The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 after scholars left Oxford following a dispute with townspeople, it is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world’s third-oldest university in continuous operation.
The university comprises 31 semi-autonomous constituent colleges and more than 150 academic departments organised into six schools. All students must hold a college affiliation, and undergraduate teaching centres on weekly small-group supervisions within the colleges. Cambridge operates eight museums, including the Fitzwilliam Museum and Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and maintains 116 libraries holding approximately 16 million books. Among its alumni are naturalist Charles Darwin, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, mathematician Isaac Newton, and molecular biologist Rosalind Franklin. The university’s alumni, academics and affiliates have won 126 Nobel Prizes, and Cambridge University Press and Assessment runs the oldest university press in the world.
Cambridge features in our Field Notes coverage of Mount Everest summits and mangrove forest restoration.
