The ( French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...

and

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

), the ''Plaine'' campus (in Ixelles) and the ''Erasmus'' campus (in

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

). The Université libre de Bruxelles was formed in 1969 by the splitting of the Free University of Brussels, which was founded in 1834 by the lawyer and liberal politician Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. The founder aimed to establish a university independent from state and church, where

academic freedom Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism. Academic ...

would prevail. This is still reflected in the university's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

, or "Conquering darkness through science". One of the leading Belgian universities open to Europe and the world, the ULB now has about 24,200 students, 33% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.

Name

Brussels has two universities whose names mean ''Free University of Brussels'' in English: the French-speaking (ULB) and the Dutch-speaking (VUB). Neither uses the English translation, since it is ambiguous.

History

Establishment of a university in Brussels

The history of the is closely linked with that of Belgium itself. When the Belgian State was formed in 1830 by nine breakaway provinces from the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

, three state universities existed in the cities of

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, but none in the new capital, Brussels. Since the government was reluctant to fund another state university, a group of leading

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s in the fields of arts, science, and education — amongst whom the study prefect of the Royal Athenaeum of Brussels, Auguste Baron, as well as the astronomer and mathematician

Adolphe Quetelet Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet FRSF or FRSE (; 22 February 1796 – 17 February 1874) was a Belgian- French astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist who founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential ...

— planned to create a

private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...

, which was permitted under the

Belgian Constitution The Constitution of Belgium (; ; ) dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy and the separation of powers. The most recent majo ...

. In 1834, the Belgian episcopate decided to establish a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

university in

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

with the aim of regaining the influence of the Catholic Church on the academic scene in Belgium, and the government had the intent to close the university at Leuven and donate the buildings to the Catholic institution. The country's liberals strongly opposed to this decision, and furthered their ideas for a university in Brussels as a counterbalance to the Catholic institution. At the same time, Auguste Baron had just become a member of the freemasonic lodge ''Les Amis Philantropes''. Baron was able to convince Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, the president of the lodge, to support the idea for a new university. On 24 June 1834, Verhaegen presented his plan to establish a free university. After sufficient funding was collected among advocates, the ''Université libre de Belgique'' ("Free University of Belgium") was inaugurated on 20 November 1834, in the Gothic Room of

Brussels Town Hall The Town Hall (, ; , ) of the City of Brussels is a landmark building and the seat of that municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is located on the south side of the Grand-Place, Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brussels' main square), opposite the Goth ...

. The date of its establishment is still commemorated annually, by students of its successor institutions, as a holiday called Saint Verhaegen (often shortened to ''St V'') for Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. In 1836, the university was renamed the ''Université libre de Bruxelles'' (" Free University of Brussels"). After its establishment, the Free University faced difficult times, since it received no

subsidies A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...

or grants from the government; yearly fundraising events and tuition fees provided the only financial means. Verhaegen, who became a professor and later head of the new university, gave it a mission statement which he summarised in a speech to King Leopold I: "the principle of ''free inquiry'' and academic freedom uninfluenced by any political or religious authority." In 1858, the Catholic Church established the Saint-Louis Institute in the city, which subsequently expanded into a university in its own right.

Growth, internal tensions and move

The Free University grew significantly over the following decades. In 1842, it moved to the Granvelle Palace, which it occupied until 1928. It expanded the number of subjects taught and, in 1880, became one of the first institutions in Belgium to allow female students to study in some faculties. In 1893, it received large grants from

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), ...

and Alfred Solvay as well as Raoul Warocqué to open new faculties in Brussels. A disagreement over an invitation to the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

geographer Élisée Reclus to speak at the university in 1893 from the rector Hector Denis led to some of the liberal and socialist faculty splitting away from the Free University to form the New University of Brussels (''Université nouvelle de Bruxelles'') in 1894. However, the institution failed to displace the Free University and closed definitively in 1919. In

