Top 10 Richest Teachers in the World

top 10 richest teachers in the worldWhat is the first thing that comes to your mind when someone talks about a career in academics? It isn’t money in most cases, that’s for sure. This is because teaching isn’t known for the bucks. A lot of people go into academics driven by their passion for their respective fields. And in most cases, money isn’t the motivational factor behind this passion. And yet, there are some who make the best of their positions, and earn big with their hard work and determination. Here is a list of the top 10 richest professors in the world! Not all the money they make comes from their teaching career. Most earn through alternative sources as well, such as investments in companies related to respective fields, research work, endorsements, and so on. This goes on to show how one can apply text-book stuff in the real world.

1. Henry Samueli

Henry Samueli is an electrical engineer who won a PhD degree from UCLA in 1980. After that, he stayed for teaching there. Then, he and a former student decided to team up, and with a small initial investment of $5,000 each, they set up the Broadcom Corporation. Today, he is far better off than he used to be during his teaching days, and is valued at an estimated $1.7 Billion.

2. David Cheriton

David Cheriton’s field of expertise is computer science, and he has been teaching at the Stanford University since 1981. Like so many of his counterparts, he is known for his involvement in his field, and has done a lot of research into operating systems. He has also made numerous investments in tech companies, the most notable among which is Google. In fact, he was one of the few initial investors in the company that now is an internet giant, hence making his investment worth his while. He is currently valued at $1.3 Billion.

3. James Stewart

James Stewart was perhaps one of the most successful mathematician of his time. He was a mathematics professor at the McMaster university, but most of his multi-million dollar wealth comes from the many mathematics books he wrote at both High school and University level, with his expertise lying in Calculus. You can imagine his wealth from the fact that he has had his home built at an expanse of around $30 Million, and it features a 150-seat concert hall!

4. Reza Satchu

Reza Satchu teaches entrepreneurial arts at the university of Toronto. But he doesn’t draw any salary from this post. Most of his money comes from his business dealings in the tech market. He is known for selling his B2B website for a billion dollars in 2003.

5. Adi Shamir

Adi Shamir is an Israeli mathematician and cryptographer, and has been responsible for major improvements in data security in computer science. He obtained his PhD in 1977, and then worked at the MiT as a researcher, after which he returned to Israel and took up teaching at the Weizmann Institute. He has many algorithms and encryption schemes to his name, such as the RSA algorithm.

6. Robert S. Langer

Robert Langer is a bio medical and chemical engineer teaching at the MIT. He has done notable work in biotech research on drug delivery and tissue engineering. He has more than 760 medical and engineering patents to his name today.

7. Zev Rosenwaks

Zev Rosenwaks teaches obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell. He is also the director at The Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility. Zev has won many awards to this day, and has contributed a lot towards his field.

8. Cyril Taylor

Mister Taylor has done a lot for students all over the world, playing a major role in establishing exchange programs across the globe. That, as well as a few other savvy investments, has left him living the life of a multi-millionaire in London.

9. Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking is probably the most renowned scientist alive today. He is a legend in theoretical physics, and has made groundbreaking discoveries that have helped us better understand phenomenon such as black holes, general relativity etc. Interestingly though, Hawking taught mathematics at the university of Cambridge for around 30 years before retiring in 2009. He has authored a lot of books as well. His worth is estimated around $20 Million.

10. David Silvers

Silvers is a professor of Dermatology at the Columbia University, and has done a great amount of research into his field. He is one of the highest paid professors, and is rumored to be making five times more than what the president of Columbia University makes.

That concludes our top 10 richest academics list. If you have any questions, feel free to raise them. Cheers 🙂

P.S: Oh, and you might like to read;

You Might Also Like Reading:

About Qasim Zaib

View all posts by Qasim →


  1. I think Pakistani teachers can only be in the list of top 10 poorest teachers of the world.

Money has its own charm, the strongest indeed, and when…