Leiden University

Leiden University
Universiteit Leiden
Latin: Academia Lugduno Batava
Motto	Praesidium Libertatis
Motto in English	Bastion of Freedom
Established	1575
Type	Public
Rector	Paul van der Heijden
Academic staff	3,973
Students	18,026
Location	Leiden, Netherlands
Website	www.leiden.edu

Leiden University (Dutch: Universiteit Leiden), located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands.^[1] The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close relationship. The Queens Juliana and Beatrix and crown-prince Willem-Alexander studied at Leiden University. In 2005 Queen Beatrix received a rare honorary degree from Leiden University.^[2]

Leiden University has six faculties, over 50 departments and more than 150 undergraduate programmes and enjoys an outstanding international reputation. Shanghai Jiao Tong University's 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks Leiden University as the 70th best university worldwide.^[3] The 2009 THE-QS World University Rankings ranked Leiden University 60th in the world overall.^[4][5] In 2011 QS World University Rankings^[6] has ranked Leiden University as 88th overall, and the 37th best university worldwide for Arts and Humanities. THE 2010 World University Rankings has ranked Leiden University as the best university in Continental Europe for Arts and Humanities. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group, the Europaeum and the League of European Research Universities.

Leiden University houses more than 40 national and international research institutes.

History

The Academy building of the Leiden university

In 1575, the emerging Dutch Republic did not have any universities in its northern heartland. The only other university in the Netherlands was in southern Leuven, firmly under Spanish control. The scientific renaissance had begun to highlight the importance of academic study, so Prince William founded the first Dutch university in Leiden, to give the Northern Netherlands an institution that could educate its citizens for religious purposes, but also to give the country and its government educated men in other fields.^[7] It is said the choice fell on Leiden as a reward for the heroic defence of Leiden against Spanish attacks in the previous year. Ironically, the name of Philip II of Spain, William's adversary, appears on the official foundation certificate, as he was still the de jure count of Holland. Philps II replied by forbidding any subject to study in Leiden. Originally located in the convent of St Barbara, the university moved to the Faliede Bagijn Church in 1577 (now the location of the University museum) and in 1581 to the convent of the White Nuns, a site which it still occupies, though the original building was destroyed by fire in 1616.^[7]

The presence within half a century of the date of its foundation of such scholars as Justus Lipsius, Joseph Scaliger, Franciscus Gomarus, Hugo Grotius, Jacobus Arminius, Daniel Heinsius and Gerhard Johann Vossius, raised Leiden university to be a respected and highly thought of institute within Europe. Renowned philosopher Baruch Spinoza was based close to Leiden during this period and interacted with numerous scholars at the university. The learning and reputation of Jacobus Gronovius, Herman Boerhaave, Tiberius Hemsterhuis and David Ruhnken, among others, enabled Leiden to maintain it's reputation for excellence down to the end of the 18th century.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Leiden University again became one of Europe's leading universities.^[8] At the world’s first university low-temperature laboratory, professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes achieved temperatures of only one degree above absolute zero of -273 degrees Celsius. In 1908 he was also the first to succeed in liquifying helium and can be credited with the discovery of the superconductivity in metals.

Kamerlingh Onnes was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1913. Three other professors received the Nobel Prize for their research performed at Universiteit Leiden: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman received the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work in the field of optical and electronic phenomena, and the physiologist Willem Einthoven for his invention of the string galvanometer, which among other things, enabled the development of electrocardiography.

These Nobel prize winners, but also the physicists Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and Paul Ehrenfest, the Arabist and Islam expert Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, the law expert Cornelis van Vollenhoven and historian Johan Huizinga, were among those who pushed the university into a place of international prominence during the 1920s and 1930s. In 2005 the manuscript of Einstein on the quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas (the Einstein-Bose condensation) was discovered in one of Leiden's libraries.^[9]

At present, Leiden has a firmly established international position among the top research institutes in many fields, including the natural sciences, medicine, social and behavioural sciences, law, arts and letters. Of the fifty-nine Spinozapremie (the highest scientific award of The Netherlands), fifteen were granted to professors of the Universiteit Leiden. Literary historian Frits van Oostrom was the first professor of Leiden to be granted the Spinoza award for his work on developing the NLCM centre (Dutch literature and culture in the Middle Ages) into a top research centre. Other Spinozapremie winners are linguists Frederik Kortlandt and Pieter Muysken, mathematician Hendrik Lenstra, Carlo Beenakker, who works in the field of mesoscopic physics, Ewine van Dishoeck, astronomer at Leiden Observatory, transplantation biologist Els Goulmy, clinical epidemiologist Frits Rosendaal, Rien van IJzendoorn professor of education and child studies, physicist Jan Zaanen, archeologist Wil Roebroeks, neurologist Michel Ferrari, classicist Ineke Sluiter, social psychologist Naomi Ellemers and astronomer Marijn Franx. Among other leading professors are Wim Blockmans, professor of Medieval History, and Willem Adelaar, professor of Amerindian Languages.

