DURHAM has been named among the world’s top universities for influential space scientists.

The North’s leading university was ranked sixth in the Thomson-Reuters list of the ‘World’s most influential scientific minds 2014’ for the influence of its space science researchers – the only UK university to make the top ten and placed above NASA.

Among the academics picked out for praise were Professor David Alexander, Prof Shaun Cole, Prof Carlos Frenk and Prof Ian Smail.

Prof Martin Ward, head of physics, said: “Physics research at Durham, and in this case our work in both observational and theoretical astronomy and cosmology, continues to flourish and we are widely seen as one of the world’s leading institutions in this field.

“We are home to some of the world’s finest minds, exploring key issues in physics such as the search for dark matter and the origins and evolution of our expanding Universe.

“This provides our students and early career researchers with a tremendous opportunity to learn from and work with some of the outstanding leaders in the field.”