University of Amsterdam - Notable People and Alumni

Notable People and Alumni

Professors and alumni of the University of Amsterdam have included six Nobel Prize winners and seven Spinoza Prize winners.

Notable current and former professors include winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911 Tobias Asser, mathematician Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901 Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1910 Johannes Diderik van der Waals, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1902 Pieter Zeeman, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1953 Frits Zernike.

Alumni in the Science area include winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1929 Christiaan Eijkman, inventor of DNA fingerprinting Alec Jeffreys, physician and one of the founding fathers of gynecology in the Netherlands M.A. Mendes de Leon, astrophysicist and Dutch communist Anton Pannekoek, string theorist Erik Verlinde, and Dutch botanist Hendrik de Wit. Alumni in the area of Politics include former Prime Ministers Pieter Cort van der Linden and Joop den Uyl, former President of the European Central Bank, Minister of Finance, and President of the Central Bank of the Netherlands Wim Duisenberg, Member of the European Parliament Thijs Berman, former Secretary General of NATO Joseph Luns, Senate group leader of the Labour Party and former trade union leader Marleen Barth, president of OHIM Wubbo de Boer, former Minister of Defence and former European Commissioner for Internal Market & Services Frits Bolkestein, former Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Els Borst, state secretary of Health, Welfare and Sport Jet Bussemaker, Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment Jacqueline Cramer, Minister of Foreign Trade within the Economic Affairs Frank Heemskerk, Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Guusje ter Horst, former Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and currently deputy director of UNDP Ad Melkert, and Minister of Education, Culture and Science Ronald Plasterk. In the area of the Arts, notable alumni include cultural analyst Ien Ang, writers Menno ter Braak, Willem Frederik Hermans, J. Slauerhoff, and Simon Vestdijk, Emmy award-winning producer Michael W. King, and Roman law specialist Boudewijn Sirks. In the Media area, alumni include Thomas von der Dunk, Dutch cultural historian, writer, and columnist. Alumni in the area of Sports area include Max Euwe, 1935–1937 World Chess Champion.

• Tobias Asser, 1911 Nobel Prize for Peace

• Christiaan Eijkman, 1929 Nobel Prize for Medicine

• Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, 1901 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

• Johannes Diderik van der Waals, 1910 Nobel Prize for Physics

• Pieter Zeeman, 1902 Nobel Prize for Physics

• Frits Zernike, 1953 Nobel Prize for Physics