List of Famous people born in Illinois, United States of America

Douglas A. Melton is the Xander University Professor at Harvard University, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additionally, Melton serves as the co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and was the first co-chair of the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. Melton is a founder of several biotech companies including Gilead Sciences, Ontogeny, iPierian, and Semma Therapeutics. Melton holds membership in the National Academy of the Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a founding member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. With his wife Gail O'Keefe, Melton serves as Faculty Dean of Eliot House, an undergraduate residence at Harvard College.

Barbara Jean McNair (March 4, 1934 – February 4, 2007) was an American singer and theater, television and film actress. McNair's career spanned over five decades appearing in television, film and stage. McNair's professional career began in music during the late 1950s, singing in the nightclub circuit. In 1958, McNair released her debut single "Till There Was You" from Coral Records which was a commercial success. McNair performed all across the world, touring with Nat King Cole and later appearing in his Broadway stage shows I'm with You and The Merry World of Nat King Cole in the early 1960s.

Edward Joseph Lofgren was an American physicist in the early days of nuclear physics and elementary particle research at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL). He was born in Chicago. He was an important figure in the breakthroughs that followed the creation of the Bevatron, of which he was the director for a time.

Julian Clare May was an American science fiction, fantasy, horror, science and children's writer who also used several literary pseudonyms. She was best known for her Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu Series books.

Eric Andrew Posner is an American law professor at the University of Chicago Law School. He teaches international law, contract law, and bankruptcy, among other areas. As of 2014, he was the 4th most-cited legal scholar in the United States. He is the son of retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner.

Gilbert Ames Bliss,, was an American mathematician, known for his work on the calculus of variations.

Donald L. Hanmer was an American film actor. The Chicago-born actor began his career on Broadway, where he was considered once a big hit. He appeared in 90 films between 1945 until 1991.

Franklin Rosemont was an American poet, artist, historian, street speaker, and co-founder of the Chicago Surrealist Group. Over four decades, Franklin produced a body of work, of declarations, manifestos, poetry, collage, hidden histories, and other interventions intended to inspire a new generation of revolution, and became perhaps "the most productive scholar of labor and the left in the United States."

Milton Denman Van Dyke was Professor of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He was known for his work in fluid dynamics, especially with respect to the use of perturbation analysis in aerodynamics. His often-cited book An Album of Fluid Motion presents a collection of about 400 selected black-and-white photographs of flow visualization in experiments, received – on his request – from researchers all over the world.

Dan Simmons is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works which span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes within a single novel. Simmons's genre-intermingling Song of Kali (1985) won the World Fantasy Award. He also writes mysteries and thrillers, some of which feature the continuing character Joe Kurtz.