Top 50 Physical Sciences universities
10 November 2011
The US takes each of the top six places in the physical sciences league table - and 27 of the top 50.
Honours are shared for the top spot by the West Coast's California Institute of Technology and the East Coast's Princeton University.
Chartered in 1746, Princeton is the fourth-oldest college in the US, but its work in the physical sciences is as up to date as it gets.
The first undergraduate chemistry laboratory in the US was founded by Princeton physician John Maclean in 1795, and throughout the 19th century chemistry was a required subject for all Princeton students.
Today, it boasts the flagship Frick Chemistry Laboratory, opened in 2010. It is the second-largest single academic building on the university's campus and houses some of the world's most advanced instrumentation in the discipline.
Covering a range of subjects including astronomy, chemistry, mathematics and physics, the physical sciences is a globally diverse field - and an increasingly competitive one.
Although the US accounts for more than half the world's top 50, there are nine countries represented in the table.
France has three representatives: the École Polytechnique, the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and the école Normale Supérieure.
Pierre et Marie Curie is one of the three famous Parisian Sorbonne universities. It specialises in science and medicine and it accounts for the lion's share of the annual budget allocated to the trio: €472 million (£416 million) out of €684 million.
Its foundations in the heart of the capital's Latin quarter date back 900 years. Its most famous alumna is Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre for their work on radioactivity, and the prize for chemistry in 1911 for her research into polonium and radium - research that ultimately cost her her life.
Curie remains the only woman to have won two Nobel prizes.
Subject Rank | Institution | Country / Region | Physical sciencesOverall score | Physical sciencesTeaching | Physical sciencesInternational mix | Physical sciencesIndustry income | Physical sciencesResearch | Physical sciencesCitations | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | California Institute of Technology | United States |
94.6
|
96.7
|
56.5
|
87.6
|
98.7
|
98.3
|
|
1 | Princeton University | United States |
94.6
|
94.3
|
58.8
|
92.3
|
98.8
|
99.2
|
|
3 | University of California, Berkeley | United States |
94
|
90.3
|
68.5
|
100
|
99.2
|
97.9
|
|
4 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | United States |
93
|
93.9
|
78.3
|
65.5
|
91.1
|
98.8
|
|
5 | Stanford University | United States |
92.8
|
93.5
|
48.4
|
62
|
98.8
|
99.3
|
|
6 | Harvard University | United States |
92.5
|
94.3
|
59.3
|
43.5
|
95
|
99.7
|
|
7 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom |
90.9
|
92.1
|
81.2
|
75.9
|
91.8
|
92.4
|
|
8 | University of Chicago | United States |
89.9
|
87
|
73.4
|
Data withheld by THE
|
85.9
|
99.9
|
|
9 | University of California, Los Angeles | United States |
88.7
|
85.6
|
60
|
Data withheld by THE
|
91.8
|
97
|
|
10 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom |
87.5
|
90.4
|
84.9
|
65.6
|
88.8
|
86.3
|
|
11 | ETH Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich | Switzerland |
86.7
|
89.6
|
96
|
Data withheld by THE
|
92.1
|
78.9
|
|
12 | Yale University | United States |
86.5
|
87.5
|
58.4
|
32.3
|
86.3
|
95.8
|
|
13 | Cornell University | United States |
85.6
|
83
|
53.1
|
Data withheld by THE
|
85
|
97.1
|
|
14 | Imperial College London | United Kingdom |
84.9
|
89.3
|
86.4
|
71.5
|
85.2
|
81.7
|
|
15 | University of Washington | United States |
81.2
|
75.7
|
47.7
|
39
|
76.3
|
99.5
|
|
16 | University of Michigan | United States |
