Freek Jacobus Vonk (born 24 February 1983) is a Dutch biologist who specializes in herpetology with a special interest in snake venom. He travels the world in search of the most spectacular and bizarre creatures. He has been bitten by a number of venomous snakes, almost lost his arm due to a Caribbean reef shark bite [1] and has housed several parasites in his own body. [2]
Vonk was born in Dordrecht, Netherlands. When he was a 22-year-old student, he was cited in an article of the Dutch television programme Noorderlicht. [3] In 2006 he was a co-author of an article in Nature. [4] He wrote his first own article in Litteratura Serpentium in 2007 and he was nominated for the Academische Jaarprijs (Academic Year Prize). [5] In 2008, he was granted a scholarship for top talent of €180,000 by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (The Dutch Organisation of Science Investigation). [6]
Prof. Dr. Freek Vonk studied biology at Leiden University where he specialised in the evolutionary biology of reptiles, resulting in a PhD on Snake evolution and prospecting of snake venom. [7] He was awarded the prestigious Eureka prize in science communication, for his contribution in increasing the knowledge and involvement of the general public in science. [8] He advanced as a postdoctoral researcher at the Molecular Ecology and Evolution Group at Bangor University, sequencing and studying the genomes and transcriptomes of the king cobra. He continued this work at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, including the genomes of the Malayan pit viper. Over the years he has published articles in many scientific journals including Nature, Cell, and PNAS.
In 2020 he was appointed endowed professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at the Amsterdam Institute of Molecular and Life Sciences (AIMMS), Department of Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. [9] Freek is an internationally recognized expert in evolutionary molecular biology, particularly in the field of snake venom.
In his early career, Vonk appeared in several television and radio programmes, including De Wereld Draait Door , GIEL and Vroege Vogels. He made television shows for National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel. In August 2011, the Dutch television programme Uitgesproken broadcast an entire episode about Vonk and his pet rock monitor lizard Johan.
Vonk is now famous in the Netherlands for his television programs, in which he shares his love for wildlife with his viewers. For the past seven seasons, Freek has been the most popular tv host amongst children, [10] because of his popular documentary series Freeks Wild World. [11] Freeks Wild World is broadcast on the Dutch public channel NPO 3, the show reaches over a million viewers per episode. Among the most highly acclaimed TV projects were three episodes of ‘DWDD University’ in which Prof. Dr. Vonk gave an hour-long lecture about venom, the evolution of animals and super senses. The shows scored over one and a half million viewers during prime time, on the largest Dutch broadcasting network. [12]
Furthermore Freek has his own children’s magazine called “Wild van Freek” reaching ten thousands of children every month. [13] Next to that Freek annually hosts an amazing show in AFAS Live, called Freek Vonk Live, where thousands of families come and see Freek perform every year. [14] Since 2014, Vonk has been the ambassador of Future For Nature Foundation, a foundation that supports young, talented and ambitious conservationists committed to protecting species of wild animals and plants. [15] He also has his own foundation that fight poaching, called No Wildlife Crime. [16]
On 24 September 2021 Vonk was appointed Chief Scout of Scouting Nederland, or the main ambassador and face of the organisation. Vonk is the second Chief Scout of Scouting in the Netherlands, which was founded in 1911. From 1927 to 1937, naval officer and politician Jean Jacques Rambonnet fulfilled that role with the De Nederlandsche Padvinders (NPV, "The Dutch Pathfinders"). [17]
Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Although its current name and organization are relatively recent, the history of Naturalis can be traced back to the early 1800s. Its collection includes approximately 42 million specimens, making it one of the largest natural history collections in the world.
Toxicofera is a proposed clade of scaled reptiles (squamates) that includes the Serpentes (snakes), Anguimorpha and Iguania. Toxicofera contains about 4,600 species, of extant Squamata. It encompasses all venomous reptile species, as well as numerous related non-venomous species. There is little morphological evidence to support this grouping; however, it has been recovered by all molecular analyses as of 2012.
The Stripschapprijs is a Dutch prize awarded to comic creators for their entire body of work. It is awarded annually by the Stripschap, the Dutch Society of comics fans, since 1974. The prize is non-pecuniary, but is considered the most important award for comics in the country.
