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The Biological and Physical Sciences at Churchill

We are keen to emphasise the interdisciplinary nature of Cambridge Natural Sciences. After all, the elucidation of the structure of DNA — arguably the most important biological discovery of the twentieth century — took place not in a biological department, but in the Physics Department; this work was, of course, done by Francis Crick and James Watson, both of whom have been Fellows of Churchill College. Work on biological materials goes on in the Department of Metallurgy and Minerals Sciences, work on early forms of life goes on in the Department of Earth Sciences, and people in the Department of Chemistry are actively involved in the design and development of new drugs. So the biological/physical "divide" is far from clear.

Having said that, however, most Cambridge scientists think of themselves as being predominantly physical scientists or biological scientists, and the different departments are grouped under two overall "Schools":-

The University Departments making up these two schools don't only provide courses for the Natural Sciences Tripos: the Biological Sciences departments provide courses for medical and veterinary students, while the Physical Sciences departments cater for geographers and mathematicians.

Biological Sciences

The College has, over the years, had many eminent biologists in the Fellowship, such as Watson and Crick, Edwards, Gurdon, Ashburner, H.E.Huxley and Keynes. This close association with the most exciting developments in Biology continues with the excellent teaching of Biological subjects in the College, provided by Fellows who are specialists in many different areas of biology, including animal behaviour, biochemistry, genetics, neuroscience, pathology and physiology. Although, as illustrated elsewhere on this Website, the flexibility within the Natural Sciences is enormous, there are three broad themes to biological study that can be followed: (a) whole-organism biology, (b) cellular and molecular biology, and (c) human biology. Most people taking biological subjects within the Natural sciences Tripos will take a three-year degree course; the exception to that is Biochemistry, which now offers both Part II and Part III courses in the third and fourth years respectively.

Physical Sciences

The majority of students who study the physical sciences - Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science and Metallurgy and Geology (Earth Sciences) - will go on to take a four-year course leading to a Master's as well as a Bachelor's degree. We recommend that all students in physical science register for a four-year degree. All the physical sciences have Teaching Fellows who provide expert guidance and encouragement throughout the course and also supervise undergraduates. With a healthy presence in physical sciences in the College and some famous alumni, we have groups of students within this area that share common interests, leading to a strong tradition of excellence in the physical sciences in the College. The College regularly attracts students all of whom will have gained the highest grades in their school/college examinations. Typically these include Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics, although the changing nature of examination options means that we also admit an increasing number of students who have taken only one of Chemistry or Physics.