Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922)

Bell was born in Edinburgh. His invention of the telephone was in pursuit of a device to help the deaf. He patented his early telephone in February 1876 - only days ahead of other rivals. He formed the Bell Telephone company in 1877 and became rich as a result. He was also involved in genetics and invented a new method of sheep breeding.

Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

Poet. Robert Burns was born in the village of Alloway in Ayrshire. For much of his life he was involved with the land and physical toil and knew well the difficulties of poverty and deprivation. Nevertheless, as a young man he had taken to writing poetry, much of it in his native Scots language. This was unusual - by the end of the 18th century Scots was no longer regarded as the speech of "educated" men and women.  In 1786 he was about to emigrate to the West Indies when he published a collection of his poems in the county town of Kilmarnock - "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect". The book (now known as the Kilmarnock Edition) was an instant success and instead of emigrating he went to Edinburgh where he was welcomed by a number of leading literary figures. The money he earned firstly allowed him to travel. During his journeys he was to collect and edit many of the almost forgotten songs and, of course, obtain inspiration for further poetry. Despite the money which he earned from his poems, he still had to make a living by being both a farmer and an excise officer in Dumfries. While trying to cultivate an unproductive farm and carry out his duties as an excise man, he continued to write - mainly collections of songs which would otherwise have been lost forever.

Sir Sean Connery (1930 - )

Actor. Regarded by some as the greatest president Scotland never had, Sean Connery was born in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh. This was a poor area of the city and his father was a lorry driver and his mother earned a few shillings as a tea lady. Sean helped the family finances by working as a milk delivery boy from the age of 9 to 13. He left school at age 13 and became a brick layer, a bouncer and a French polisher before he joined the Merchant Navy. Keen on body building, he entered the Mr Universe contest in London in 1953 and came third. That led to some small acting parts on stage and in films. Over the next five years he appeared in a number of minor roles. Then he played in seven James Bond films. He also starred in "The Hill", "Highlander", "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and an Oscar winning performance as best supporting actor as a Chicago cop in "The Untouchables".

David Marshall Coulthard (1971 - )

Grand prix racing driver. Coulthard was born in Dumfries, brought up in Twynholm and educated at Kirkcudbright Academy. He started his racing career in gokarting at the age of eleven, becoming Scottish Junior Karting Champion. He moved up through Formula Ford and Formula 3, to become a Formula 1 driver in 1994. In the same year he was recognised as Scottish Sports Personality of the Year. Coulthard recorded 10 wins for the McLaren team between 1994 and 2003 and now lives in Monte Carlo.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930)

One of seven children, Doyle was born the son and grandson of artists (his grandfather was a political cartoonist in "Punch" magazine). He studied medicine at Edinburgh University. After a spell as ship's surgeon on a whaling ship, he worked as a doctor from 1882-90 in practices in Southsea and London. But the success of his early fiction encouraged him to give this up and devote himself to writing. In 1896 Doyle became a war correspondent in the Sudan and he served as a doctor in the 1899-1902 Boer War in South Africa. He was knighted in 1902 for his service in the war. He wrote a history of the Boer War. His interest in spiritualism became known during World War I and he wrote a number of books on the subject. In 1927 the Sherlock Holmes stories were published as "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes."

William Ewart Gladstone (1809 - 1898)

Although born in Liverpool, Gladstone was always quick to point to his two Scottish parents and that "not a drop of blood in my veins is not Scottish." He entered parliament in 1832 and he served a record 61 years in the House of Commons, becoming Prime Minister on no less than four occasions - the last at the age of 82.  As Chancellor of the Exchequer he was noted for simplifying the tax system. He had a gift for public speaking and in a famous election campaign in Midlothian in 1879 an estimated 20,000 people heard him speak. His great political rival for many years was Benjamin Disraeli. Gladstone is buried in Westminster Abbey.

David Hume (1711 - 1776)

Born in Edinburgh into a Calvinist family. Hume entered Edinburgh University at the age of 12(!) to study law, leaving less than three years later, having concentrated more on his own interests than his course work. After a brief business career in Bristol, he moved to France and took up writing. His development of philosophical ideas had been influenced by the concepts of science and observation. In addition to writing books on philosophy which have influenced thinking to this day, Hume also wrote a number of books of history, including works on the reigns of King James VI and Charles I and also a "Natural History of Religion". A recent poll of academics voted Hume as the Scot who had made the greatest impact on Scotland in the last 1,000 years.