Matthijs van Nieuwkerk is a Dutch journalist and television presenter. He is best known for hosting the daily De Wereld Draait Door (DWDD) television show from 2005 to 2020.
A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland. Spiders also have external fangs, which are part of the chelicerae.
Menno Schilthuizen is a Dutch evolutionary biologist, ecologist, and permanent research scientist at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden and a professor of evolution and biodiversity at Leiden University.
Pretaapnarian Shawh Radhecheran Radhakishun was a Surinamese politician. He was Prime Minister of Suriname from July 1986 to April 1987, and Vice President of Suriname from September 1996 to August 2000.
Pieter Timotheus "Tim" de Zeeuw is a Dutch astronomer specializing in the formation, structure and dynamics of galaxies. From 2007 to 2017 he was the director general of European Southern Observatory. He is married to astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck. In May 2022, Leiden University suspended him after an internal review concluded that over several years he repeatedly belittled and insulted women in public and abused his position of power as a professor by threatening to damage their scientific careers; and that in addition to intimidation and inappropriate behavior there was "a component of sexual harassment". The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics announced that they will no longer work with him and the European Southern Observatory banned him from accessing their premises.
Johannes Jacobus Willebrordus "Joost" Zwagerman was a Dutch writer, poet and essayist. Among his teachers was the novelist Oek de Jong.
De Wereld Draait Door also known by the acronym DWDD was an early-evening talk show on Dutch television, broadcast every weekday at 7:00 p.m. on NPO 1. It was the Netherlands' longest-running, regularly scheduled TV entertainment show and was also the program with the second-highest viewing figures on Dutch television, beaten only by the main evening news at 8.00 p.m. The show, created by Dieuwke Wynia and produced by BNNVARA, was discontinued after the last episode on 27 March 2020.
Alexander Paul Klöpping is a Dutch internet entrepreneur specializing in consumer electronics, blogging, and is also a print and online journalist and speaker. Klöpping studies new media at the University of Amsterdam and is a self-described nerd. He is consulted by Dutch-language media for his expertise. He himself states that his expertise is "relative".
Willem Johannes Witteveen was a Dutch legal scholar, politician, and author. He was a law professor at Tilburg University (1990–2014) and a Member of the Senate for the Labour Party. He was also the author of several books about law and politics. Witteveen was killed on 17 July 2014 when the flight he was travelling on, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, was shot down over eastern Ukraine.
Evi Greta Roberta Hanssen is a Flemish singer and presenter.
Erik Johan Anton (Erik) Scherder is a Dutch professor of neuropsychology who is connected to the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (VU). Scherder followed his education to physiotherapist in the late seventies after which he worked in the Valeriuskliniek in Amsterdam. Afterwards he followed the study psychology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam with a specialization in neuropsychology, in which he promoted in 1995.
Neoanguimorpha is a clade of anguimorphs comprising Monstersauria and Diploglossa. Morphological studies in the past had classified helodermatids with the varanoids in the clade Platynota, while the Chinese crocodile lizard was classified as a xenosaurid. However molecular work found no support in these groupings and instead has found the helodermatids more related to Diploglossa, while the Chinese crocodile lizard and varanoids to form the clade Paleoanguimorpha.
Paleoanguimorpha is a clade of anguimorphs comprising Shinisauria and Goannasauria. Morphological studies in the past also classified helodermatids and pythonomorphs with the varanoids in the clade Platynota, while the Chinese crocodile lizard was classified as a xenosaurid. Current molecular work finds no support in these groupings and instead has found the helodermatids more related to Diploglossa in the sister clade Neoanguimorpha, while the Chinese crocodile lizard is the closet living relative to varanoids. Pythonomorphs represented by snakes today are not closely related to varanoids and are instead a sister lineage to Anguimorpha and Iguania in the clade Toxicofera.
Albert Zwaveling was a Dutch surgeon specialising in oncology, who worked as a professor at Leiden University between 1972 and 1992. He implemented chemotherapy in Dutch surgery and is considered to be one of the founders of surgical oncology in the Netherlands.
Marijn Ververs is a Dutch basketball player for ZZ Leiden of the Dutch Basketball League (DBL).
Ruben Cornelis Lucas Moolhuizen, known by his stage name as Ruben Annink, is a Dutch singer-songwriter.
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