<p>Do people here believe schools that produce or is associated with Nobel laureates are "better" than schools who don't have those achievements?</p>
<p>It seems when arguments about which schools are better are raised, the number of Nobel laureates are mentioned.</p>
<p>Well it does seem a better argument than quality of sports teams:)</p>
<p>The number of current nobel prize winning faculty at a school is a good indication of research strength. Unfortunately, most discussion revolves around total number of nobel prizes affiliated with a university. This all encompassing list often includes winners who have only a slight connection with the university or who retired long ago.</p>
<p>It is generally recognized that the number of faculty members at a particular institution belonging to the various national academies, (science, engineering and medicine) is a valid indicator of research strength and quality of the faculty. That number is easily accessible by institution at <a href="http://www.nationalacademies.org%5B/url%5D">www.nationalacademies.org</a></p>
<p>While a faculty member is nominated based on his research and not teaching skills, in many fast moving areas of science, it certainly does matter that a professor is as the leading edge of his field.</p>
<p>^ National academy membership is also a great way to measure research strength of a university. This also avoids the problem of counting people who have only a minor relationship to the university or who are retired.</p>
<p>having nobel winners / nominators help the school. Sure but what would be considered a 'nobel related person' to the school? U of Chicago has so many "nobel winners" but some of them only work there for a summer or worked there before and go some where else then won the nobel prize. What's the guideline to decide which nobel prize winner belong to which school?</p>
<p>The cleanest way to compare Nobel Prizes at each University is to only count current active professors at that university who have won. Historical counts get into all the problems that Chaoses mentions and are skewed but what people consider a "relationship" to be.</p>