Leiden University is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Leiden for its defence against Spanish attacks during the Eighty Years' War. As the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands, it enjoys a reputation across Europe and the world.
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam.
Frits van Oostrom is University Professor for the Humanities at Utrecht University. In 1999 he was a visiting Professor at Harvard for the Erasmus Chair. From September 2004 to June 2005, he was a fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS). He was awarded the Spinozapremie in 1995. In May 2005 he became president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for a three-year period. He had been member of the same institution since 1994.
Els Goulmy is an eminent professor of transplantation biology, especially regarding minor histocompatibility antigen, at Leiden University. Goulmy is an expert in the area of tissue typing and belongs internationally to the absolute top of her discipline. She was awarded the Spinoza Prize in 2002.
Frederik Herman Henri (Frits) Kortlandt is a Dutch former professor of descriptive and comparative linguistics at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He writes on Baltic and Slavic languages, the Indo-European languages in general, and Proto-Indo-European, though he has also published studies of languages in other language families. He has also studied ways to associate language families into super-groups such as controversial Indo-Uralic.
Kathleen M. Coleman is an academic and writer who is the James Loeb Professor of the Classics at Harvard University. Her research interests include Latin literature, history and culture in the early Roman Empire, and arena spectacles. Her expertise in the latter area led to her appointment as Chief Academic Consultant for the 2000 film Gladiator.
Dorret I. Boomsma is a Dutch biological psychologist specializing in genetics and twin studies.
Jan Zaanen is professor of theoretical physics at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He is best known for his contributions to the understanding of the quantum physics of the electrons in strongly correlated material, and in particular high temperature superconductivity. Zaanen's areas of interest are in the search for novel forms of collective quantum phenomena realized in systems build from mundane constituents like electrons, spins, and atoms.
Michiel Baldur Maximiliaan van der Klis is a Dutch astronomer best known for his work on extreme 'pairings' of stars called X-ray binaries, more particularly his explanation of the occurrence of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in these systems and his co-discovery of the first millisecond X-ray pulsar. In the 1980s he gained worldwide fame with his investigation of QPOs. His revolutionary discoveries have had an enormous impact in his field of research; in effect, they have made it what it is today. Van der Klis pioneered special mathematical analysis techniques that are now regarded as the “gold standard” within his discipline.
Piek Th.J.M. Vossen, is professor of computational lexicology at the VU University Amsterdam, head of the Computational Lexicology & Terminology Lab, and founder and president of the Global WordNet Association.
Patricia Maria (Patti) Valkenburg is a Distinguished Professor of Communication at the University of Amsterdam. She is the founder and director of Center for research on Children, Adolescents, and the Media (CCAM). She is a fellow of the International Communication Association. In 2011, she received the Spinoza Prize, the highest Dutch award in science.
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Corinne Lisette Hofman FBA is a Dutch professor of Caribbean Archaeology at Leiden University since 2007. She was a winner of the 2014 Spinoza Prize.
Bert Marc Weckhuysen FRSC is a professor of inorganic chemistry and catalysis at Utrecht University, originally from Belgian descent. Weckhuysen is best known for his developments in operando (micro)spectroscopy; imaging catalysis at macro, meso and micro scales, from the reactor down to interactions between single atoms and molecules. He was a winner of the 2013 Spinoza Prize, and was knighted in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2015.
Marijn Franx is a Dutch professor of Astronomy at Leiden University. He was a winner of the 2010 Spinoza Prize. His research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies. He is involved with both the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes.
René Bernards is a Dutch cancer researcher. He is professor of molecular carcinogenesis at Utrecht University and head of the section of molecular carcinogenesis at the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis. Bernards is a winner of the 2005 Spinoza Prize.
Josine Henriëtte Blok is a Dutch classical scholar. She has been a professor of Ancient History and Classical Civilisation at Utrecht University since 2001 up until 2019.
Marileen Dogterom is a Dutch biophysicist and professor at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology. She published in Science, Cell, and Nature and is notable for her research of the cell cytoskeleton. For this research, she was awarded the 2018 Spinoza Prize.
Eveline Crone is a Dutch professor of cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychology at Leiden University. Her research focuses on risky behaviors in adolescent humans during puberty and examines the function of those risks. For her research in adolescent brain development and behaviour, she was awarded the Spinoza Prize, the highest recognition for Dutch scientists, in 2017.
Irene J. F. de Jong is a classicist and professor of Ancient Greek at the University of Amsterdam. She is known for her pioneering work on narratology and Ancient Greek literature. She is a Fellow of the British Academy.