Dr David Livingstone (1813 - 1873)

David Livingstone was the son of a shopkeeper. He started work at the age of 10 but nevertheless managed to educate himself and to study medicine and theology at Glasgow University to become a missionary doctor. He arrived in Bechuanaland in 1841 and married the daughter of another missionary there. Livingstone began to explore uncharted areas of Africa and while mapping the upper Zambesi River he discovered the Victoria Falls. Livingstone almost died several times from disease and eventually succumbed in 1873, having refused to return to Britain. His embalmed body was brought back and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

James Watt (1736 - 1819)

Watt suffered from poor health and did not attend school regularly. Instead, he spent time in his father's workshop, learning engineering skills and making models. He trained as an instrument maker and in 1757 obtained a post at Glasgow University. Watt never stopped inventing right up to his death and he created a steam locomotive, a chemical document copier, advised Josiah Wedgewood on pottery processes, surveyed the Caledonian and Forth and Clyde Canals and deepened both the rivers Clyde and Forth. He also gave his name to the Watt unit of power and introduced the term "horsepower". But it is Watt's development of the steam engine, which was the springboard for the Industrial Revolution, for which he is rightly famous.

John Knox (1513 - 1572)

John Knox was born in Haddington, a town not far from Edinburgh, and he went to university there, briefly, before starting work as a lawyer. In 1546 he supported the murder of David Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews, and was imprisoned for 18 months on a French galley (The French Mary of Guise, widow of James V, was Regent of Scotland at this time). After his release he travelled extensively, gaining favour at the English court of the Protestant King Edward VI. While in Geneva, he was influenced by the ideas of Calvin. Knox came back to Scotland in 1559 and became minister at St Giles in Edinburgh. In 1560 the Scottish Parliament, with guidance from Knox, drew up the "Confession of Faith" which established Protestantism in the Church of Scotland along the lines he had learned in Geneva. The Catholic Mary Queen of Scots returned from France in 1561 and she was subjected to an unrelenting onslaught from Knox. A powerful orator with a dogmatic style, he believed in a rigorously disciplined life.

Mary Queen of Scots (1542 - 1587)

The daughter of King James V and his second wife, Mary of Guise, was born at Linlithgow Palace on 8 December 1542. James had been wounded at the defeat of the Scots army at the Battle of Solway Moss (1542) and he died six days after the birth of his daughter.

Mary was crowned at Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543. Under the guardianship of the 2nd Earl of Arran, the infant Mary was betrothed to the son of King Henry VIII of England. However, a pro-Fench and Catholic faction led by Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, gained the ascendancy and the agreement was overturned. King Henry VIII sent an army into Scotland to enforce the marriage in what became known as the "Rough Wooing". Mary was sent for safety to France (with her mother, Mary of Guise and her four childhood friends - the "Four Marys") where she married the Dauphin, the heir to the French crown, in 1558. She became Queen of France and Scotland in 1559 but her husband, King Francis II, died in 1560. Mary returned to Scotland despite the Protestant faith gaining official status.  Mary was by now the heir presumptive of England, following the death of Henry VIII and the accession of Queen Elizabeth I. During Mary's reign she was attacked for her Catholic beliefs by the Protestant religious reformer John Knox. Despite other potential marriages (including the Roman Catholic heir to the Spanish throne) she married her first cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, after a whirlwind courtship, in July 1565. Darnley was an arrogant man who alienated many of the Scottish nobles. He was also a member of the group which murdered David Rizzio, Mary's secretary, in Holyrood Palace in 1566, in the presence of Mary. The future James VI was born a few months later. Darnley was murdered in 1567 and the Earl of Bothwell was accused - but acquitted - of the crime. A few months later Mary and Bothwell were married. Scandalised nobles imprisoned Mary in Loch Leven Castle and she was forced to abdicate in favour of her son, James VI. Mary escaped from Loch Leven in May 1568 but was defeated at the Battle of Langside on 13 May. She escaped to England but was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I who saw her as a threat to her throne. A focus for Catholic plots, some of which were aimed at making Mary the Queen of England, she was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle on 18 February 1587.

William Thomson - Lord Kelvin (1824 - 1907)

Born in Belfast, Thomson came to Glasgow at the age of six after the death of his Scottish mother and when his father became Professor of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow. He was taught by his father (he never went to school) and entered University at the age of 10 (and is in the Guiness Book of Records for that feat). By the age of 22 he had been to Cambridge and Paris Universities and was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University. He developed the science of thermodynamics, the second law of thermodynamics and formulated the "Kelvin" scale of absolute temperature. Kelvin published 660 scientific papers, the first at age 16. But he was not just an academic scientist - he was a champion rower and founded the Glasgow University Music Society.

