Science & invention · born 1947Michael Portereconomist, management scholarHarvard Business School professor behind the five forces model of competitive strategy, born in Ann Arbor in 1947.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,743 famous people
- 96 Detroit places
- 18 fields
Hungarian ties 21 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
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6 people
Clear filtersScience & invention · born 1947Michael Portereconomist, management scholarHarvard Business School professor behind the five forces model of competitive strategy, born in Ann Arbor in 1947.
Science & invention · born 1932Alvin PlantingaphilosopherLeading Christian philosopher of religion and Templeton Prize laureate, born in Ann Arbor, who began his professorial career at Wayne State University in Detroit (1958–1963).
Science & invention · 1923–1969Walter Pittslogician, computational neuroscientistSelf-taught Detroit-born logician who, with Warren McCulloch, wrote the 1943 paper that introduced the first mathematical model of a neural network.
Science & invention · 1920–2006Lawrence Patrickbiomechanics researcherWayne State University professor who made himself a 'human crash-test dummy', enduring hundreds of rocket-sled rides and impacts to learn how bodies are hurt in car crashes.
Science & invention · 1797–1872Zina Pitcherphysician, botanist, mayor of DetroitArmy surgeon and botanist who settled in Detroit, served twice as mayor (1840–1841 and 1843), helped build the University of Michigan and presided over the American Medical Association.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own.