The portraits of many famous professors since the earliest days hang in the university aula, one of the most memorable places, as Niebuhr called it, in the history of science.

The University Library, which has more than 3.5 million books and fifty thousand journals, also has a number of internationally renowned special collections of western and oriental manuscripts, printed books, archives, prints, drawings, photographs, maps, and atlases. Scholars from all over the world visit Leiden University Library, the oldest in the Netherlands. The research activities of the Scaliger Institute focus on these special collections and concentrate particularly on the various aspects of the transmission of knowledge and ideas through texts and images from antiquity to the present day.

Among the institutions affiliated with the university are The KITLV or Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (founded in 1851), the observatory 1633; the natural history museum, with a very complete anatomical cabinet; the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities), with specially valuable Egyptian and Indian departments; a museum of Dutch antiquities from the earliest times; and three ethnographical museums, of which the nucleus was Philipp Franz von Siebold's Japanese collections. The anatomical and pathological laboratories of the university are modern, and the museums of geology and mineralogy have been restored.

The Hortus Botanicus (botanical garden) is the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. Plants from all over the world have been carefully cultivated here by experts for more than four centuries. The Clusius garden (a reconstruction), the 18th century Orangery with its monumental tub plants, the rare collection of historical trees hundreds of years old, the Japanese Siebold Memorial Museum symbolising the historical link between East and West, the tropical greenhouses with their world class plant collections, and the central square and Conservatory exhibiting exotic plants from South Africa and southern Europe.

Research at Leiden is well developed. There are many university research institutes and Leiden participates in over forty nation-wide research schools, twelve of which being located in the heart of Leiden.

The institution

The Leiden University Medical Center

A new professor's inauguration lecture in the Academiegebouw, 2008

The university has no central campus; its buildings are spread over the city. Some buildings, like the Gravensteen, are very old, while buildings like Lipsius and Gorlaeus are much more modern. The university is divided into six major faculties which offer approximately 50 undergraduate degree programs and over 100 graduate programs. In recent years the university has also expanded to The Hague where it occupies a college building in Lange Voorhout, which is located in the historic centre of the city.

Education

Undergraduate programs

Most of the university's departments offer their own degree program(s). Undergraduate programs lead to either a B.A., B.Sc. or LL.B. degree. Other degrees, such as the B.Eng. or B.F.A., are not awarded at Leiden University.

Faculties
Humanities	Website
Law	Website
Medicine or LUMC	Website
Mathematics and Natural Sciences	Website
Social and Behavioural sciences	Website
Archaeology	Website
African Languages and Cultures[10] Archeology Arabic, Persian and Turkish Languages and Cultures [11] Art History Assyriology Astronomy Biology[12] Biomedical Sciences Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences[13] Chemistry Chinese Languages and Cultures[14] Classics Comparative Indo-European Linguistics Computer Science Criminology Cultural Anthropology Developmental Sociology Dutch Language and Literature Dutch Studies Educational Sciences Egyptian Languages and Cultures (Egyptology)[15] English Language and Culture[16] French Language and Culture[17] German Language and Culture[18] History[19] Hebrew and Aramaic Languages and Cultures[20] Indian American Studies[21]	Indology (South and central Asia)[22] Indonesian Languages and Cultures[23] Italian Language and Culture[24] Japanese Languages and Cultures[25] Korean Languages and Cultures[26] Latin American Studies (Spanish Languages and Cultures)[27] Law (General Dutch Law track) Linguistics Life Science and Technology Literature Mathematics Medicine (6-year track) Molecular Science and Technology Near Eastern Studies New Persian Languages and Cultures (Turkish)[28] Notarial Law Philosophy Physics Political Science Public Administration Psychology Russian Studies Slavic Languages and Literatures Southeast Asia and Oceania Languages and Cultures Tax Law Theology World Religion Studies

Graduate studies

Students can choose from a range of graduate programs. Most of the above mentioned undergraduate programs can be continued with either a general or a specialised graduate program. Leiden University offers more than 100 graduate programs leading to either M.A., M.Sc., M.Phil., or LL.M. degrees. The M.Phil. is a special research degree and only awarded by selected departments of the university (mostly in the fields of Arts, Social Sciences, Archeology, Philosophy, and Theology). Admission to these programs is highly selective and primarily aimed at those students opting for an academic career.

