13 University of Cambridge academics have been included in a list of the most important figures in British science.

The list, which was compiled by Eureka, the monthly science magazine of The Times newspaper on the occasion of Eureka’ s first anniversary, aims to list those figures in the British scientific community whose work has been most influential and significant.

Among the Cambridge academics who made the list are Professor Stephen Hawking, Lord Martin Rees, Sir Richard Friend, Professor David Mackay, Sir David Baulcombe, Professor Dame Ann Dowling, Sir Greg Winter, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Professor Steve Ley, Professor George Efstathiou, Professor Steve O’Rahilly, Professor Mark Welland, and Professor Shankar Balasubramanian.

Professor Borysiewicz is the new Vice-Chancellor of the University.

Having 13 figures on the list is the latest in a series of triumphs for Cambridge science. Last week, Professor Robert Edwards, a Fellow of Churchill College, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his pioneering work on in vitro fertilisation.  

According to a second-year natural sciences student, “These continued accolades confirm the feeling that Cambridge is the best place in the world to study science. I am honoured to be a student here.”

At the top of the Times’ list is Sir Paul Nurse, the incoming President of the Royal Society, followed by Sir Mark Walport, the Director of the Wellcome Trust.