UNIVERSITé LIBRE DE BRUXELLES

The '''Université Libre de Bruxelles''' (or 'ULB') is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has about 20,000 students.

Contents

Name

History

Campuses

Faculties, schools and institutes

Notable Alumni

Notable faculty

See also

External links

Name

''Université Libre de Bruxelles'' means in English: "Free University of Brussels" or written alternatively "Non-Denominational University of Brussels", but this translation is rarely used (university names are rarely used as translated) all the more since its Dutch-speaking counterpart, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, has the same meaning.
Some facilities, shared by the ULB and VUB, use the name "Brussels Free Universities", abbreviated BFU. For example the
ULB/VUB Computing Center, BFUCC ([1]).

History

The history of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) is closely linked with that of Belgium itself. When the nine provinces that broke away from the Kingdom of the Netherlands formed the Belgian State in 1830, there were three state universities in the country: Ghent, Liege and Leuven. Even though Brussels had been promoted to the rank of capital, it still had no university.
For this reason, in 1831 a group of leading Brussels Masonic figures in the fields of the arts, science and education set themselves the objective of creating a university for the city. They had the choice between a state university and, failing that, a private institution, since the Belgian Constitution, the most liberal in Europe, allowed for this possibility.
Finding the financial burden of the three existing universities too onerous, the Belgian government showed little enthusiasm for yet another state university. However, when in 1834 the episcopate decided to found the Catholic University at Mechelen, things began to happen very quickly. The liberal professions and Freemasons, lead by Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen and Auguste Baron, who were promoting the Brussels university project, stepped up their efforts, with the result that the Free University of Belgium, as it was originally known, inaugurated its first academic year on 20 November 1834.
From 1836 it was to be called the Université Libre de Bruxelles, but although the geographical term may have changed, the adjective "free" remained. This was a key point. [2]
Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, who helped make the university, is the symbol of the creation of the university. November 20th, called 'St V', is a holiday for students.
Since 1935 some courses have been taught in both French and Dutch, but it was only in 1963 that all faculties held courses in both languages. Shortly after the language dispute at the Catholic University of Leuven, in October 1969 the French and Dutch entities of the ULB separated into two distinct universities. With the act of 28 May 1970, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université Libre de Bruxelles officially became two separate legal, administrative and scientific entities.

Campuses

The ULB comprises three main campuses: the ''Campus de la Plaine'' in Ixelles, the ''Campus du Solbosch'', on the territories of Brussels and Ixelles municipalities, in the Brussels-Capital Region and the ''Campus Erasme'' (faculty of medicine) in Anderlecht beside the Erasme Hospital but the university has also buildings and activities in Charleroi, Parentville, Treignes and Nivelles.

Faculties, schools and institutes

# Faculty of Philosophy, and Letters
# Faculty of Law, and Criminological Science
# Faculty of Social, Political, Economic Science & Solvay Business School
# Faculty of Psychological Science, and of Education
# Faculty of Sciences (recently absorbed the Institute of Environment Gestion (IGEAT))
# Interfacultary School of Bio-Engineering
# Faculty of Medicine
# School of Public Health
# High institute of Physical Education, and Kinesitherapy
# Institute of Pharmacy
# Faculty of Applied Sciences/Polytechnic School
# Institute of Work Sciences
# Institute of European Studies
# Institute of Statistics and Operational Research

Notable Alumni

★ Amir Abbas Hoveida, Iranian Prime Minister

★ Count Richard Goblet d'Alviella, Belgian businessman

★ Zénon-M. Bacq, radiobiologist, laureate of the 1948 Francqui Prize

★ Radu Bălescu, Romanian and Belgian physicist, laureate of the 1970 Francqui Prize

★ Jules Bordet, physician, laureate of the 1919 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

★ Jean Brachet (1909-1998), medicine, biochemist

★ Robert Brout, Belgian physicist, laureate of the 2004 Wolf Prize

★ Jean Bourgain, Belgian mathematician, laureate of the 1994 Fields Medal

★ Herman De Croo, law, politician

★ Pierre Deligne, Belgian mathematician, laureate of the 1978 Fields Medal

★ Antoine Depage, Belgian surgeon

★ Lodewijk De Raet, Belgian economist and politician.

★ Mathias Dewatripont, Belgian economist, laureate of the 1998 Francqui Prize

★ François Englert, Belgian physicist, laureate of the 2004 Wolf Prize

★ Jacques Errera, Belgian physicochemist, laureate of the 1938 Francqui Prize

★ Louis Franck, Belgian lawyer, liberal politician and statesman

★ Nico Gunzburg (1882-1984), lawyer and criminologist.

★ Marc Henneaux, Belgian physicist, laureate of the 2000 Francqui Prize

★ Enver Hoxha, Albanian politician, leader of Communist Albania

★ Julius Hoste Jr., Belgian businessman and leading Flemish liberal politician

★ Paul Janson (1840–1913), liberal politician.

★ Daniel Janssen, engineer, businessman

★ Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer, laureate of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Peace

★ Jacques-François Lai, Belgian Nuclear Physicist

★ Maurice Lippens, Belgian businessman

★ Lucien Lison, Belgian and Brazilian physician and biochemist

★ Paul Magnette, Belgian political scientist, laureate of the 2000 Exceptionnal Francqui Prize for European Research

★ Constantin Mille, Romanian socialist militant and journalist

★ Axel Miller, Belgian businessman, CEO of Dexia

★ Roland Mortier, Belgian philologist, laureate of the 1965 Francqui Prize

★ François Narmon, economy, businessman

★ Marc Parmentier, medicine, laureate of the 1999 Francqui Prize

★ Marie Popelin (1846–1913), law, feminist

★ Ilya Prigogine, Belgian physicist and chemist, laureate of the 1955 Francqui Prize, and laureate of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

★ Eric Remacle, Belgian economist, laureate of the 2000 Exceptionnal Francqui Prize for European Research

★ David Ruelle, Belgian and French mathematical physicist

★ Jean Auguste Ulric Scheler, Belgian philologist

★ Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician

★ Isabelle Stengers, chemistry, philosophy

★ Jean Stengers (1922-2002), historian

★ Jacques Tits, Belgian mathematician, laureate of the 1993 Wolf Prize

★ Raoul Vaneigem, Situationist theorist

★ Jan Van Rijswijck (1853-1906), law, mayor of Antwerp

★ August Vermeylen, Belgian writer and literature critic

★ Raoul Warocqué, Belgian industrialist

★ Charles Woeste (1837-1922), lawyer and politician

★ Amélie Nothomb, Beligian writer

Notable faculty

★ Eugene Goblet d'Alviella (1846-1925), historian and politician

★ Jules Bordet (1870-1961), Belgian physician, laureate of the 1919 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

★ Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, laureate of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

★ Ilya Prigogine, Belgian physicist and chemist, laureate of the 1955 Francqui Prize, and laureate of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

See also

★ Vrije Universiteit Brussel

★ Solvay Business School

★ University Foundation

External links

★ Official home page