97 Notable alumni of Aarhus University

Jesper Møller is a Danish mathematician.

Henrik Koch is a Danish scientist. His field is theoretical chemistry. He is full professor at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in Italy.

Christian Dorph is a Danish author. He has written several collections of poems as well as crime fiction.

Karsten Grove is a Danish-American mathematician working in metric and differential geometry, differential topology and global analysis, mainly in topics related to global Riemannian geometry, Alexandrov geometry, isometric group actions and manifolds with positive or nonnegative sectional curvature.

Morten Strange is a Danish-born, Singapore-based independent financial analyst. He is a former bird photographer, author and publisher. Strange was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and studied economics at Aarhus University 1971-73; he served in the Danish army as a sergeant in the field artillery. From 1974, Strange worked in the offshore oil industry in the North Sea and later in...

Mette Laugesen Graversgaard is a Danish athlete who specialises in the 60 metres hurdles and 100 metres hurdles. She has competed for Denmark at multiple major championships, placing fourth in the 60m hurdles at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships.

Elin Brimheim Heinesen is a Faroese journalist, editor, singer, songwriter and composer. She is a Master of Arts in Art History (Aesthetics & Culture), studied at Aarhus University 1984-1986 and 1989-1991. After living in Denmark for over 20 years, she moved back to the Faroe Islands in 2007, where she became Director of Samvit, a public institution under the Faroese...

Hans Thybo is a Danish geophysicist and geologist. He is President of International Lithosphere Program since 2017 and currently employed by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS).

Niels Johannes Lebech is a Danish politician. He is former Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs for the Danish Social Liberal Party and a former member of the European Parliament.

Peter Fibiger Bang is a Danish historian of Rome, empire, cross-cultural comparison and world history. Bang's main research interests are Roman economic history, Roman imperial power and historical sociology – as well as the reception of Classical culture in later ages.

Lenka Lichtenberg is a Canadian singer, composer, songwriter, and cantorial soloist of Czech-Jewish descent. She sings in Czech, English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish.

John Frandsen is a Danish composer, organist and choral conductor, whose work includes operas, chamber music, and religious music. His 1999 Now Flashes the White Light of the Spirit commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was performed simultaneously in over 100 Danish churches on the day of the anniversary.

Carsten Kissmeyer is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Venstre political party. He entered parliament in 2018 after Esben Lunde Larsen resigned his seat.

Kristian Kristiansen FSA FSA Scot is a Danish archaeologist known for his contributions to the study of Bronze Age Europe, heritage studies and archaeological theory. He is a professor at the University of Gothenburg.

Jógvan Fríðriksson is the first bishop of the independent Church of the Faroe Islands.

Per Mollerup is a Danish designer, academic, and author. He is known for his emphasis on simplicity in design and for his wayshowing design at airports in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm, as well as the Copenhagen Metro. He is currently a Professor of Communication Design at Swinburne University of Technology's School of Design.

Finn Olav Gundelach was a Danish diplomat and European Commissioner who served as Vice-President of the European Commission from 6 January 1977 until his death on 13 January 1981.

Ole Henrik Laub was a Danish novelist and author of short-stories and children books. He was also an art painter and cartoonist.

Elof Westergaard is a Danish theologian who since 2014 has been a Bishop of Ribe.

Britta Thomsen is a Danish politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2014. She is a member of the Social Democrats, which is part of the Party of European Socialists.

Katrine Kjær Robsøe is a Danish politician who is a member of the Folketing for the Social Liberal Party. She was elected into parliament at the 2019 Danish general election.

Anne Fortier is a Danish-Canadian writer who has lived in the US and Canada since 2002.

Ineta Ziemele is a Latvian jurist and judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia since 2015. On 8 May 2017 she was elected as President of the Constitutional Court.

Poul Nielson is a Danish politician from the Social Democrats who has held the posts as Energy Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation, and served as European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 1999 until 2004.