The Pieter de la Court-building, the main building of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Some of the notable graduate programs are

Air and Space Law Asian Studies Bioinformatics Chemistry Industrial Ecology M.Sc. (track) DNA Computing Drug Delivery Technology and Biopharmaceutics European Law[29] European and International Business Law European Union Studies Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences Functional Genomics

History ICT in Business[30] Public International Law International Relations and Diplomacy International Tax Law[31] Islamic Studies Life Science and Technology Linguistics Mathematics Media Technology[32] Nanoscience Philosophy of a Specific Discipline Toxicology

Doctorate programs

In addition, most departments, affiliated (research) institutes or faculties offer doctorate programs or positions, leading to the Ph.D degree. Most of the Ph.D. programs offered by the university are concentrated in several research schools or institutes.

Research schools and affiliated institutes

Research building of the Leiden University Medical Centre

logo of the Leiden academy, founded in 2008.

Leiden University has more than 50 research and graduate schools and institutes. Some of them are fully affiliated with one faculty of the university, while others are interfaculty institutes or even interuniversity institutes.

Institute
ASC	Research Centre for African Studies
CML	Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)[33]
CNWS	Research School of Asian, African, and American Studies
CRC	Crisis Research Centre[34]
CTI	Center for Language and Identity
E.M. Meijers Institute	Research School for Legal Studies
eLaw@Leiden	Centre for Law in the Information Society
Grotius Centre	Research Centre for International Legal Studies
GSS	Leiden Graduate School of Science
Historical Institute	Research Institute of History
Huizinga Instituut	Research Institute and Graduate School of Cultural History
IBL	Research Institute for Biology
IIAS	International Institute for Asian Studies
IOPS	Interuniversity Graduate School Psychometrics and Sociometrics
ISED	Institute for the Study of Educational and Human Development
ITC	International Tax Center (ITC)[35]
LACDR	The Leiden Amsterdam Center for Drug Research
LCMBS	Leiden Centre for Molecular BioScience
Leyden Academy	Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing[36]
LGSAS	Leiden Graduate School for Archeology
LIACS	Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science
LIBC	Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition[37]
LIC	Leiden Institute of Chemistry
LION	Leiden Institute of Physics
LISOR	Leiden Institute for the Study of Religion
LUCL	Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
LUMC	Leiden University Medical Centre
LUMI	Leiden University Mathematical Institute
Mediëvistiek	Netherlands Research School for Medieval Studies
NIG	Netherlands Institute of Government
NOVA	Netherlands Research School for Astronomy
N.W. Posthumus Instituut	Netherlands Research Institute and School for Economic and Social History
OIKOS	National Graduate School in Classical Studies
Onderzoekschool Kunstgeschiedenis	Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History
OSL	Netherlands Graduate School for Literary Studies
PALLAS	Research Institute of Art History and Literatures of the Western World
Polybios	Graduate School for Political Science and International Affairs
Sterrewacht Leiden	Leiden Astronomical Observatory
The Europa Institute	Research Institute for Legal Studies in the Field of European Integration
Van Vollenhoven Institute	Research Institute for Law, Governance and Development

