It is easy to stereotype the two institutions as having different strengths, for example, Oxford with politics and Cambridge with science. However, Cambridge has also produced distinguished politicians including Prime Minister Walpole, Baldwin and William Pitt, and Oxford graduates include noted-scientists such as Edmond Hailey, Robert Hooke and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (and more recently Tim Beraers-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web).

人们常常认为牛津和剑桥有着各自的优势，例如，牛津在政治上优于剑桥，而剑桥在科学上胜过牛津。尽管如此，剑桥也出了不少有名的政治家，其中就包括三 位英国首相：沃波尔、鲍尔温和威廉，皮特；牛津也出了不少著名的科学家，如：埃德蒙哈雷、罗伯特胡克和多萝西霍奇金（更近一点的，还有万维网的发明者蒂姆伯纳斯李）。

Affiliates of the University of Cambridge have won 87 Nobel prizes as of 2010，more than any other institution according to some counts. Former undergraduates of the university have won a grand total of 61 Nobel prizes, more than the undergraduates of any other university. Perhaps most of all, the university is renowned for a long and distinguished tradition in mathematics and the sciences.

据统计，截止到2010年初，剑桥大学贏得了87个诺贝尔奖项，这比其他任何一个机构都要多。之前剑桥的本科生赢得了61个诺贝尔奖项，比任何大学的本科生获得的都要多。也许是因为，这所大学长久以来都在数学和科学领域有出色的表现。

Among the most famous of Cambridge polymaths are Sir Isaac Newton. Besides, Sir Francis Bacon also spent part of his life there with pioneering mathematicians John Dee and Brook Taylor soon followed. Other ground-breaking mathematicians include Hardy, Littlewood and De Morgan, three of the most renowned pure mathematicians in modern history. Perhaps most importantly of all, James Clerk Maxwell, who is also considered to have brought about the second great unification of Physics (the first being accredited to Newton) with his classical electromagnetic theory.

剑桥最有名气的学者要算是艾萨克·牛顿了，此外还有弗朗西斯培根。此后，还有数学界的先驱约翰迪和布鲁克泰勒。此外，三位对数学界有着开拓性贡献的数学家，哈代，利特伍德和摩根也曾在剑桥大学学习。这三位是现代历史中最著名的理论数学家。也许最重要的还有詹姆士麦克斯韦，他的经典电磁理论通常被认为带来了物理学的第二次大一统（第一次是牛顿）。

Another Cambridge scholar responsible for major developments in scientific understanding was Charles Darwin, the biologist who first suggested the theory of evolution. Later Cambridge biologists include Francis Crick and James D. Watson developed a model for the three-dimensional structure of DNA whilst working at the university's Cavendish Laboratory. More recently, Sir Ian Wilmut, the man who was responsible for the first cloning of a mammal with Dolly the Sheep in 1996，was an undergraduate at Darwin College.

另外一位被认为对当今科学发展有着突出贡献的是首次提出了生物进化论的生物学家查尔斯达尔文。之后，剑桥的其他生物学家，如弗兰西斯克里克和詹姆士沃森在卡文迪什实验室工作的时候，建立了DNA的三维结构模型。更近一些的还有1996年第一只克隆哺乳动物“多利羊”的负责人，在达尔文学院获得了学士学位伊恩维尔穆特爵士。

In addition to those big names, there are numerous famous scientists who have studied or taught in Cambridge, for example，physicist Stephen Hawking, economist John Maynard Keynes, Besides, there are designer of the world's first computing system, discoverer of Hydrogen, discoverer of the neutron, leader of the Manhattan Project, inventor of the atomic bornb, astronomers, inventor of the jet engine, inventor of the camera and so on.

除了这些知名人士之外，还有许多著名的科学家也曾经在剑桥学习或任教。例如， 物理学家史蒂芬霍金，经济学家约翰凯恩斯。此外，世界上第一个计算机系统的设计者、氢气的发现者、中子的发现者、曼哈顿计划的负责人、原子弹的发明者、天文学家，喷射发动机的发明者、照相机的发明者也都出自剑桥。

Different from Cambridge, Oxford produced more politicians. Twenty-five British prime ministers have attended Oxford and At least thirty other international leaders have been educated at Oxford.

和剑桥不同，牛津出了更多的政界名人。有25位英国首相都出自牛津，至少还有30余位世界其他国家的领导人在牛津留过学。