Poul Anker Bech was a Danish painter.

Jens Kehlet Nørskov is the Villum Kann Rasmussen professor at the Technical University of Denmark. He is a Danish physicist most notable for his work on theoretical description of surfaces, catalysis, materials, nanostructures, and biomolecules.

Lars Ramkilde Knudsen is a Danish researcher in cryptography, particularly interested in the design and analysis of block ciphers, hash functions and message authentication codes (MACs).

Peter Ingemann Moesgaard Sørensen is a Danish diplomat, currently serving as the European Union Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue. He has held various senior diplomatic roles within the European Union, including European Union Special Representative and Head of Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Head of the EU Delegation in Skopje, and Head of Delegation of the European Union to...

Charlotte Sahl-Madsen or Sahl-Madsen is a Danish politician and businesswoman. She was the Danish Minister of Science, Technology and Development from 23 February 2010 to 3 October 2011. She had previously led Ebeltoft Glass Museum, Lego R&D and the Universe theme park.

Søren Galatius is a Danish mathematician who works as a professor of mathematics at the Columbia University. He works in algebraic topology, where one of his most important results concerns the homology of the automorphisms of free groups. He is also known for his joint work with Oscar Randal-Williams on moduli spaces of manifolds, comprising several papers.

Søren Solkær, is a Danish photographer best known for his portraits of musicians. He is most recognised as the man responsible for various iconic images of Björk, The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, David Lynch, Arctic Monkeys, R.E.M. and U2.

Simon Faber is a German politician (Südschleswigscher Wählerverband) and was Lord Mayor of Flensburg between January 15, 2011 and January 15, 2017.

Anders Eldrup is a Danish business leader who for years has been a central figure in Danish politics and business. He was previously Permanent Secretary at the Danish Ministry of Finance, and since 2001 Eldrup has taken the position as CEO. First directing the Danish oil and gas company DONG (an abbreviation for Danish Oil and Natural Gas), then from...

Tine Lindhardt, a Danish theologian, is the Lutheran bishop of the Diocese of Funen from 4 November 2012.

Nina Smith née Gotfred-Rasmussen is a prominent Danish economist. Since 2005, she has been Professor of Economics and Business at Aarhus University. Smith has held a number of major educational and advisory positions, including research professor at the German Institute for Economic Research and head of the board of the Independent Research Fund Denmark. As of July 2021, she serves...

Henrik Stubkjær is a Danish Lutheran theologian, from November 2014 the 44th Bishop of Viborg in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).

Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard is a Danish businesswoman and politician, who since January 1, 2018, has been Mayor of Employment and Integration in the Municipality of Copenhagen, elected for the Liberal Party, Venstre.

Dorthe Nors is a Danish writer. She is the author of Soul, Karate Chop, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal, and Wild Swims.

Henning Toft Bro is a Danish prelate who served as the Bishop of Aalborg, Denmark from 2010 until 2021.

Marlene Wind is a Danish political scientist. She is a professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen, where she has been also Director of the Center for European Policy. She specializes in the law, policies, and politics of the European Union.

Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen is a Danish diplomat who has served as Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union from 2015 to 2022.

Finn Nørbygaard is a Danish actor, entertainer, musician and psychotherapist. Nørbygaard was originally educated as a school teacher but had his breakthrough in a TV role as a bus conductor with Jacob Haugaard wherein they popularized the regional expression Ja-dak. The pair also made the Jydekompagniet movies and acted in popular TV-commercials for Tuborg Squash. Another of Nørbygaards successes was...

Ida Jessen is a Danish author and translator who writes in both Danish and Norwegian. Jessen was nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize and has won several awards for her work. She is a member of the Danish Academy and a recipient of the Lifetime Award from the Danish Arts Foundation.

Anders Primdahl Vistisen is a Danish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Denmark. He is a member of the Danish People's Party and was elected chief whip of the Patriots for Europe Group in the European Parliament. He was the Spids kandidat (lead candidate) selected to represent the Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament election...

