Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22 1834, Roxbury, Massachusetts (near Boston) - February 27 1906, Aiken, South Carolina) was an American astronomer, physicist, inventor of the bolometer and pioneer of aviation. He graduated from Boston Latin School, was an assistant in the Harvard College Observatory, then became chair of mathematics at the United States Naval Academy.

Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 - July 22, 1932) was a Canadian inventor, best known for his work in early radio. Three of his most notable achievements include: the first audio transmission by radio (1900), the first two-way transatlantic radio transmission (1906), and the first radio broadcast of entertainment and music (1906).

John Alfred Brashear (November 24,1840 - April 8,1920) was an American astronomer and instrument builder. He was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, a town 35 miles (56 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. His father, Brown Brashear, was a saddler, and his mother, Julia Smith Brashear, was a school teacher. He was the oldest of seven children. After receiving a common school education until age 15, …

Frank Washington Very (1852 - November 23, 1927) was a U.S. astronomer. He was born at Salem, Massachusetts, and educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1873). He worked at the Allegheny Observatory from 1878 until 1895. In 1890 he became a professor at Western University of Pennsylvania. He then was director of the Ladd Observatory at Brown University from 1896 to 1897.

John Dalzell (April 19 1845 - October 2 1927) was a U.S. Representative from the state of Pennsylvania. John Dalzell was born in New York City. He moved with his parents to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1847. He attended the common schools and the Western University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. He graduated from Yale College with the class of 1865. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1867 and commenced practice in Pittsburgh.

Daniel Webster Hering, Ph.D. (1850-) was an American physicist and university dean. He was born in Washington County, Maryland, and graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School (Yale). He occupied positions at Johns Hopkins, Western Maryland College, Western University of Pennsylvania (now University of Pittsburgh), and NYU, where he was dean after 1902. He was the author of "Essentials of Physics for College Students" (1912).

James Scott Negley (December 26 1826 - August 7 1901) was an American Civil War general, farmer, railroader, and U.S. Representative from the state of Pennsylvania. He played a key role in the Union victory at the Battle of Murfreesboro. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was educated in public schools, and graduated from the Western University of Pennsylvania (now called the University of Pittsburgh).

Harmar Denny (May 13, 1794-January 29, 1852) was an American businessman and Anti-Masonic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Harmar Denny was born in Pittsburgh. He graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle in 1813. He practiced law in Pittsburgh. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1824 to 1829.

Samuel James Renwick McMillan (February 22, 1826 - October 3, 1897) was an American politician. He was a Republican U.S. Senator from Minnesota. McMillan served in the U.S. Senate in the 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, and 49th United States Congresses, from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1887. He had also been a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1864 to 1875 and served as Chief Justice from 1874 - 1875. He graduated from Western University of Pennsylvania in 1846, …

Francis Jay Herron (February 17, 1837 - January 8, 1902), was a Union general during the American Civil War. Francis J. Herron attended the Western University of Pennsylvania, but left at the age of sixteen without completing his degree to become a bank clerk. In 1855, he joined his three brothers in Dubuque, Iowa, where they established a bank.

Cornelius Darragh (1809 - December 22, 1854) was a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Cornelius Darragh was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the Western University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with the class of 1826. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1829 and commenced practice in Pittsburgh. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1836 to 1839.

John Brashear served as acting director of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory that was then located on the campus of the Western University of Pennsylvania. He was also acting chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania (now, the University of Pittsburgh), a life trustee of Carnegie Institute, and a member of the three-man Plan and Scope Committee which set-up the Carnegie Technical Schools (now Carnegie-Mellon University).

Robert L. Vann (1877-1940) Pittsburgh Courier Founder The son of tenant farmers in the backwoods of North Carolina, Robert L. Vann was born in 1887. He earned his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh Law School. Seeing how eagerly blacks read the two-page paper published by a Pittsburgh factory worker, Vann decided to expand it into a newspaper. After acquiring partners and funds, he issued the first edition of the Pittsburgh Courier on March 10, 1910.