The following are notable people who were either born, raised, or have lived for a significant period of time in the American state of Kansas.
Academics and Nobel Prize Laureates
The 10 Worst Cities In Kansas Explained - Which of the Sunflower State's cities are the worst? These.
- Milton S. Eisenhower (1899â€"1985), university president, Abilene
- Wendell Johnson (1906â€"1965), psychologist and speech pathologist, author of The Monster Study, Roxbury
- Jack S. Kilby (1923â€"2005), Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Great Bend
- Solon Toothaker Kimball (1909â€"1982), anthropologist, Manhattan
- Stanford Lehmberg (born 1931), historian, McPherson
- Norman Malcolm (1911â€"1990), philosopher, Selden
- Deane Waldo Malott (1898â€"1996), president of Cornell University, Abilene
- Abby Lillian Marlatt (1869â€"1943), home economics, Manhattan
- Eric K. Meyer (born 1953), journalism professor and Pulitzer Prize nominee, Marion
- M. Lee Pelton (born 1950), president of Willamette University, Wichita
- John Brooks Slaughter (born 1934), college president and first African-American director of the National Science Foundation, Topeka
- Vernon L. Smith (born 1927), Nobel Memorial Prize winner in Economics, Wichita
- Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. (1915â€"1974), 1971 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology and Medicine, Burlingame
- Donald Worster (born 1941), historian, Lawrence
Arts and literature
Artists
- Nina E. Allender (1873â€"1957), artist and women's suffrage cartoonist, Auburn
- Grace Bilger (1907â€"2000), artist, Olathe
- Grant Bond (born 1974), artist, Kansas City
- Blackbear Bosin (1921â€"1980), Native American artist, Wichita
- Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (1917â€"2000), poet, Topeka
- Bruce Conner (1933â€"2008), artist, McPherson
- John Steuart Curry (1897â€"1946), artist, Winchester
- Aaron Douglas (1900â€"1979), artist, Topeka
- Randall Duell (1903â€"1992), architect and art director, Russell County
- Edgar Heap of Birds (born 1954), artist, Wichita
- Bruce Helander (born 1947), artist, Great Bend
- Elizabeth Layton (1909â€"1993), artist, Wellsville
- Evan Lindquist (born 1936), printmaker, Artist Laureate of Arkansas, Salina
- Barbara Morgan (1900â€"1992), photographer, Buffalo, Kansas
- Gordon Parks (1912â€"2006), photographer and film director, Fort Scott
- Birger Sandzen (1871â€"1954), artist, art professor at Bethany College, Lindsborg
- Gary Mark Smith (born 1956), photographer, studied at University of Kansas, Wichita
- W. Eugene Smith (1918â€"1978), photographer, Wichita
- Mort Walker (1923-2018), cartoonist, creator of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois comic strips, El Dorado
Authors
- Laura Abbot, author of Harlequin romance novels, Kansas City
- Gwendolyn Brooks (1917â€"2000), author, poet, Topeka
- William Burroughs (1914â€"1997), author, Lawrence
- Don Coldsmith (1926â€"2009), author of Western fiction, Iola
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879â€"1958), author of children's books, Lawrence
- Thomas Frank (born 1965), author and editor, Mission Hills
- Jane Heap (1883â€"1964), author and publisher, Topeka
- Scott Heim (born 1966), author, Hutchinson
- Langston Hughes (1902â€"1967), author and poet, Lawrence
- William Inge (1913â€"1973), playwright, Independence
- Bill James (born 1949), author, Mayetta, Kansas
- Bill Martin, Jr. (1916â€"2004), children's author, Hiawatha
- Fred Myton (1885â€"1955), screenwriter, Garden City
- Kathy Patrick, author, founder of Pulpwood Queens Book Club, Eureka
- Scott Phillips (born 1961), author, Wichita
- Vance Randolph (1892â€"1980), folklorist, Pittsburg
- Red Reeder (1902â€"1998), author and United States Army officer, Fort Leavenworth
- Richard Rhodes (born 1937), author and historian, Kansas City
- Lois Ruby, author of historic fiction, Lawrence
- Damon Runyon (1880â€"1946), author, Manhattan
- Mary Francis Shura (1923â€"1990), children's, romance and mystery author, Pratt
- William Stafford (1914â€"1993), poet and pacifist, Hutchinson
- Max Yoho (born 1934), author, Colony
Dancers
- Clark Tippet (1954â€"1992), ballet, Parsons
Musicians
Athletics
Athletes
- Aâ€"F
- Gâ€"M
- Nâ€"Z
Coaches
Aviators and astronauts
- Walter Herschel Beech (1891â€"1950), aviator and aircraft designer, Wichita
- Clyde Vernon Cessna (1879â€"1954), aviator and aircraft designer, Rago
- Amelia Earhart (1897â€"1937), aviator, Atchison
- Joe Engle (born 1932), astronaut, Chapman
- Ronald Evans (1933â€"1990), astronaut, St. Francis
- Daniel Forbes (1920â€"1948), United States Army Air Corps pilot, Carbondale
- Steve Hawley (born 1951), astronaut, Salina
- Donald Hudson (1895â€"1967), World War I flying ace, Topeka
- Glenn L. Martin (1886â€"1955), aviation pioneer, Salina
- Lloyd Carlton Stearman (1898â€"1975), aviator and aircraft designer, Wellsville
Businesspeople and inventors
- Philip Anschutz (born 1939), billionaire investor, Russell
- Bion Barnett (1857â€"1958), co-founder of Barnett Bank, Hiawatha
- Olive Ann Beech, Chairwoman of Beech Aircraft Company, Wichita (born in Waverly)
- Dan and Frank Carney (Dan born 1931, Frank born 1938), founders of Pizza Hut, Wichita
- Walter Chrysler (1875â€"1940), founder of Chrysler Corporation, Wamego