Lone Frank is a Danish science journalist, author and PhD in neurobiology. Since 1998 she has written for newspapers. She is also a commentator and lecturer and has worked in radio and television; including organized and participated in science series on television, talking about controversial issues such as heritability of IQ and race and intelligence. She received her master's degree...

Jacob Bundsgaard Johansen is a Danish politician and is the former Mayor of Aarhus Municipality. He is a member of the Danish Social Democrats. He took over after the former mayor Nicolai Wammen, who resigned as mayor to become member of the Danish Parliament, Folketinget, in 2011.

Holger Kirkholm Nielsen, known as Holger K. Nielsen, is a Danish politician, member of the Folketing for the Socialist People's Party. He was Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs for 49 days from December 2013 through January 2014. He was the leader of the Socialist People's Party from 1991 to 2005 and served as the Minister for Taxation from 2012 to...

Jeanette Varberg is a Danish archaeologist, writer and curator who discovered that glass beads found in Denmark had originated in Egypt and Mesopotamia. She published Fortidens Slagmarker - krig og konflikt fra stenalder til vikingetid (Battlefields of the Past - Wars and Conflicts from the Stone Age to the Viking Period), which won DR's Rosenkjæer Prize in 2014 and the...

Louise Gade is a Danish cand.jur., president of Aarhus VIA University College and former mayor of Aarhus, Denmark.

Myanna Dellinger is a Danish-American law professor, climate change and international law specialist, and Fulbright Scholar.

Anne-Marie Rindom is a Danish sailor. She competed in the Laser Radial class event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she placed 13th. She won the 2015 Women's Laser Radial World Championship. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the Laser Radial event. She won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Laser Radial.

Josephine Fock is a Danish politician, who was a member of the Folketing for The Alternative from 2015 to 2018. She was the leader of the party from 1 February to 14 November 2020 after Uffe Elbæk resigned.

Birgitte Bonnesen is a Danish-Swedish former business executive. She was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Swedbank from 2016 to 2019 and was chairperson of the Swedish Bankers' Association from 2017 to 2019.

Artis Pabriks is a Latvian politician. Since January 2019 he has been the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018, he was a Member of the European Parliament.

Mette Bock is a Danish political scientist, journalist and former politician. She was a member of the Folketing from 2011 to 2019, representing the Liberal Alliance party. She served as Minister of Culture and Church from 2016 to 2019.

Svend Gunnarsen Auken was a Danish politician. He represented the Social Democrats as a member of the Danish parliament (Folketinget) from 1971 until his death.

Dale Thomas Mortensen was an American economist, a professor at Northwestern University, and a winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Barbara Beatrice Bober Bertelsen is a Danish jurist and senior civil servant. She is the current Permanent Secretary of State to the Prime Minister's Office of Denmark, and as such the head and principal civil servant in the central administration of Denmark. She is the first woman to hold this position and thus the highest-ranking female civil servant in Danish...

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen is a Danish businessman and was the chief executive of Novo Nordisk between January 2017 and August 2025. He is the chairman of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.

Peter Nicolas Eastgate is a poker player from Denmark, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2008 World Series of Poker. At the time, he became the youngest player ever to win the event. He was subsequently surpassed by Joe Cada in 2009.

Jim Hagemann Snabe is a Danish businessman, and the chairman of Siemens. Together with Bill McDermott, Snabe was co-CEO of the German technology company SAP, before becoming member of the board of directors at SAP. Snabe has also been an adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School since 2016 and is a member of the board of trustees at the World...

Svend Brinkmann is a Danish Professor of Psychology in the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. He serves as a co-director of the Center for Qualitative Studies. His research primarily involves philosophical, moral, and methodological issues in psychology and other human and social sciences. In recent years, Brinkmann has been studying the impact of psychiatric diagnoses on...

