John Arthur, OBE (1881–1952), British Army Captain and medical missionary for over thirty years in Kenya; known simply as Doctor Arthur to generations of Africans
Robert Brown (1842–1895), scientist, explorer, and author
James Bruce (1730–1794), traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and then Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile
Hugh Clapperton (1788–1827), Royal Navy Captain and traveller who explored many lakes and rivers in Africa; one of the first white people to see Lake Chad
William Cormack (1796–1868), agriculturalist, author and philanthropist; first European to explore the interior of Newfoundland and Labrador, while also building friendly relations with the native Beothuk people
Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (1852–1936), Don Roberto, adventurer, journalist, politician and writer who carried out many activities in Argentina, Mexico, Morocco, Spain and the United States
David Douglas (1799–1834), botanist and gardener who explored parts of the remote Scottish Highlands, as well as North America and Hawaii; second person to summit Mauna Loa volcano; introduced hundreds of plants to Great Britain, including the Douglas fir
Douglas Douglas–Hamilton (1903–1973), Lord Clydesdale, aviator and the first to see Mount Everest from above while carrying out the first detailed scientific survey of the Himalayas, the extremities he endured also helped demonstrate the need for pressurised cabins inside aircraft
Alexander Forbes (1778–1862), author and merchant; first British consul to Mexico; published one of the first accounts in English of California (then a province of Mexico)
Robert Gordon (1580–1661), antiquary, cartographer, geographer, mathematician and poet who created and revised many maps, including the first atlas of Scotland after being asked via a letter from King Charles I of England
John Kirk (1832–1922), botanist, naturalist and physician; British administrator in Zanzibar; supported the abolition of the slave trade along with his associate David Livingstone
Macgregor Laird (1808–1861), merchant and shipbuilder; pioneered British trade on the Niger River; his ship Sirius was the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean run entirely on steam power; supported the abolition of the slave trade
William Lithgow (1582–1645), alleged spy, traveller and writer who claimed to have peregrinated over 35,000 miles throughout various parts of the world
David Livingstone (1813–1873), medical missionary and one of Africa's most celebrated explorers; discovered Victoria Falls, among other things; strongly opposed the slave trade; his meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the quotation "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
Gregor MacGregor (1786–1845), adventurer, coloniser, land speculator and soldier who fought in South America during the Spanish American wars of independence, before later helping to colonise parts of the continent
John MacGregor (1825–1892), artist, barrister, philanthropist and travel writer; descendant of Rob Roy MacGregor; developed canoe sailing and popularised canoeing as a recreational sport, paddling and sailing them in both Europe and the Middle East
Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1764–1820), merchant who traced the 1,080-mile Mackenzie River and completed the first east to west overland crossing of the Americas (north of Mexico) to reach the Pacific Ocean; this predated the Lewis and Clark Expedition by a decade
John Muir (1838–1914), author and naturalist whose conservation and preservation activism led to the creation of many national parks in the United States; founded the Sierra Club in California, one of the most important conservation organisations in America
Walter Oudney (1790–1824), physician and African explorer, one of the first Europeans to accomplish a north–south crossing of the Sahara Desert
Mungo Park (1771–1806), botanist and surgeon who conducted many journeys to Africa and was the first Westerner to encounter the central portion of the Niger River
William Paterson (1755–1810), botanist, British Army Colonel and lieutenant governor, best known for leading early settlement in Tasmania
Sir John Richardson (1787–1865), naturalist and naval surgeon; traveled with Sir John Franklin in search of the Northwest Passage on the Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822; they later surveyed 1,878 miles of previously unmapped coast and made many natural history discoveries
John McDouall Stuart (1815–1866), surveyor and one of Australia's most famous explorers; led the first expedition to successfully traverse the continent from south to north and return
Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (1830–1882), marine zoologist, natural historian and the chief scientist on the pioneering Challenger Expedition, which lay the foundation for modern oceanography
Tom Weir, MBE (1914–2006), author, broadcaster and climber who is best known for his long-running television series, Weir's Way, which helped popularise hillwalking and the great outdoors
John Wood (1812–1871), cartographer, naval officer and surveyor who explored many Asian rivers and compiled several maps of South Asia, which remained standard for most of the 19th century
Major-General Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet (1911–1996), soldier, writer and politician; reputed to be one of the men composing the compound of "Commando types" who inspired the Ian Fleming character James Bond
Marion Gilchrist (1864–1952), first female graduate of the University of Glasgow; first woman to qualify in medicine from a Scottish university; leading activist in Women's suffrage movement
Euan Burton (born 1979), judo expert, who represented Great Britain at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics in the Half-Middleweight (under 81 kg) Judo event
James Tytler (1745–1804), apothecary, editor of the second edition of Encyclopædia Britannica; first person in Britain to fly (by ascending in a hot air balloon)
John Walker (1731–1803), minister of religion, natural historian and professor
Albert Watson (born 1942), fashion and celebrity photographer
Alexander Wilson (d. 1922), noted amateur photographer, working in Dundee