When we began this project last September, we had no idea what we were getting into. Ranking the 250 greatest Columbia alumni seemed like a good idea at the time, and a simple enough task. We thought of it as a small way to mark the University's 250th anniversary--without devolving into wooden cakes or cheesy documentaries.

But the process soon became all-consuming. Along with our colleagues, arts and entertainment editor Ciel Hunter and former news editor Katie Goldstein, we went to the various alumni offices asking for lists of whom they considered notable. We went to the Visitors' Center and the Columbia archives. We pored over databases of Nobel Prize-winners, Supreme Court justices, and movie stars. We typed hundreds of names into Google--and then hundreds more. Suddenly, we were staring at 700-odd names, most we had never heard of.

We limited ourselves to those who attended Columbia's four undergraduate colleges, and our criterion for "greatness" was based on level of influence within one's field. With that in mind, and with extensive debate, we started to pare down the list. In doing so, we found people like Francis Bacon Crocker, School of Mines 1882 (#37), who invented the helicopter, and Amelia Earhart, GS 1919-1920 (#22), who spent a semester in a Columbia premedical program. We also found a few people Columbia would likely prefer we did not mention: notably, Jack Molinas, CC 1953 (#92) and Martha Stewart, BC 1963 (#6).

In the end, there were a few surprises. Though Barnard College alumnae make up a small percentage of the overall alumni population, they comprised over one-fifth of our list. And the majority of alumni on the list graduated in the 20th century, with the 1950s as the single most-represented decade.

Even our pick for number one surprised some people. DeWitt Clinton Professor of History Eric Foner, CC 1963, said he would have taken Alexander Hamilton, King's College 1774-1776 (our #3), but acknowledged that any of the founding fathers could have held the top spot.

Foner himself was one of the chosen 250, coming in at number 136. In fact, he was a member of one of the two best-represented classes; his class of 1963 and the class of 1952 both placed seven graduates on the list. (Foner insists that he did not know Stewart, also a '63 grad.) He said he was grateful for the honor, but quibbled slightly with his placement.

"I didn't think I should be one ahead of Lauryn Hill with all her Grammys," he said. "I probably should have been one spot lower than she was."

As for our pick of Margaret Mead, BC 1923, as the top BC grad (#4 overall), Barnard Vice President for Public Affairs Suzanne Trimel gave her approval. "I think a lot of people will be very pleased with that selection," she said. Trimel, however, would not comment on Stewart's placement, just two notches down.

"I think I'll stick with my comments on Margaret Mead," she said.