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

, the Free University's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team won the bronze medal at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. After Racing Club de Bruxelles declined to participate, a student selection with players from the university was sent by the Federation.Before the World Cup: Who were football's earliest world champions?
by Paul Brown on Medium Sports, 6 Jun 2018 The team was enforced with a few non-students.
by Søren Elbech and Karel Stokkermans on the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

The Institute of Sociology was founded in 1902, then in 1904 the Solvay School of Commerce, which would later become the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. In 1911, the university obtained its

legal personality Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person (in this sen ...

under the name '' - Vrije Hogeschool te Brussel''. 1900 Belgian Olympic Football Team

The German occupation during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

led to the suspension of classes for four years in 1914–1918. In the aftermath of the war, the Free University moved its principal activities to the ''Solbosch'' in the southern municipality of

, and a purpose-built university campus was created, funded by the Belgian American Educational Foundation. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the university was again closed by the German authorities on 25 November 1941 during the second occupation. Students from the university were involved in the

Belgian Resistance The Belgian Resistance (, ) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many ...

, notably establishing the sabotage-orientated network Groupe G.

Splitting of the university

Courses at the Free University were taught exclusively in French until the early 20th century. After Belgian independence, French was widely accepted as the language of the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

and

upper classes Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...

and was the only medium in law and

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. As the Flemish Movement gained prominence among the Dutch-speaking majority in Flanders over the late 19th century, the lack of provision for Dutch speakers in higher education became a major source of political contention. Ghent University became the first institution in 1930 to teach exclusively in Dutch. Some courses at the Free University's Faculty of Law began being taught in both French and Dutch as early as 1935. Nevertheless, it was not until 1963 that all faculties offered their courses in both languages. Tensions between French- and Dutch-speaking students in the country came to a head in 1968 when the Catholic University of Leuven split along linguistic lines, becoming the first of several national institutions to do so. On 1 October 1969, the French and Dutch entities of the Free University separated into two distinct sister universities. This splitting became official with the act of 28 May 1970, of the Belgian Parliament, by which the French-speaking (ULB) and the Dutch-speaking (VUB) officially became two separate legal, administrative and scientific entities.

Campuses

The ULB comprises three main

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

es: the ''Solbosch'' campus, on the territories of the

and

municipalities in the

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...

, the ''Plaine'' campus in Ixelles, and the ''Erasmus'' campus in

, beside the Erasmus Hospital. The main and largest campus of the university is the ''Solbosch'', which hosts the administration and general services of the university. It also includes most of the faculties of the humanities, the ''École polytechnique'', the large library of social sciences, and among the museums of the ULB, the Museum of Zoology and Anthropology, the ''Allende'' exhibition room and the Michel de Ghelderode Museum-Library. The ''Plaine'' campus hosts the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Pharmacy. There are also the Experimentariums of physics and chemistry, the Museum of Medicinal Plants and Pharmacy and student housing. This site is served by Delta station. The ''Erasmus'' campus houses the Erasmus Hospital and the ''Pôle Santé'', the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Public Health and the Faculty of Motor Sciences. There is also the School of Nursing (with the Haute école libre de Bruxelles – Ilya Prigogine), the Museum of Medicine and the Museum of Human Anatomy and Embryology. This site is served by Erasme/Erasmus metro station. The university also has buildings and activities in the Brussels municipality of Auderghem, and outside of Brussels, in

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

on the Aéropole Science Park and

Nivelles Nivelles (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux. The Nivelles arrondissement ...

. File:Université Libre de Bruxelles Franklin Rooseveltlaan Brussel 02.jpg, The main building on the ''Solbosch'' campus, located in the

close to

File:Bâtiment d'entrée - auditoire Janson - crédits David Attas.jpg, Entrance of the Paul-Émile Janson Auditorium on the ''Solbosch'' campus File:Bruxelles - musée de la médecine ULB 2019-07-11 (2).jpg, The Museum of Medicine on the ''Erasmus'' campus in

Faculties and institutes

* Institute for European Studies * Interfacultary School of Bio-Engineering * School of Public Health * High Institute of Physical Education and Kinesiotherapy * Institute of Work Sciences * Institute of Statistics and Operational Research * Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics * Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management * Faculty of Sciences

International Partnerships

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI,

BeiHang University Beihang University (BUAA; formerly as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The univers ...