Eric Henry Liddell (1902 - 1945)

Record-breaking runner who won two medals in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. Although born in Tientsin, North China, where his parents were missionaries, and schooled in London, the family home was in Edinburgh. Liddell attended the University of Edinburgh, where he began to run competitively. He went to the Paris Olympics to run in the 100m, but refused to take part in this race, due to his religious principles, because the qualifying heats were held on a Sunday. However, he was able to run in the 200m, winning a bronze medal and was persuaded to enter the 400m, a distance in which he had little experience, yet sensationally won the gold medal. He returned to China as a missionary in 1925, where he died in a Japanese internment camp. His achievements are remembered in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.

Sir Alexander Fleming (1881 - 1955)

Medical Scientist. Born at Lochfield Farm near Darvel, East Ayrshire, where he is commemorated by a monument in the town square. Fleming was educated in Darvel and Kilmarnock, before moving to London where he entered St. Mary's Medical School in the University of London. In 1928, he discovered the world's first antibiotic drug - Penicillin. This was as a result of an "accident" where mould was allowed to grow on a bacterial culture. In the same year, he was appointed to a Chair in St. Mary's Medical School. A prodigious scientist, Fleming was widely honoured, including a knighthood (1944) and the Nobel Prize for Medicine (1945). Fleming is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral (London).

Sir John (Jackie) Young Stewart (1939 - )

Racing car driver. Stewart was born in Dumbarton, and educated at the Academy in that town. He was the son of a Jaguar car dealer, and began as a mechanic in his father's garage. Stewart went on to become Britain's most successful Formula One driver, winning the World Championship on three occasions (1969, 1971 and 1973). With 27 race wins, he beat the record established by another noted Scottish racing driver, Jim Clark (1936-68). Stewart's record was not equalled for another 14 years. Stewart was also an Olympic-class clay pigeon shooter. In 1997, together with his son, Stewart launched his own Formula One motor racing team. The team was sold to the Ford Motor Company three years later for $96 million and renamed Jaguar Racing. Stewart was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2001.

Sir John Napier (1550 - 1617)

Mathematician, inventor and astronomer. Born at Merchiston Castle (Edinburgh) into a wealthy family. He was educated at St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews and became a staunch Calvinist. He devised "Napier's Rods" which permitted easy multiplication by addition. This led to his best remembered work: the concept of logarithms. He also invented the decimal point and a hydraulic screw pump to remove water from coal mines. Napier also proposed a number of new weapons, including a device based on mirrors to set fire to enemy ships by focussing a high-intensity light beam, an armoured wagon and a submarine. He experimented in agricultural improvement on his estates. Napier, the genious, was buried at St. Cuthbert's Church in Edinburgh.

Sir William Ramsay (1852 - 1916)

Chemist. Ramsay was born in Glasgow and became Professor of Chemistry at Bristol and then University College, London. Chiefly responsible for the discovery of the rare gases Argon (1894), Helium (1895), Neon, Krypton and Xenon (1898). Also worked in radioactivity. He spread scientific interest to other parts of the British Empire, including setting up the Indian Institute for Science at Bangalore. He was knighted in 1902 and received a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1904.

James Maxwell (1831 - 1879)

Physicist, born in Edinburgh. He studied at Edinburgh and Cambridge, became professor at Aberdeen (1856) and London (1860), and was the first professor of experimental physics at Cambridge (1871), where he organized the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1873 he published his great Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, which gives a mathematical treatment to Faraday's theory of electrical and magnetic forces. He also contributed to the study of colour vision, and to the kinetic theory of gases, but his greatest work was his theory of electromagnetic radiation (it is the foundation for telecommunications: radio, TV, cell phone), which established him as the leading theoretical physicist of the century.

Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832)

Novelist and poet, born in Edinburgh. He studied in Edinburgh, trained as a lawyer (1792), and began to write ballads in 1796, though his first major publication did not appear until 1802: The Border Minstrelsy. His ballads made him the most popular author of the day, and were followed by other romances, such as The Lady of the Lake (1810). He then turned to historical novels, which fall into three groups: those set in the background of Scottish history, from Waverley (1814) to A Legend of Montrose (1819); a group which takes up themes from the Middle Ages and Reformation times, from Ivanhoe (1819) to The Talisman (1825); and his remaining books, from Woodstock (1826) until his death. He was created a baronet in 1820.  He did much to revive interest in all things and places Scottish both at home and in England.