Irish Nobel Laureates
Nobel Laureates in Literature:
Seamus Heaney
William Butler Yeats
Samuel Beckett
George Bernard Shaw
Famous Natives
Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander hymn writer ("All Things Bright and Beautiful",
"There is a Green Hill Far Away" "Once in Royal David's City")
Francis Bacon artist
Michael William Balfe composer
Samuel Beckett playwright, author (Waiting for Godot)
Brendan Behan author, playwright (Borstal Boy, Confessions of an Irish Rebel
George Berkeley philosopher
Maeve Binchy writer (“Circle of Friends” starring Minnie Driver)
Bono singer (U2 band leader)
Brian Boru king (941 – hero king)
Robert Boyle chemist, physicist, inventor (one of the founders of modern chemistry)
Saint Brigid saint & goddess
Pierce Brosnan actor (Thomas Crown Affair, Mamma Mia, 007)
Gabriel Byrne actor (In Treatment, The Man In the Iron Mask)
Patrick Cavanaugh, poet (Dawning of the Day)
Michael Collins revolutionary leader
Jerome Connor sculptor
Corrs pop band
Tom Crean explorer
Ninette de Valois dancer, founder London royal ballet
Roddy Doyle author, screenwriter (The Commitments)
Frank Duff founder Legion of Mary
Easter Rising heroes
Enya singer
John Field composer, pianist
Barry Fitzgerald actor
Fionnuala Flanagan actress (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood)
W. H. Grattan Flood historian, musicologist
Percy French singer, songwriter (‘Mountains of Mourne’’ Phil the Fluther's Ball)
Brenda Fricker actress (Oscar: My Left Foot; Home Alone II)
Brian Friel playwright (‘Dancing at Lughnasadh’ stariring Merle Street)
Rory Gallagher musician
Ann Glover last person hung as a witch in Boston
Oliver Goldsmith author, playwright (The Vicar of Wakefield)
W.R. Grace founder w.r. grace & company
John Robert Gregg developed shorthand system
Arthur Guinness founder guinness brewery
Sir William Rowan Hamilton astronomer
Richard Harris actor (Harry Potter, Dumbledore; Camelot)
Seamus Heaney, poet (The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995)
James Hoban architect, designed U.S. white house
John Philip Holland developed U.S. navy submarine
Neil Jordan filmmaker, author (The Crying Game, Vampire Chronicles, script)
James Joyce author (Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, Dubliners)
Patrick Kavanagh poet
John F. Kennedy, US president
Paddy Killoran fiddler (traditional Irish music)
Daniel Day Lewis actor (There Will Be Blood, My Left Foot)
John McCormack tenor
Frank McCourt author (Angela’s Ashes)
Colm Meaney actor (Star Trek)
Turlough O'Carolan Harper/composer (baroque period)
Sean O’Casey, author, playwright (The Plough and the Stars, The Playboy of the
Western World)
Daniel O'Connell "the liberator"
Sinéad O'Connor singer
Maureen O'Hara actress, singer (The Quiet Man)
Seán Ó Riada composer, bandleader (traditional Irish Music)
Peter O'Toole actor (Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion in Winter)
Saint Patrick patron saint of Ireland
Johnathan Rhys-Meyers actor (Mission Impossible III)
Mary Robinson first female president
Bobby Sands leader 1981 hunger strike
George Bernard Shaw playwright
St. Patrick patron saint
Ernest Walton physicist (Nobel Prize in Science)
Oscar Wilde author, playwright (The Importance of Being Earnest)
W. B. Yeats poet