, Universidade de São Paulo, Université de Lausanne, Université de Genève, University Ouaga I Pr. Joseph Ki-Zerbo, University of Lubumbashi

Research

At the heart of the Free University of Brussels there are at least 2000 PhD students and around 3600 researchers and lecturers who work around different scientific fields and produce cutting-edge research. The projects of these scientists span thematics that concern exact, applied and human sciences and researchers at the heart of the ULB have been awarded numerous international awards and recognitions. The research carried out at the ULB is financed by different bodies such as the European Research Council, the Walloon Region, the Brussels Capital Region, the National Fund for Scientific Research, or one of the foundations that are dedicated to research at the ULB; the ULB Foundation or the Erasme Funds. Since the early 2000s, the ''MAPP'' project has started studying

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

membership evolution through the time.

Rankings

Notable people

* Count Richard Goblet d'Alviella (b. 1948), businessman * Jules Anspach (1829–1879), politician and mayor of Brussels * Philippe Autier (b. 1956), epidemiologist and clinical oncologist * Zénon-M. Bacq (1903–1983), radiobiologist, laureate of the 1948 Francqui Prize * Radu Bălescu (1932–2006), Romanian and Belgian physicist, laureate of the 1970 Francqui Prize * Saeed Bashirtash (b. 1965), Iranian dentist, writer and political activist * Didier Bellens (1955–2016), businessman, CEO of Belgacom * Vincent Biruta (b. 1958), Rwandan physician and politician,

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

* Jules Bordet (1870–1961), physician, laureate of the 1919

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

in Physiology or Medicine * Karel Bossart (1904–1975), aeronautical engineer, designer of the SM-65 Atlas * Jean Brachet (1909–1998), biochemist * Robert Brout (1928–2011), American physicist, laureate of the 2004

Wolf Prize The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for "achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...

* Jean Bourgain (1954–2018), mathematician, laureate of the 1994

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...

Albert Claude Albert Claude (; 24 August 1899 – 22 May 1983) was a Belgian- American cell biologist and medical doctor who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 with Christian de Duve and George Emil Palade. His elementary education sta ...

(1899–1983), biologist, laureate of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine * Heidi Cruz (b. 1972), American businesswoman, wife of U.S. Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

* Herman De Croo (b. 1937), liberal politician * Théophile de Donder (1872–1957), physicist, mathematician, and father of irreversible

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...

* Vũ Đức Đam (b. 1963), Vietnamese politician,

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

Pierre Deligne Pierre René, Viscount Deligne (; born 3 October 1944) is a Belgian mathematician. He is best known for work on the Weil conjectures, leading to a complete proof in 1973. He is the winner of the 2013 Abel Prize, 2008 Wolf Prize, 1988 Crafoor ...

(b. 1944), mathematician, laureate of the 1978

* Antoine Depage (1862–1925), surgeon, founder and president of the Belgian

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, and one of the founders of Scouting in Belgium * Mathias Dewatripont (b. 1959), economist, laureate of the 1998 Francqui Prize *

François Englert François, Baron Englert (; born 6 November 1932) is a Belgian theoretical physicist and 2013 Nobel Prize laureate. Englert is professor emeritus at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where he is a member of the Service de Physique Thé ...

