World's Best Universities
Physics and Astronomy

Physics students can specialize in fields such as quantum physics and relativity, and astronomy students can focus on studies such as observational astrophysics. Both of these fields involve laboratory work and research. These are the world's top universities for physics and astronomy. See the methodology.

Rank School Overall Score Academic Reputation Score Employer Reputation Score Citations per Paper Score
#12 82.4 75.5 69.4 95.7
#33
Durham University

United Kingdom

75.6 58.6 71.4 94.6
#49
University of Basel

Switzerland

74.0 61.4 59.0 94.0
#8
University of Chicago

United States

85.5 79.3 82.2 93.3
#28
Brown University

United States

76.5 63.3 71.2 92.3
#11
Columbia University

United States

82.5 74.0 83.0 90.8
#20 77.9 63.9 80.8 90.4
#6
Princeton University

United States

86.1 83.3 84.1 90.0
#27 76.6 72.1 59.2 89.9
#2
Harvard University

United States

89.6 87.4 93.7 89.8
#19
University of Edinburgh

United Kingdom

78.4 65.3 82.2 89.5
#38
University of Washington

United States

75.2 64.3 70.0 88.7
#36 75.5 60.3 81.4 87.7
#9 84.0 74.2 97.1 87.2
#43 74.4 64.9 67.8 87.2
#31 75.8 66.7 72.2 86.6
#39 75.0 62.2 77.5 86.5
#3
Stanford University

United States

87.2 86.6 89.8 86.5
#15
Cornell University

United States

81.2 77.4 78.4 86.3
#26 76.7 68.7 74.2 86.0
#16 81.1 77.8 78.4 85.8
#49 74.0 65.1 68.4 85.6
#49
Northwestern University

United States

74.0 62.1 75.8 85.0
#7 85.7 86.7 85.4 84.8
#10 83.7 82.0 85.4 84.5
World's Best Universities
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