Stanford beats Harvard and Oxbridge to most Nobel prizes of the 21st century

Universities in the United States take the eight top spots in a list of universities with the most Nobel prizewinners this century.

September 24 2015
Stanford quadrangle with roses

Rank yourself as one of the great minds of your generation? Stanford might be the university of choice for you, after it topped a list of institutions with the most Nobel prizewinners this century.

A trip to the US might be in order because the country is home to the top eight institutions on the list, which collates prizewinners since 2000. A total of 71 Nobel prizes – nearly half the 146 awarded – have gone to staff or students affiliated with universities in the States.

The Technion Israel Institute of Technology and German research association the Max Planck Society round out the top 10.

Notable absentees in the top 10 include Harvard, which just misses out in 11th place, as well as Oxford and Cambridge. According to the list drawn up by Times Higher Education, which excludes the peace and literature prizes, Oxford has not received a Nobel prize this century.

Institutional affiliation of Nobel prizewinners, 2000-14

Rank Position in WUR 2014-15 Institution Country Score
1 4 Stanford University  US 3.16
2 14 Columbia University US 2.50
3 8 University of California, Berkeley  US 2.25
=4 7 Princeton University US 2.00
=4 11 University of Chicago  US 2.00
6 n/a Howard Hughes Medical Institute  US 1.77
7 37 University of California, Santa Barbara  US 1.74
=8 6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology  US 1.66
=8 201-225 Technion Israel Institute of Technology  Israel 1.66
10 n/a Max Planck Society Germany 1.29

Note: Scores weighted based on number of winners and sites affiliated with a prize. Literature and peace prizes excluded

Nobel awards by country, 2000-14

Rank Country Score Overall number of Nobel prizes Top field
1 US 29.8 71 Economic sciences
2 UK 6.0 12 Physiology/medicine
3 Japan 4.3 13 Physics
4 Germany 3.4 7 Physics
5 Israel 2.5 5 Chemistry
=6 France 2.0 4 Physiology/medicine
=6 Russia 2.0 5 Physics
8 Australia 1.3 3 Physiology/medicine
9 Norway 1.0 3 Physiology/medicine
=10 Belgium 0.8 2 n/a
=10 China 0.8 2 n/a
=10 Italy 0.8 2 n/a

Note: Scores are weighted based on the number of winners there were for each Nobel prize. Literature and peace prizewinners have been excluded from the analysis

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