Durham University
Reviewed by James A. Barham, PhD, Vice President and Academic Editor. Influence ranks come from our InfluenceRanking™ methodology; other figures come from federal data, with the year shown under each section. Report an error
About Durham University
Durham University is a public, research university established by an act of Parliament in 1832. It received its royal charter five years later, in 1837.
Durham was the first university to be founded in England proper (as opposed to Scotland) in modern times (since Oxford and Cambridge during the Middle Ages). Its original remit was to prepare young men for ordination into the Church of England.
The oldest part of the university is University College, which after 1837 was housed in historic Durham Castle. For this reason, University College is colloquially known as “the Castle.” At first, students living in the Castle were expected to bring along their personal servants to cook for them. In 1846, a second college, Bishop Hatfield’s Hall, was added, which pioneered full room-and-board for residential students of more modest means.
Many more colleges were added gradually over the years, including a medical school, which opened in nearby Newcastle upon Tyne in 1852.
In 1909, the official tie to the Church of England was severed, and Durham University began to be administered by the British government, instead.
Over time, the number of Durham University colleges situated in Newcastle proliferated to such an extent that they came to outnumber the Durham colleges in size and importance. Eventually, the imbalance became so serious that during the 1950s a proposal was floated to rename the school as “the University of Durham and Newcastle.” (It was defeated.)
In 1963, the most important of the Newcastle colleges, King’s College, attained administrative independence under the name of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. This left the Castle once again as Durham’s flagship college. Much later, in 1991, a new satellite campus was opened in another nearby city—this time, in the much smaller town of Stockton-on-Tees.
Today, Durham University comprises 17 separate colleges in the cities of Durham and Stockton, with a total student body in excess of 19,000.
Among numerous prominent individuals associated with Durham University, we may note the following:
- Mathematician, Harold Jeffreys, Francis Edward Corrigan & Frank Kelly
- Computer scientist, David Gavaghan
- Philosophers, Nancy Cartwright, Stephen R.L. Clark, John Heil, Tim Crane, Stephen Mumford & Anna Marmodoro
- Poet, Thomas Blackburn
- Novelist, Anne Brontë
- Popular novelist, Edward Bradley
- Children’s author, Lorna Hill
- Science fiction novelist, Patrick Tilley
- Literary scholars, Paul Geoffrey Edwards & Mikhail Epstein
- Animated filmmaker, David Sproxton
- Actors, Peter Ustinov, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, James Wilby, Arthur Bostrom, Adam Rayner, Madeleine Knight, Charlotte Riley & Lily Travers
- Comedians, Tim FitzHigham, Nish Kumar & Ed Gamble
- Art historian, Liz James
- Popular musician, Justin Chancellor
- Singer-songwriters, Jake Thackray & Tom Rosenthal
- Astronomers, Temple Chevallier, Richard Christopher Carrington & Arnold Wolfendale
- Astrophysicists, Richard S. Ellis, Ben Moore & George Efstathiou
- Cosmologists, Carlos Frenk, Ruth Gregory & John D. Barrow
- Physicists, Alexander Stewart Herschel, A.W. Pryor, Paul Sutcliffe, Samuel Tolansky, Hans Kronberger, Nigel Glover, Tom McLeish, Andrew Fisher & George Rochester
- Chemists, Neill Bartlett, Judith Howard & Jas Pal Badyal
- Climatologists, Gordon Manley & Peter Liss
- Geologists, Arthur Holmes, Kingsley Charles Dunham & George Malcolm Brown
- Molecular engineer, Jacqui Cole
- Bacteriologist, Ephraim Anderson
- Botanists, Kathleen Bever Blackburn & David Bellamy
- Arachnologist, Octavius Pickard-Cambridge
- Neuroscientist, E.J. Field
- Sociologists, Frank Webster & Richard Adams
- Linguist, Ida C. Ward
- Anthropologists, Robert H. Layton & Chris Terrill
- Archaeologists, Eric Birley, William Greenwell, Leslie Peter Wenham & Jules Hudson
- Dendrochronologist, Malcolm K. Hughes
- Historian, George Macaulay Trevelyan
- Russia scholars, Philip Bullock & Patrick O’Meara
- Tibet scholar, Michael Aris
- Political scientists, Andrew Gamble & Roger Scully
- Legal scholar, Thom Brooks
- Journalists, Harold Evans, Nina Hossain & Christina Patterson
- Political commentator, Tom Harwood
- Radio and TV news presenters, Shelagh Fogarty, George Alagiah, Jeremy Vine, Tim Willcox & Kate Silverton
- British Supreme Court Justices, Anthony Hughes & Jill Black
- Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
According to Wikipedia, Durham University is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to open in England for more than 600 years, after Oxford and Cambridge, and is thus, following standard historical practice, the third-oldest university in England. As a collegiate university, its main functions are divided between the academic departments of the university and its 17 colleges. In general, the departments perform research and provide teaching to students, while the colleges are responsible for their domestic arrangements and welfare.
