon. He graduated from Purdue University in 1889 with a Bachelor of Science degree. At Purdue, he worked with typographer Bruce Rogers on the student newspaper and yearbook. There is now a dormitory at Purdue university and a high school in Tippecanoe County, …
- Ryan Newman
Ryan Joseph Newman (born December 8, 1977 in South Bend, Indiana) is a driver in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. He drives the #12 Alltel, Mobil Oil Dodge Charger for Penske Racing. Newman, along with the late Alan Kulwicki, is one of the few NASCAR racers with a college degree, graduating from Purdue University in 2001 with a B. S. in vehicle structure engineering (Kulwicki's degree was in mechanical engineering). In 2002, he was the Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
- Hank Stram
Hank Stram, was an American Football coach. He is best known for his 14-year tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. Stram won three AFL Championships (more than any other coach in the league's history) and Super Bowl IV with the Chiefs. He also coached for the most victories (87), most post-season appearances (6) and the best post-season record in the AFL (5-1).
- Kirk Fordice
Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice, Jr. was a politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. He was the Governor of Mississippi from 1992 until 2000. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Fordice studied engineering at Purdue University, earning a BS and MS in 1956 and 1957, respectively. After graduation he served with the United States Army as an engineer officer in the 1st Infantry Division for two years. He remained in the Army Reserve until 1977, retiring with the rank of colonel.
- Brian Lamb
Brian Patrick Lamb (born October 9, 1941) helped found the C-SPAN television network in 1979, and has been its chief executive officer since its founding. He hosts "Washington Journal" once a week, and hosted the C-SPAN show "Booknotes" from 1989 to 2004. Lamb now hosts a weekly one-hour program called "Q&A" in which he interviews people from a wide range of backgrounds, such as journalists, teachers, politicians, authors, and technology innovators.
- George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was a popular American film and television actor. He secured a major role early in his career when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), but he is probably best known for his role as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith in the 1980s television show "The A-Team", where he is the cigar-chomping leader of a renegade commando squad.
- David Wolf
David Alexander Wolf (born 23 August 1956) is an American astronaut and a veteran of four space shuttle missions and an extended stay aboard the Mir space station. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he graduated from North Central High School, Wolf earned a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and, in 1982, a medical degree from Indiana University. He subsequently trained as a flight surgeon with the United States Air Force.
- Guy Gardner
Guy Spence Gardner (b. January 6 1948) is a United States Air Force officer and a former astronaut. He holds the rank of Colonel. He flew as pilot on two Space Shuttle missions - STS-27 and STS-35.
- Loren Shriver
Loren James Shriver (born 23 September 1944), is a retired NASA astronaut, aviator, and a retired US Air Force Colonel.
- Michael L. Eskew
Michael L. Eskew is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer, United Parcel Service. He is currently on the Board of 3M and IBM.
- Glenn Robinson
Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson (born January 10 1973 in Gary, Indiana) is a American professional basketball player in the NBA who last played during the 2004-05 NBA season. He led Gary (Indiana) Roosevelt High School to a state basketball championship and was a McDonald's All-American before playing college basketball at Purdue University, and in 1994 he received the Wooden and Naismith Awards.
- Markus Kuhn
Dr. Markus G. Kuhn (born 1971 in Munich) is a German computer scientist, currently teaching and researching at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. He graduated from the University of Erlangen (Germany), Purdue University (Indiana, US), and the University of Cambridge (England), and is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. Kuhn's main research interests include computer security, in particular the hardware and signal-processing aspects of it, …
- Len Dawson
Leonard Ray Dawson (also known as Len Dawson) (born June 20, 1935 in Alliance, Ohio) is a former American football quarterback from Purdue University who played for three professional teams, most notably the Kansas City Chiefs. Dawson led the Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl IV and won the game's MVP award. He is currently a sports broadcaster for KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri.
- Ward Cunningham
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham (born May 26, 1949) is the American computer programmer who invented the wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham (commonly known by its domain name, c2.com), on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He currently lives in Beaverton, Oregon.
- Charles Walker
Charles David Walker (born August 29, 1948) is a former American astronaut who flew on three Space Shuttle missions in 1984-5 as Payload Specialist.
- Donald E. Williams
Captain Donald Edward Williams (United States Navy, Retired) (born 13 February 1942) is a former NASA astronaut. He has logged a total of 287 hours and 35 minutes in space. Williams was born in 1942 in Lafayette, Indiana and raised in the nearby town of Green Hill. He graduated from Otterbein High School, Otterbein, Indiana, in 1960. Williams then went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1964.
