University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, claims 121 Nobel Prize affiliates—more than any other institution on Earth, including MIT's 98. Its 31 constituent colleges have nurtured Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking, and its annual research income exceeds £500 million. While #3 Oxford is older, Cambridge produces more Nobel laureates per decade and ranks #2 globally in academic reputation surveys. That extraordinary history of discovery in fields from physics to economics ensures Cambridge remains a benchmark for intellectual achievement among English-speaking universities.