Helmuth Sørensen Nyborg is a Danish psychologist, writer, far-right politician and former Olympic canoeist. He is a former professor of developmental psychology at Aarhus University. His main research topic is the connection between hormones and intelligence. Among other things, he has worked on increasing the intelligence of girls with Turner's syndrome by giving them estrogen. He has also stood as...

Bjarne Fog Corydon is a Danish politician and businessman, who was a member of the Folketing from the Social Democrats from 2011 to 2016. He served as Finance Minister of Denmark in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt from 2011 to 2015, and was formerly her secretary. He serves since 2025 as Director General for DR.

Stefan Seidler is a Danish-German politician of the South Schleswig Voters' Association (SSW), the party representing the interests of the Danish and Frisian minority populations in Germany. He was elected to the Bundestag from Schleswig-Holstein in the 2021 German federal election. His election represented the first time the SSW won a seat since 1949. The SSW last contested a federal...

Søren Gade Jensen is a Danish politician who has been Speaker of the Folketing since November 2022, representing the Liberal party, Venstre. He was a Liberal member of the Folketing from 2001 to 2019 and again in 2022. Before entering politics, he was a military officer and businessman. He was formerly a Member of the European Parliament from 2019 to...

Sigurd Barrett is a Danish pianist, children’s singer and entertainer, composer, and writer and creator of "Pilfingerdansen". As a musician, he operates in many genres (jazz, classical, etc.) and is popular within Denmark, especially among children. He is known for his Patriotic songs.

Nicolai Halby Wammen is a Danish politician of the Social Democrats who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen since 2019. A native and lifelong resident of Denmark's second-largest city, Aarhus, he served as mayor from 2006 to 2011. On the national level, he has served as Minister of European Affairs (2011–2013)...

Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen is a Danish software engineer, technology executive, and co-founder of Where 2 Technologies which led to Google Maps.

Naser Khader is a Syrian-Danish politician and member of the Folketing 2001–2011 and again 2015–2022. Until 2021 he was a member of the Conservative People's Party.

Anders Samuelsen is a Danish former politician who served as minister of foreign affairs from 2016 to 2019 and as leader of the Liberal Alliance from 2009 to 2019. He was a member of the Folketing for the Danish Social Liberal Party from 1998 to 2004 and for Liberal Alliance from 2007 to 2019, and represented Denmark in the European...

Jonas Flodager Rasmussen, known professionally as simply Rasmussen, is a Danish singer and actor. He represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "Higher Ground".

Bertel Geismar Haarder is a Danish writer, teacher and politician, who was a member of the Folketing for the Venstre political party. He has served as minister several times, including Minister of Education from 1982 to 1993 and again in 2005 to 2010, and most recently as Minister for Culture and Ecclesiastical Affairs from 2015 to 2016 in the L....

Lene Espersen is a Danish former politician, a former leader of Conservative People's Party and a former Minister of Justice. She is the current CEO at the Danish Association of Architectural Firms. From 1 July 2016 to June 30, 2020, she served as chairman of the board of Aalborg University.

Søren Ryge Petersen is a Danish television presenter, journalist, and writer.

Jens Christian Skou was a Danish biochemist and Nobel laureate.

Lars Eilstrup Rasmussen is a Danish computer scientist, technology executive, and the co-founder of Google Maps. He was later the director of engineering for Facebook in London.

Lise Rønne is a Danish journalist and television presenter, best known in Denmark for presenting four seasons of X Factor as well as two seasons of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. She is best known outside Denmark for presenting the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen S.K. is a Danish politician who was the prime minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the secretary general of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became founder of political consultancy Rasmussen Global and founded the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. He serves as a senior adviser to Citigroup. He also served as...

Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish political scientist, author, and the president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center. He is the former director of the Danish government's Environmental Assessment Institute (EAI) in Copenhagen. He became internationally known for his best-selling book The Skeptical Environmentalist (2001).

