Notable research

Caius has a long and distinguished record of research in the arts and sciences, and today more than ever research is a vital part of our educational mission.

Among our former Fellows and members number such luminaries as William Harvey, the discoverer of circulation of the blood, James Chadwick, the discoverer of the neutron, Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, Joseph Needham, the great historian of Chinese science, Charles Sherrington, the neurophysiologist who coined the term 'synapse', Howard Florey, the co-discoverer of penicillin, Michael Oakeshott, the influential conservative philosopher and Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist.

Many current and former Caius Fellows have been awarded major national and international research prizes. Twelve current Fellows are also Fellows of the Royal Society and eight are Fellows of the British Academy, the most prestigious research societies in the sciences and arts respectively. Perhaps most strikingly, fifteen Caians have won Nobel Prizes, while 10 have won the Royal Society's Copley Medal.

Caius Nobel Laureates

1932 Sir Charles Sherrington – neurophysiologist (student and Fellow)

1935 Sir James Chadwick – physicist, discoverer of the neutron (student, Fellow and Master)

1945 Sir Howard Florey – co-discover of penicillin (Fellow)

1954 Max Born – physicist (visiting student)

1962 Francis Crick – discovery of the structure of DNA (PhD student and Honorary Fellow)

1972 Sir John Hicks – economist (Fellow)

1974 Antony Hewish – astronomer (student and Fellow)

1976 Milton Friedman – economist (visiting Fellow)

1977 Sir Nevill Mott – theoretical physicist (Fellow and Master)

1984 Sir Richard Stone – economist (student)

2001 Joseph Stiglitz – economist (Fellow)

2008 Roger Tsien – chemist (Fellow)

2013 Michael Levitt – chemist (Fellow)

2016 J. Michael Kosterlitz - physicist (student and Honorary Fellow)

2019 Sir Peter Ratcliffe - physician scientist (student and Honorary Fellow)