World University Rankings 2020 by subject: physical sciences

The 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings table for physical sciences subjects uses the same trusted and rigorous performance indicators as the overall World University Rankings, but the metric weightings have been recalibrated to suit the individual fields.

The 13 performance indicators assess several areas of physical sciences, including chemistry, physics and astronomy, earth and marine sciences, mathematics and statistics, geology and astronomy.

The ranking includes 1,054 universities, up from 963 last year.

View the World University Rankings 2020 by subject: physical sciences methodology

Princeton University tops the ranking for a third consecutive year, while the California Institute of Technology climbs four places to second. The University of Chicago is the only new entry in the top 10, climbing two places to swap with Yale University and finish 10th. Meanwhile, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich is the only institution outside the UK and US to feature in this elite group, ranking eighth.  

China’s Peking University is the highest-ranked institution in Asia, climbing two places to 17th, overtaking the National University of Singapore, which falls one place to 19th.

Several universities have made strong progress in the ranking this year. France’s École Polytechnique rises 17 places to 24th; the University of Tokyo climbs seven places to 29th; and Italy’s Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa leaps out of the 101-125 band to 71st place.

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