Notable alumni and professors

A Piet Aalberse, politician Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, theologian John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States of America Princess Aimée of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven-Söhngen, royalty Nebahat Albayrak, politician Johannes Alberti, theologian Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, anatomist Alexander, Prince of Orange, royalty Princess Anita of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven-van Eijk, royalty Ayaan Hirsi Ali, activist Jacobus Arminius, theologian Tobias Asser, Nobel laureate (Peace 1911) B Caspar Barlaeus, theologian Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1918-25, 1929–33 Coenraad van Beuningen, diplomat Kune Biezeveld, theologian Nicolaas Bloembergen, Nobel laureate (Physics 1981) Herman Boerhaave, physician Bart Bok, astronomer Frits Bolkestein, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands 2005-6 Gerardus Johannes Petrus Josephus Bolland, philosopher Ben Bot, politician Alexander Boswell, judge Rolf Bremmer, academic Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, politician Thomas Browne, writer Sebald Justinus Brugmans, botanist Armin van Buuren, musician Ian Buruma, writer Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister of Ghana 1969-72 John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1762-63 Paulus Buys, Grand Pensionary of Holland 1572-84 C Archibald Cameron, Jacobite physician Hendrik Casimir, physicist Carolus Clusius, botanist Job Cohen, politician Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, royalty Jan Kappeyne van de Coppello, Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1877-79 Pieter de la Court, economist Ludolph van Ceulen, mathematician Jodocus Crull, miscellaneous writer Petrus Cunaeus, academic D René Descartes, philosopher Nicolaas Diederichs, President of South Africa 1975-78 Edsger W. Dijkstra, computer scientist Volkert Doeksen, CEO of AlpInvest Partners Ana Dolidze, lawyer Adriaen van der Donck, lawyer Janus Dousa, statesman Johannes van den Driesche, theologian Thomas von der Dunk, historian E Paul Ehrenfest, physicist Willem Einthoven, Nobel laureate (Medicine 1924) Albert Einstein, Nobel laureate (Physics 1921) Simon Episcopius, theologian Paul Sophus Epstein, physicist Thomas van Erpe, orientalist F Enrico Fermi, Nobel laureate (Physics 1938) Henry Fielding, English novelist Paul Fleming, German poet

Prince Floris of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven, royalty John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, jurist Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, royalty G Thomas Girdlestone, physician Michiel Jan de Goeje, orientalist Franciscus Gomarus, theologian Johann Georg Graevius, academic Jacobus Gronovius, academic Hugo Grotius, jurist Lemuel Gulliver, protagonist of 'Gulliver's Travels' H Geertruida de Haas-Lorentz, physicist Melanie Schultz van Haegen, politician Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, Vice President of Indonesia 1973-78 Jan Hamer, chemist Mohammad Hatta, Prime Minister of Indonesia 1948-50 David Hartley (the Younger), politician Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, RAF pilot and Dutch spy Daniel Heinsius, scholar Touraj Atabaki, academic Tiberius Hemsterhuis, philologist Paul Hermann, botanist and physician Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, Nobel laureate (Peace 1954) Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Nobel laureate (Chemistry 1901) Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp, Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1813-14 Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, 11th Secretary-General of NATO Johannes Hudde, politician and mathematician Johan Huizinga, historian Christiaan Huygens, mathematician and physicist Constantijn Huygens, Jr., statesman J Maarten Jansen, academic Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, royalty K Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Nobel laureate (Physics 1913) Egbert van Kampen, mathematician Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern, linguist Pieter Kooijmans, judge of the International Court of Justice Ton Koopman, conductor Tjalling Charles Koopmans, Nobel laureate (Economics 1975) Hendrik Anthony Kramers, physicist Abraham Kuijper, Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1901-05 L Lousewies van der Laan, politician Jona Lendering, historian Hendrik Lenstra, mathematician Justus Lipsius, philologist and humanist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Nobel laureate (Physics 1902) Joseph Luns, 5th Secretary-General of NATO M Peter Mair, political scientist Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, royalty Eric Mazur, physicist Richard Mead, physician Victor Muller, CEO of the car companies Spyker Cars and Saab Automobile AB Pieter van Musschenbroek, scientist N William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, royalty O Jan Hendrik Oort, astronomer Ivo Opstelten, politician P Peter Simon Pallas, zoologist Thomas Parker, Puritan minister and scholar Perizonius, scholar

Nicolaas Gerard Pierson, Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1897-1901 Theodoor Gautier Thomas Pigeaud, academic Archibald Pitcairne, physician Ronald Plasterk, scientist and politician Prijono, politician R Hans Ras, academic Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt, botanist Rembrandt van Rijn, painter Caspar Reuvens, archaeologist John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers Wil Roebroeks, archaeologist David Ruhnken, scholar Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands S Martinus Theunis Steyn, South African lawyer, statesman, sixth president of the Orange Free State Joseph Justus Scaliger, theologian and scholar Henry G. Schermers, jurist Edith Schippers, politician Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, Grand Pensionary of Holland 1805-6 Gerard Schouw, politician William Sherard, botanist Boudewijn Sirks, academic Willem de Sitter, physicist Jan Six, politician Willebrord Snell, astronomer Rudolph Snellius, mathmatician and linguist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, orientalist Achmad Soebardjo, diplomat Soenario, politician Soetan Sjahrir, Prime Minister of Indonesia 1945-7 Myles Standish, military leader Jan Steen, painter Pieter Steyn, Grand Pensionary of Holland 1749-72 Max van der Stoel, politician Bram van der Stok, aviator Dirk Jan Struik, mathematician Franciscus Sylvius, physician and scientist T Morris Tabaksblat, former CEO of Unilever Igor Tamm, Nobel laureate (Physics 1958) Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1971-72 Jan Tinbergen, Nobel laureate (Economics 1969) Nikolaas Tinbergen, Nobel laureate (Medicine 1973) Christa Tobler Nicolaes Tulp, surgeon and politician U Christianus Cornelius Uhlenbeck, linguist and anthropologist V Ronald Venetiaan, 6th and 8th President of Suriname Maxime Verhagen, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Paul Verhoeven, film Director Gerard Verschuuren, geneticist Gisbertus Voetius, theologian Cornelis van Vollenhoven, academic Pieter van Vollenhoven, royalty Gerhard Johann Vossius, theologian Gijs de Vries, poltician Jouke de Vries, academic W Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Nobel laureate (Physics 1910) Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands 1890-1948 John Wilkes, politician William I, Prince of Orange, royalty Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, heir to the Dutch throne Hendrik de Wit, botanist Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland 1653-72 Z Pieter Zeeman, Nobel laureate (Physics 1902) Tim de Zeeuw, astronomer Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder, academic