- William Coffin Coleman (1870â€"1957), founder of the Coleman Company, Wichita
- David Dillon (born 1951), former CEO of Kroger, Hutchinson
- Vic Edelbrock (1913â€"1962), automotive engineer, Eudora
- James Harbord (1866â€"1947), President and Chairman of the Board of RCA, Manhattan
- William Wadsworth Hodkinson (1881â€"1971), pioneer film marketer and distributor, Independence
- Omar Knedlik (1915â€"1989), inventor of the ICEE frozen drink, Barnes
- Charles G. Koch (born 1935), CEO of Koch Industries, Wichita
- David H. Koch (born 1940), executive and politician, Wichita
- Alan Mulally (born 1945), engineer, former President and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, Lawrence
- Matthew K. Rose (born 1959), Chairman and CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Salina
- Harry F. Sinclair (1876â€"1956), founder of Sinclair Oil company, Independence
- Russell Stover (1888â€"1954), founder of Russell Stover Candies, Alton
Film, stage and television
Actors and performers
Directors
- Michael Almereyda (born 1960), film director, Overland Park
- Steve Balderson (born 1975), film director, Wamego
- Darren Lynn Bousman (born 1979), film director, Overland Park
- Chris Buck (born 1960), film director, animator, Wichita
- Eric Darnell (born 1960), director, writer, songwriter, animator, Prairie Village
- Randall Duell (1903â€"1992), art director, Russell County
- Alex Graves (born 1968), television director, El Dorado
- Sherman Halsey, music video and television director, Independence
- Martin and Osa Johnson (1884â€"1937 and 1894â€"1953), film pioneer, explorer, Chanute
- Oscar Micheaux (1893â€"1951), film director, Great Bend
- Gordon Parks (1912â€"2006), film director, Fort Scott
- Richard Thorpe (1896â€"1991), film director, Hutchinson
Public figures
Journalists
- Frank Marshall Davis (1905â€"1987), journalist, poet, political and labor movement activist, Arkansas City
- Steve Doocy (born 1956), co-host of Fox News's Fox & Friends, Abilene
- Elizabeth Farnsworth (born 1943), television journalist, Topeka
- William M. Gallagher (1923â€"1975), Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, Hiawatha
- Jane Grant (1892â€"1972), journalist who co-founded The New Yorker, Girard, Kansas
- E. W. Howe (1853â€"1937), author and newspaper editor, Atchison
- Bill Kurtis (born 1940), television journalist, Independence
- Jim Lehrer (born 1934), television journalist, Wichita
- Melissa McDermott (born 1960s), television news anchor for CBS's Up to the Minute, Wichita
- Clementine Paddleford (1898â€"1967), journalist and food critic, Riley County
- Eugene C. Pulliam (1889â€"1975), founder Central Newspapers, Inc., Ulysses
- Roy A. Roberts (1887â€"1967), newspaper editor, Muscotah
- W. Eugene Smith (1918â€"1978), photojournalist, Wichita
- John Cameron Swayze (1906â€"1995), television journalist, Wichita
- Julius Wayland (1854â€"1912), newspaper editor, Appeal to Reason, Girard
- William Allen White (1868â€"1944), author and newspaper editor, Emporia
- Gene Wojciechowski, author, sportswriter and ESPN commentator, Salina
Politics and law
Military and national security
Religious
- William Bickerton (1815â€"1905), founder of The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) and the Zion Valley, Kansas, colony, St. John
- Charles J. Chaput (born 1944), Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, Concordia
- Sheri L. Dew (born 1953), influential Latter-day Saint spokeswoman, Ulysses
- Bart D. Ehrman (born 1955), New Testament scholar, Lawrence
- Jerry Johnston (born 1959), Southern Baptist Convention evangelist and pastor, Overland Park
- Emil Kapaun (1916â€"1951), Army chaplain Korean War, posthumous Medal of Honor recipient, Catholic martyr and sainthood candidate, Pilsen
- Ron Kenoly (born 1944), musical worship leader, Coffeyville
- Fred Phelps (1929â€"2014), leader of Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka
- James Reeb (1927â€"1965), Unitarian minister beaten to death by segregationists in Selma, Alabama, during the Civil Rights Movement, Wichita
- David Laurin Ricken (born 1954), bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne, Dodge City
- Michael Jarboe Sheehan (born 1939), Archbishop of Santa Fe, Wichita
- John Joseph Sullivan (1920â€"2001), Bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska, and Kansas City-St. Joseph, Horton
- Gerald B. Winrod (1900â€"1957), evangelical Christian and Nazi sympathizer, Wichita
- Gordon Winrod (born 1926), Christian Identity minister, Hesston
Scientists and programmers
Others
Notable individuals
Notable historical figures not from Kansas but who participated in a significant event in Kansas
- John Brown (1800â€"1859), abolitionist, Osawatomie
- Buffalo Bill Cody (1846â€"1917), buffalo hunter and showman, Leavenworth
- Wyatt Earp (1848â€"1929), lawman, Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas
- Dora Hand (c. 1844â€"1878), dance hall singer, Dodge City, Kansas
- Wild Bill Hickok (1837â€"1876), lawman, Hays, Kansas and Abilene
- James H. Lane (1814-1866), abolitionist, senator and union general, Lawrence
- Bat Masterson (1853â€"1921), lawman, Dodge City, Kansas
- Carrie Nation (1846â€"1911), temperance activist, Medicine Lodge
Infamous persons
Fictional persons
See also
- Lists of people from Kansas