We’ve all heard of Oxford University. Apart from being the oldest university in the English-speaking world, it’s also world-renowned for the quality of its education. Entrance into Oxford is highly sought after, with roughly six applications being submitted for every spot available. Prospective students are attracted by the possibility of studying at an elite university. But how did the university come to have this reputation, and what makes it stand out from other prestigious universities?
A Brief History of Oxford
The University of Oxford dates back to 1096. It has the oldest university museum in the world, and the largest university press. Rather than one centralised campus, the buildings that make up the university are spread throughout the city centre of Oxford.
It has a population of approximately 12,000 undergraduate and 12,000 postgraduate students, 45% of which are international students. Each student is enrolled in one of the university’s thirty-nine colleges. Oxford has the highest volume of world-leading research in the UK.
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Who Went To Oxford University
Oxford University has a long list of notable alumni. Some famous politicians who studied at Oxford include Rishi Sunak, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and Bill Clinton.
In the field of mathematics and science, some of the most famous Oxford alumni are Robert Hooke, Edwin Hubble and Stephen Hawking.
Oxford also has many talented and successful writers among its ranks, including Oscar Wilde, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, John Donne and Gerard Manley Hopkins. In the field of Philosophy, Oxford was home to influential thinkers such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and William of Ockham.
How Many Nobel Prize Winners From Oxford University
The University of Oxford boasts a total of 70 Nobel prize winners who have been involved in the university either as students or teachers. In the physics category, winners include Erwin Schrödinger, Sir Martin Ryle, John H Van Vleck, and Norman Ramsey. For the peace category, winners include Lester B Pearson, Linus Pauling and José Ramos-Horta.
There is an extensive list of winners of the medicine prize, which includes Rodney Porter, Nikolas Tinbergen, Sydney Brenner, Sir John Gurdon and Sir Peter J Ratcliffe. The literature prize alumni include notable writers such as TS Eliot, William Golding and Seamus Heaney. In Economics, some of the winners are Lawrence Klein, Sir James Mirrlees, and Joseph E Stiglitz. Finally, for Chemistry, winners include Linus Pauling, Dorothy Hodgkin and M Stanley Whittingham.
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