(b. 1932), physicist, laureate of the 2004 Wolf Prize, laureate of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics * Jacques Errera (1896–1977), physicochemist, laureate of the 1938 Francqui Prize * Aleth Félix-Tchicaya (b. 1955), Congolese writer * Louis Franck (1868–1937),

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

, liberal politician and statesman * Matyla Ghyka (1881–1965), Romanian poet, novelist, mathematician, historian, and diplomat * Michel Goldman (b. 1955), immunologist * Nico Gunzburg (1882–1984), lawyer and criminologist * Camille Gutt (1884–1971), economist, politician, and industrialist, first Managing Director of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

* Marc Henneaux (b. 1955), physicist, laureate of the 2000 Francqui Prize * Amir Abbas Hoveida (1919–1979), Iranian economist and politician,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (titl ...

(1908–1985), Albanian politician, leader of

Communist Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, () was the Marxist-Leninist state that existed in Albania from 10 January 1946 to the 29 April 1991. Originally founded as the People's Republic of Albania from 1946 to 1976, it was governed by the Pa ...

* Julius Hoste Jr. (1884–1954), businessman and liberal politician * Léon Van Hove (1924–1990), physicist, laureate of the 1958 Francqui Prize, Director General of the

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

Paul Hymans Paul Louis Adrien Henri Hymans (23 March 1865 – 8 March 1941), was a Belgian politician associated with the Liberal Party. He was the second president of the League of Nations and served again as its president in 1932–1933. Life Hymans was ...

(1865–1941), politician and first President of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

* Paul Janson (1840–1913), liberal politician * Bahadir Kaleagasi (b. 1966), Turkish writer, International co-ordinator of TUSIAD * Jeton Kelmendi (b. 1978), Albanian writer, laureate of the 2010 International Solenzara Prize *

Henri La Fontaine Henri La Fontaine (; 22 April 1854 – 14 May 1943), was a Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913 because "he was the effective leader of the peace movement in Eur ...

(1854–1943), lawyer, laureate of the 1913

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

* Roberto Lavagna (b. 1942), Argentine economist and politician, Minister of Economy and Production * Maurice Lippens (b. 1943), businessman and banker * Lucien Lison (1908–1984), Belgian-Brazilian physician and biochemist, considered the "father of histochemistry" * Amer Husni Lutfi (b. 1956), Syrian politician, Minister of Economy and Trade * Paul Magnette (b. 1971),

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

politician and political scientist, mayor of

, laureate of the 2000 Francqui Prize * Marguerite Massart (1900–1979), first Belgian female engineer * Adolphe Max (1869–1939), politician, mayor of Brussels * Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur (1880–1958), painter * Fradique de Menezes (b. 1942), São Toméan politician,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

* Françoise Meunier, doctor, Director General of the EORTC *

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...

(b. 1975), politician,

and

President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This Institutions of the European Union, institution comprises the college of heads of state or governme ...

Constantin Mille Constantin Mille (; December 21, 1861 – February 20, 1927) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and Socialism, socialist militant, as well as a prominent human rights activist. A Marxism, Marxist for much of his life, Mille was not ...

(1861–1927), Romanian socialist militant and journalist * Axel Miller (b. 1965), businessman, CEO of Dexia * Roland Mortier (1920–2015), philologist, laureate of the 1965 Francqui Prize * François Narmon (1934–2013), economist and businessman, President of Dexia and the Belgian Olympic Committee * Amélie Nothomb (b. 1967), writer, laureate of the 1999 Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française * Enrique Olaya Herrera (1880–1937), Colombian journalist and politician,

Paul Otlet Paul Marie Ghislain Otlet (; ; 23 August 1868 – 10 December 1944) was a Belgian author, lawyer and peace activist; who was a foundational figure in documentalism, a precursory discipline to information science. Otlet created the Universal D ...

(1868–1944), author, entrepreneur, lawyer and peace activist, founding father of

documentation Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance, and use. As a form of knowledge managem ...

* Henri De Page (1894–1969),

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

, Professor in Law, generally seen as the most important Belgian lawyer ever * Marc Parmentier (b. 1956), scientist, laureate of the 1999 Francqui Prize * Etienne Pays (b. 1948), molecular biologist, laureate of the 1996 Francqui Prize and of the Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology *

Robert Peston Robert James Kenneth Peston (born 25 April 1960) is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show '' Peston'' (previously '' Peston on Sunday'') alongsid ...