What Is Durham University Known For?
Durham University is known for its academic work in the following disciplines:
- Communications
- Education
- Political Science
- Business
- Religious Studies
- Philosophy
- Literature
- Physics
- Biology
- Earth Sciences
- Mathematics
- Law
- History
- Medical
- Engineering
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Psychology
- Anthropology
- Sociology
- Criminal Justice
- Nursing
- Social Work
Durham University's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered
Each rank compares how much Durham University's faculty and alumni have shaped a field with other schools, using Wikipedia, Wikidata and scholarly citation databases such as Crossref and Semantic Scholar. World and U.S. ranks reflect modern influence; the historical rank counts influence across all time. How we rank influence
Durham University ranks #120 worldwide for influence in Communications.
Durham University ranks #116 worldwide for influence in Education.
Durham University ranks #194 worldwide for influence in Political Science.
Durham University ranks #270 worldwide for influence in Business.
Durham University ranks #103 worldwide for influence in Religious Studies.
Durham University ranks #211 worldwide for influence in Philosophy.
Durham University ranks #204 worldwide for influence in Literature.
Durham University ranks #180 worldwide for influence in Physics.
Durham University ranks #279 worldwide for influence in Biology.
Durham University ranks #57 worldwide for influence in Earth Sciences.
Durham University ranks #360 worldwide for influence in Mathematics.
Durham University ranks #198 worldwide for influence in Law.
Durham University ranks #188 worldwide for influence in History.
Durham University ranks #307 worldwide for influence in Medical.
Durham University ranks #389 worldwide for influence in Engineering.
Durham University ranks #205 worldwide for influence in Chemistry.
Durham University ranks #450 worldwide for influence in Computer Science.
Durham University ranks #352 worldwide for influence in Economics.
Durham University ranks #344 worldwide for influence in Psychology.
Durham University ranks #146 worldwide for influence in Anthropology.
Durham University ranks #237 worldwide for influence in Sociology.
Durham University ranks #248 worldwide for influence in Criminal Justice.
Durham University ranks #318 worldwide for influence in Nursing.
nursing DegreesDurham University ranks #227 worldwide for influence in Social Work.
Who Are Durham University's Most Influential Alumni?
Durham University's most influential alumni include professors and professionals in the fields of Earth Sciences, Education, and Religious Studies. Here are some of Durham University's most famous alumni:
- Harold Jeffreys
- A British geophysicist and statistician.
- Mary Midgley
- A British philosopher and ethicist.
- Roy Ascott
- An English cybernetic artist.
- Harold Evans
- An American journalist.
- Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi
- A Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates.
- Gordon Murray
- A British automobile designer.
- Hunter Davies
- An Author, journalist and broadcaster,.
- Jeremy Vine
- An English journalist and radio presenter.
- James Kirkup
- A British writer.
- Henrietta Moore
- A British social anthropologist.
- Riffat Hassan
- A Pakistani-American theologian.
- Tim Crane
- A British philosopher.
Who Are Durham University's Most Influential Faculty?
Durham University's most influential faculty include professors in the fields of Earth Sciences, Education, and Religious Studies. Here are some of Durham University's most famous faculty:
- Thom Brooks
- An American-British political philosopher and legal scholar.
- Dylan Wiliam
- An Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of London.
- Ilaria Ramelli
- An Italian historian, author and academic .
- Paul Sutcliffe
- A British mathematician.
- Reginald Cline-Cole
- A Sierra Leonean geographer.
- Edward Jarvis
- A British author of social and religious history, religion and politics, and theology.
- Ian Fells
- A British scientist.
- Richard J. Crisp
- A Psychologist.
- Eske Willerslev
- A Danish biologist.
- Jan Westerhoff
- A German philosopher.
- Richard Massey
- A Cosmologist.
- Matthew Rosseinsky
- A Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Liverpool.