80.2
|
74
|
71.4
|
39.5
|
77
|
92.3
|
|
17 | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München | Germany |
79.8
|
77.6
|
53
|
34.7
|
75.1
|
94.1
|
|
18 | University of Toronto | Canada |
79.1
|
74
|
68.2
|
30.9
|
78.9
|
89
|
|
19 | University of California, Santa Barbara | United States |
77.5
|
58.9
|
52.7
|
91.5
|
73.3
|
99.8
|
|
20 | University of Tokyo | Japan |
77.4
|
89.4
|
23
|
64
|
91.7
|
69.4
|
|
21 | University of Texas at Austin | United States |
77.1
|
65.7
|
51.4
|
91.9
|
79.5
|
88.5
|
|
22 | École Polytechnique | France |
74
|
73.7
|
82.3
|
56.3
|
63.8
|
81.7
|
|
22 | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign | United States |
74
|
66.7
|
50.5
|
Data withheld by THE
|
77.9
|
83.1
|
|
24 | University of British Columbia | Canada |
73
|
64.6
|
88.8
|
39.3
|
66.7
|
83.5
|
|
25 | University of Colorado Boulder | United States |
72.6
|
58.7
|
42.2
|
Data withheld by THE
|
69.1
|
95.1
|
|
26 | Australian National University | Australia |
71.9
|
66.1
|
95.3
|
82
|
79.1
|
64.9
|
|
27 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | United States |
70.4
|
66.5
|
30.5
|
82
|
70.3
|
81.2
|
|
28 | École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne | Switzerland |
70
|
55.6
|
97
|
32.7
|
54.3
|
90.5
|
|
29 | University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom |
69.9
|
57.8
|
75.4
|
65.2
|
50.9
|
93.4
|
|
30 | Universität Heidelberg | Germany |
69.4
|
67.9
|
62
|
39
|
51.5
|
88.4
|
|
30 | Université Pierre et Marie Curie | France |
69.4
|
74.1
|
72.6
|
27
|
64
|
72.3
|
|
32 | Rice University | United States |
68.5
|
57.4
|
54.3
|
45.3
|
46.4
|
99.4
|
|
33 | École Normale Supérieure | France |
68.4
|
73.2
|
54.9
|
50.2
|
51.1
|
82.3
|
|
34 | University of Melbourne | Australia |
68.3
|
57.4
|
72.7
|
43.3
|
55.3
|
87.9
|
|
35 | Georgia Institute of Technology | United States |
68.1
|
54.1
|
65.7
|
94.8
|
51.2
|
91.1
|
|
36 | Brown University | United States |
66.9
|
58
|
39.6
|
41.5
|
44.4
|
99.3
|
|
37 | University of California, San Diego | United States |
66.6
|
57.4
|
33.7
|
54.2
|
55.8
|
90.1
|
|
38 | University College London | United Kingdom |
64.7
|
67.3
|
88.1
|
61.7
|
57.4
|
63.6
|
|
39 | University of Bristol | United Kingdom |
64.6
|
56.6
|
71.9
|
41.1
|
52.8
|
80.3
|
|
40 | Carnegie Mellon University | United States |
64.4
|
41.6
|
54.3
|
40.8
|
47.7
|
99.3
|
|
41 | Utrecht University | Netherlands |
63.8
|
47.2
|
60.7
|
71.2
|
47.7
|
89.5
|
|
42 | Boston University | United States |
63.6
|
51.5
|
52
|
31.4
|
38
|
97.9
|
|
43 | Kyoto University | Japan |
63.5
|
76.9
|
19.8
|
79.5
|
79.2
|
49
|
|
44 | University of California, Santa Cruz | United States |
63
|
41.3
|
35.9
|
33.3
|
48.1
|
99.7
|
|
45 | University of Minnesota | United States |
61.8
|
44.4
|
26.7
|
Data withheld by THE
|
55.5
|
89.8
|
|
46 | University of Manchester | United Kingdom |
61.5
|
53
|
71.1
|
54.2
|
53.8
|
72.7
|
|
47 | The Ohio State University | United States |
61.4
|
50.5
|
59.8
|
29.8
|
43.4
|
86.6
|
|
48 | Durham University | United Kingdom |
60.9
|
36.8
|
63.3
|
39.4
|
40.7
|
96.8
|
|
48 | University of Massachusetts | United States |
60.9
|
53.4
|
43.5
|
50.7
|
55
|
76
|
|
50 | Universität Basel | Switzerland |
59.1
|
35.5
|
94.7
|
80
|
21.5
|
98.1
|
-
Overall score
Combined score.
-
Teaching — the learning environment
27.5% of overall score.
-
International outlook — staff and students
5% of overall score.
-
Industry income — innovation
2.5% of overall score.
-
Research — volume, income and reputation
27.5% of overall score.
-
Citations — research influence
37.5% of overall score.
Uni
Physical sciences scores
- Subject rank
- 101
- Overall score
-
- Teaching
-
- International outlook
-
- Industry income
-
- Research
-
- Citations
-