(b. 1960), British journalist, presenter, and author,

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

Political Editor * Martine Piccart (b. 1953), medical oncologist, President of the EORTC * Marie Popelin (1846–1913), jurist and feminist *

Ilya Prigogine Viscount Ilya Romanovich Prigogine (; ; 28 May 2003) was a Belgian physical chemist of Russian-Jewish origin, noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility. Prigogine's work most notably earned him the 19 ...

(1917–2003), physicist and chemist, laureate of the 1955 Francqui Prize and of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry * Lodewijk De Raet (1870–1914), economist and politician * Eric Remacle (1960–2013), economist, laureate of the 2000 Francqui Prize * Jan Van Rijswijck (1853–1906), lawyer, liberal politician and journalist, mayor of

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

David Ruelle David Pierre Ruelle (; born 20 August 1935) is a Belgian and naturalized French mathematical physicist. He has worked on statistical physics and dynamical systems. With Floris Takens, Ruelle coined the term ''strange attractor'', and devel ...

(b. 1935), Belgian-French mathematical physicist * Pedro Sánchez (b. 1972), Spanish politician,

* Jean Auguste Ulric Scheler (1819–1890), philologist *

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...

(1899–1972), politician, statesman, Prime Minister,

Secretary General of NATO The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an intergovernmental military alliance with 32 member states. The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinat ...

, and one of the Founding fathers of the European Union * Isabelle Stengers (b. 1949), philosopher * Jean Stengers (1922–2002), historian *

Jacques Tits Jacques Tits () (12 August 1930 – 5 December 2021) was a Belgian-born French mathematician who worked on group theory and incidence geometry. He introduced Tits buildings, the Tits alternative, the Tits group, and the Tits metric. Early life ...

(1930–2021), Belgian-French mathematician, laureate of the 1993 Wolf Prize and of the 2008 Abel Prize * Michel Vanden Abeele, diplomat, Director-General of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

Raoul Vaneigem Raoul Vaneigem (; ; ; born 21 March 1934) is a Belgian writer known for his 1967 book ''The Revolution of Everyday Life''. Biography Vaneigem was born in Lessines (in Hainaut Province, Hainaut, Belgium) and studied romance philology at the Fre ...

(b. 1934), writer and

Situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

theorist *

Emile Vandervelde Emile Vandervelde (25 January 1866 – 27 December 1938) was a Belgium, Belgian socialist politician. Nicknamed "the boss" (''le patron''), Vandervelde was a leading figure in the Belgian Labour Party (POB–BWP) and in international socialism. C ...

(1866–1938), statesman, socialist leader,

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, and

* Adamantios Vassilakis (1942–2021), Greek ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

* August Vermeylen (1872–1945), writer and literature critic * Éliane Vogel-Polsky (1926–2015), lawyer and feminist * Raoul Warocqué (1870–1917), industrialist * Charles Woeste (1837–1922), lawyer and politician * Odette De Wynter (1927–1998), first woman to be a notary in Belgium

Nobel Prize Winners

For pre-1970 notable faculty and alumni, see Free University of Brussels: *

(1917–2003):

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

in 1977 *

(b. 1932):

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

in 2013 * Denis Mukwege (b. 1955):

in 2018 File:Ilya Prigogine 1977c.jpg,

(1977) File:DIMG 7472 (11253451693).jpg,

(2013) File:Denis Mukwege par Claude Truong-Ngoc novembre 2014.jpg, Denis Mukwege,

(2018)

Notes and references

Footnotes

Citations

External links

*
The ULB, a university born of an idea

{{DEFAULTSORT:Libre De Bruxelles, Universite Engineering universities and colleges in Belgium Universities and colleges established in 1969 1969 establishments in Belgium