- Orville Redenbacher
Orville Redenbacher (July 16, 1907 - September 19, 1995) was an American businessman most often associated with the brand of popping corn that bears his name. Born in Brazil, Indiana, Orville graduated from Brazil High School in 1924 and was in the top 5% of his class. He attended Purdue University, joining Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and graduating with a degree in agronomy. He spent most of his life in the agriculture industry, …
- Kyle Orton
Kyle Raymond Orton (born November 14, 1982 in Altoona, Iowa) is an American football player and a quarterback in the National Football League. He was selected by the Chicago Bears as the 106th pick of the 2005 NFL Draft.
- Gary Payton
Colonel Gary Eugene Payton, USAF, (born 20 June, 1948) is a former American astronaut.
- Mike Alstott
Michael Joseph Alstott (born December 21, 1973, Joliet, Illinois) is an American football player who plays fullback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
- Ian Murdock
Ian Murdock is the founder of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and the commercial Linux distributor Progeny. He currently works for Sun Microsystems "head[ing] up operating system platform strategy" ; previously he served as the Chief Technology Officer of the Linux Foundation and is chair of the Linux Standard Base, the Linux platform interoperability standard. He lives in Indiana, USA. He wrote the Debian Manifesto in 1993 while a student at Purdue University, …
- Richard O. Covey
Richard Oswalt Covey (born August 1 1946) is a former NASA astronaut. Born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, he considers Fort Walton Beach, Florida, to be his hometown. He graduated from Choctawhatchee High School, Shalimar, Florida, in 1964; received a bachelor of science in engineering sciences with a major in astronautical engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1968, and a master of science in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University in 1969.
- Ray Ewry
Raymond Clarence "Ray" Ewry (October 14, 1873 - September 29, 1937) was an American track and field athlete who won 8 gold medals at the Olympic Games and 2 gold medals at the "Intercalated Games" (1906 in Athens). This puts him among the most successful Olympic athletes of all time. Ewry was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and contracted polio as a young boy. For a short while, he was in a wheelchair, and it was feared that he might become paralysed for life.
- Brian Cardinal
Brian Lee Cardinal (born May 2 1977 in Tolono, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.
- Bart Peterson
Barton R. Peterson (born June 15, 1958 to parents Howard and Lori) has been mayor of the U.S city of Indianapolis, Indiana, since 2000. A Democrat, he defeated Sue Anne Gilroy 52 percent to 41 percent in 1999 to become Indianapolis' first Democratic mayor since 1967. He was re-elected in 2003 with 63 percent of the vote. He announced his intention to run for re-election on February 22, 2007.
- Jim Everett
James Samuel "Jim" Everett III (born January 3, 1963 in Emporia, Kansas) is a former professional American football quarterback in the NFL. Everett attended Purdue University and was selected in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft. He was selected as the third pick in the first round by the Houston Oilers, and was the first quarterback taken that year. Unable to work out a contract agreement with Everett, the Oilers traded his rights to the Los Angeles Rams, …
- Mike Phipps
Michael Elston Phipps (born January 19, 1947 in Shelbyville, Indiana) is a former professional American football quarterback who played collegiately for the Purdue University Boilermakers (1967-1969), and professionally for both the Cleveland Browns (1970-1976) and Chicago Bears (1977-1981).
- Katie Douglas
Kathryn Elizabeth “Katie” Douglas is a professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her primary position is shooting guard. Sometimes she plays small forward.
- Mark Herrmann
Mark Donald Herrmann (born January 8, 1959 in Cincinnati, Ohio) was an American football player and a quarterback in the National Football League. He is currently Associate Director of Educational Programs for the NCAA. However, he is best known for his college career with the Purdue Boilermakers. Herrmann grew up in Carmel, Indiana where he played for Carmel High School. He also played on Carmel's state championship basketball team in 1977.
- Bruce Rogers
Bruce Rogers (May 14, 1870 - May 18, 1957) was an American typographer born in Lafayette, Indiana. He is one of the best known and regarded typographers of the twentieth century. Known mostly for his use of typography in book design rather than typeface design, Rogers designed several faces including Centaur, a project for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was a member of the Typophiles. Rogers designed more than 400 books. He is perhaps best known for his masterpiece, …