International acclaim

In the 2009 THE–QS World University Rankings list the University of Leiden was ranked inside the top 100 for the fourth consecutive year. However, in 2010 it dropped 22 places in the QS World University Rankings^[38] to 82nd from its position of 60th in the 2009 THE-QS Rankings (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings). In the Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by Shanghai Jiaotong University Leiden has been in the top hundred universities worldwide since the tables inception in 2003 and in 2010 was ranked 70th overall. The University is associated with at least fourteen recipients of the Nobel Prize

An overview of the THE-QS Rankings up to 2009:

Year	Rank (Change)
2005	138
2006	90 ( 48)
2007	84 ( 6)
2008	64 ( 20)
2009	60 ( 4)

An overview of the Academic Ranking of World Universities up to 2011:

Year	Rank (Change)
2003	78
2004	63 ( 15)
2005	63
2006	72 ( 9)
2007	71 ( 1)
2008	76 ( 5)
2009	72 ( 4)
2010	70 ( 2)
2011	65 ( 5)

See also

• Leiden University College The Hague
• List of early modern universities in Europe

References

1. ^ Technically the University of Leuven, currently in Belgium but in the year of its foundation (1425) located in the Netherlands, is the oldest university ever founded in the Netherlands, but Leuven is no longer part of the Netherlands.
2. ^ Windows Media file of Queen Beatrix receiving degree, February 2005.
3. ^ ARWU 2010 Top 100 Universities.
4. ^ QS World University Rankings 2009 - Arts and Humanities
5. ^ THE 2009 Top 200 World Universities
6. ^ http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2011?page=1
7. ^ ^{a b} Willem Otterspeer: Het bolwerk van de vrijheid : de Leidse universiteit, 1575-1672. Amsterdam : Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, 2000. ISBN 90-351-2240-2
8. ^ Leiden's Nobel Laureates
9. ^ BBC NEWS | Europe | Student unearths Einstein paper.
10. ^ Talen en culturen van Afrika
11. ^ NIEUW: Homepage TCMO
12. ^ Home Page Opl. Biologie (Nederlands)
13. ^ Startpagina QCMS 3.0
14. ^ Talen en culturen van China
15. ^ Egyptische Taal & Cultuur
16. ^ Engelse taal en cultuur
17. ^ Homepage Opleiding Franse taal en cultuur
18. ^ Duitse taal en cultuur.
19. ^ History
20. ^ Hebreeuws en Aramees
21. ^ Talen en culturen van Indiaans Amerika.
22. ^ http://www.tczca.leidenuniv.nl/
23. ^ Opleiding Indonesisch
24. ^ Startpagina
25. ^ Japanse taal en cultuur
26. ^ Talen en culturen van Korea
27. ^ Homepage Opleiding Talen en culturen van Latijns Amerika / Spaans
28. ^ Nieuw-Perzische Taal en Cultuur
29. ^ [1]
30. ^ ICT in Business Programme
31. ^ Master of Advanced Studies in International Tax Law
32. ^ Media Technology MSc Programme
33. ^ CML
34. ^ [2]
35. ^ ITC
36. ^ [3]
37. ^ [4]
38. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2010 Results". http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010/results. 

External links

• Homepage of Leiden University (in English)
• Homepage of Leiden University (in Dutch)
• Graduate Programs in English
• Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography

Coordinates: 52°09′22″N 4°29′13″E / 52.156071°N 4.486949°E / 52.156071; 4.486949