Edinburgh

Edinburgh (pronounced {{IPA|/??d?n?br?/}}), Dùn Èideann ({{IPA|/tu?n ?e?t??n/}}) in Scottish Gaelic, is the second-largest city in Scotland and is the country's capital city.

Famous residents

• Alexander Graham Bell, telephone pioneer, was born in Edinburgh.
• Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister, was born in the city and attended its exclusive Fettes College high school
• James Boswell, author, biographer of Samuel Johnson
• William Burke and William Hare, noted grave-robbers, plundered the city's graveyards
• James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist
• Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was born in the city's New Town
• Sean Connery, actor
• Field Marshal Douglas Haig was born in Edinburgh
• David Hume, philosopher and historian
• John Knox, Protestant Reformer, lived in Edinburgh, and John Knox's House is preserved in the High Street
• Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of books, lives in Edinburgh
• Magnus Magnusson, television presenter and author
• Shirley Manson, lead singer for the band Garbage
• Mary, Queen of Scots, lived in Holyrood Palace
• John Napier, mathematician, mainly remembered for the invention of logarithms
• John Porteous, captain of the city guard, lynched during the Porteous Riots of 1736
• Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus series of crime thrillers, attended Edinburgh University
• David Roberts, 19th century painter and lithographer
• J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter author, wrote her first book in an Edinburgh coffee-shop
• Sir Walter Scott, (1771-1832), novelist, was born in Edinburgh.
• Adam Smith, economist, author of The Wealth of Nations
• Muriel Spark, novelist, author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, wrote fondly of the city before moving to Samoa.
• Nigel Tranter (1909-2000), historian, writer, lived in Edinburgh.
• Irvine Welsh, novelist, author of e.g. Trainspotting, is from Edinburgh.
• James Young Simpson, an obstetrician who conducted the first experimental use of chloroform for anaesthesia