Jørgen Leth was a Danish poet and film director who was considered a leading figure in experimental documentary filmmaking. Most notable is his documentary A Sunday in Hell (1977) and his surrealistic short film The Perfect Human (1968). He was also a sports commentator for Danish television and was represented by the film production company Sunset Productions.

Poul Holmskov Schlüter was a Danish politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1982 to 1993. He was the first (and to date, only) member of the Conservative People's Party to become prime minister, as well as the first conservative to hold the office since 1901. Schlüter was a member of the Folketing (Danish parliament) for the Conservative...

Morten Østergaard is a Danish politician who served as Denmark's Minister for Economic and Interior Affairs from 2 September 2014 to 28 June 2015. Leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party from September 2014 to October 2020, he was a member of the Folketing from 2005 to 2021. He was furthermore Minister for Research, Innovation and Higher Education from 2011...

Lene Vestergaard Hau is a Danish physicist and educator. She is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard University.

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp is a Danish businessman who is the Chairman of the Foundation and Supervisory Boards at IMD Business School since 1 January 2026. He currently serves as Deputy chair of the LEGO Foundation and chair of BrainPOP Education Inc. He is also lead independent director of Starbucks Corporation and a member of Nike’s Board of Directors.

Frederik X is King of Denmark, reigning since the abdication of his mother, Margrethe II, in January 2024.

Bjarne Stroustrup is a Danish computer scientist, known for the development of the C++ programming language. He led the Large-scale Programming Research department at Bell Labs, served as a professor of computer science at Texas A&M University, and spent over a decade at Morgan Stanley while also being a visiting professor at Columbia University. Since 2022 he has been a...

Margrethe II is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 14 January 1972 until her abdication on 14 January 2024. Having reigned for exactly 52 years, she is the second-longest-reigning Danish monarch after Christian IV.

Kåre Johannessen is a Danish historian, writer, lecturer and presenter. He is the former curator of the museum of Trelleborg and Middelaldercentret, where he worked from 1994 to 1999 and again from 2004 to 2015. Today, he is a self-employed historian. While working at Trelleborg he recreated the Viking game of knattleikr and injured his knee so badly that he...

Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen is a Danish theologist who since 2014 has been serving as the General Secretary of DanChurchAid. In 2018 she was elected Moderator of ACT Alliance – a global alliance of 146 churches and related organisations working together in over 120 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized people.

Britt Bager is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Conservative People's Party political party. She was elected into the Folketing in the 2015 Danish general election for the Venstre political party, but switched to the Conservative People's Party in 2021.

Lars Kolind is a Danish businessman. Kolind holds an M.Sc. in Mathematics from Aarhus University from 1972 and a B.Comm. from the Copenhagen Business School from 1977. He is adjunct professor of leadership and strategy at Aarhus University Business School (Aarhus School of Business) since 2000. He serves as Detao Master of Leadership and Strategy since 2012.

Christine Edda Antorini is a Danish politician for the Social Democrats, formerly for the Socialist People's Party. From 2011 to 2015 she was the Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt. She was a member of the Folketing from 1998 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2018.

Niviaq Korneliussen is a Greenlandic writer, who writes in Greenlandic and Danish. Her 2014 debut novel, Homo Sapienne, was written in Greenlandic, as well as in a Danish translation by the author, with both published by Milik in 2014. Naasuliardarpi (2020) was her follow-up a few years later, and earned her the prestigious Nordic Council Literature Prize.

Marcel van Hattem is a Brazilian political scientist, journalist, international relations consultant and politician. He currently serves in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies and is known for his conservative views.

Narel Y. Paniagua-Zambrana is a Bolivian ethnobotanist. She investigates the use and protection of traditional knowledge of plants in indigenous communities, particularly in the Bolivian Andes. She is currently an Associated Researcher at the Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andres in Bolivia. Her goal is giving them the knowledge to participate in decision-making on...