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Honorary doctorates and prizes

Leiden University regularly confers honorary doctorates, and presents awards and prizes.

Honorary doctorates

During the celebration of the Dies Natalis, the university confers an honorary doctorate on individualas in recognition of their special services to science, education and society. The university can also decide to confer an honorary doctorate on individuals who, through their conduct, have paid particular service to the Univesity's motto: bastion of freedom. 

2022 Rosemary Joyce (anthropology)
2021 Graça Machel (human rights)
2020 Lungisile Ntsebeza (sociology)
2019
  • Melissa Little (cell biology)
  • Robbert Dijkgraaf (physics)

2018

Adrienne Héritier (political science)

2017

Frank Dikötter (China studies)

2016

Jennifer Tour Chayes (maths/computers)

2015

  • Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You (law)
  • Peter J. Katzenstein (international relations)
  • William Christie (music studies)

2014

  • Joseph Smolen (rheumatism studies)
  • Herbert Waldmann (bilogy)

2013

  • Rien Verhoef (translator)
  • Patricia Crone (Arabic studies)
  • Michael Cook (Arabic studies)

2012

Walter Van Gerven (European law)

2011

  • Ian Hodder (archaeology)
  • Peter van Straaten (artist)

2010

  • A.S. Byatt (literature)
  • Reinhard Genzel (astrophysics)
  • Antonio Damasio (neurosciences)

2009

Susan Fiske (psychology)

2008

Florian Holsboer (chemistry/medicine)

2006

Anthony Grafton (historian)

2005

  • Queen Beatrix (Praesidium Libertatis)
  • Alexander Andreev (physics)
  • Dick Raaijmakers (composer)
  • L. Alan Sroufe (child education studies)
  • Sergei Starostin (linguistics)
  • Jan Vranken (law)

2004

Per Martin-Löf (philosophy)

2003

Piet Borst (medicine)

2002

Haïm Brezis (maths)

2001

Arend Lijphart (political science)

2000

  • Gerrit Komrij (literature)
  • Lewis Binford (archaeology)
  • Élisabeth Labrousse (posthumously) (philosophy)
  • Takashi Sugimura (cancer research)

1999

Nelson Mandela (Praesidium Libertatis)

1998

Jan van Soest (law)

1995

  • Michiel Scheltema (law)
  • Don Craig Wiley (immunology)
  • Leslie Z. Benet (pharmacoloy)
  • Richard Kayne (linguistics)
  • Albert Bandura (psychology)

1990

  • Erica Reiner (Assyriology)
  • Peter Raven (botanist)
  • Elizabeth Loftus (psychology)
  • Zanvil A. Cohn (cell biology)

1988

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (law)

1986

Joghem van Loghem (immunology)

1985

  • John William Wevers (theology)
  • Michael Rutter (psychiatry)
  • Pierre Pescatore (law)
  • Erich Leo Lehmann (statistics)

1984

Rob Nieuwenhuys (literature)

1982

Robert E. Scully (medicine)

1980

  • Wouter Snijders (law)
  • Jean Rouch (anthropology film)
  • N.G.M. (Nico)
  • Orie (medicine)
  • P. Creutzberg (literature)

1979

Ludwig Waldmann (physics)

1977

Arnaldo Momigliano (history)

1975

  • J.C. Wheatley (physics)
  • D.J. Veegens (law)
  • Madathiparamil Mammen Thomas (theology)
  • John B. Stanbury (medicine)
  • Carl Rogers (psychology)
  • Emmanuel Levinas (philosophy/theology)
  • Bernhard Karlgren (Chinese studies
  • Paul Kaesberg (biochemistry
  • John N. Hazard (law)
  • Leonard Wilson Forster (linguistics)
  • Honor Bridget Fell (medicine)
  • Clyde Coombs (psychology)
  • Fernand Braudel (literature)
  • Charlotte Auerbach (biology)

1973

Jean Pictet (rechten)

1972

  • N.R. Ker (literature
  • Werner Kaegi (history)

1970

  • W.R. Maxted (medicine)
  • Christian de Duve (cell biology)
  • Marcel Bataillon (literature)

1969

Jan B. Jansen (anatomy)

1968

  • Egied I. Strubbe (law)
  • O.W. van Ewijk (law)

1965

  • Ivar Waller (physics)
  • Robert K. Merton (sociology)
  • H.R. van Heekeren (sociology)
  • Antoine Giroud (medicine)

1962

Ralph W. Gerard (neurology)

1960

  • William T. Stearn (botany)
  • Thorsten Sellin (law)

1959

Jacob Evert de Vos van Steenwijk (law)

1956

Albert Welcker (art history)

1954

  • Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (medicine)
  • Victor E. van Vriesland (literature) (PEN)
  • Jean Schlumberger (literature) (PEN)
  • E.M. Forster (literature (PEN)

1949

Hubert Struycken (medicine)

1948

  • Jan Christian Smuts (law)
  • William Ernest Hocking (philosophy)
  • Malcolm Hailey (law)

1946

  • W.H. Wachter (botany)
  • A.W. Kloos (mechanics)
  • Piet Jansen (botany)
  • Winston Churchill (Praesidium Libertatis)

1930

Prinses Juliana (literature)

1928

Friedrich Küstner (astronomy)

1925

Wilhelmina (Praesidium Libertatis)

1924

Félix d'Herelle (microbiology)

1923

Robert T. A. Innes (astronomy)

1922

  • Kirsopp Lake (theology)
  • P.S. Allen (literature)

1921

Gerret Rouffaer (Indian culture)

1920

  • Abbott Lawrence Lowell (law)
  • James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce (law)

1919

Jacques Oppenheim (law)

1913

  • Elihu Root (law)
  • Louis Renault (law)
  • Emanuel Moresco (law)
  • Alfred Hermann Fried (law)
  • Tobias Asser (law)

1910

  • Daniël François Scheurleer (music history)
  • Edvard Lehmann (theology)

1909

J. Rendel Harris (theology)

1904

Egbert Broer Kielstra (literature)

1903

  • Jan Hendrik Wilterdink (astronomy)
  • Henri Justus Krantz (mechanics)

1902

Louis Bolk (medicine)

1900

  • Anton von Eiselsberg (medicine)
  • Hendrik Lorentz (physics)
  • Henri Deslandres (astronomy)

1898

Frans Schreinemakers (chemistry)

1897

Oscar II van Zweden (philosophy)

1895

  • Jan Poels (bacteriology)
  • George Karel Niemann (Indian languages)
  • Géza Kuun (linguistics)

1894

Hubertus Josephus Eymael (history of literature)

1893

Manuel Straub (opthalmics)

1892

Albert Cornelis Vreede (Indology)

1890

  • Adrianus Jacobus van Pesch (theology)
  • Maurits Albercht Gooszen (theology)

1887

Alfred von Kremer (Oriental studies)

1886

Charles Mathieu Schols (geodesy)

1884

  • George Alexander Wilken (ethnology)
  • Thomas Joannes Stieltjes jr. (maths)
  • Bhagwan Lal Indraji (archaeology)
  • Johannes Dyserinck (theology)

1881

Benjamin Frederik Matthes (linguistics)

1875

  • ca. 50 honorary doctorates, including:
  • Ludwig Traube (pathology)
  • Thomas Joannes Stieltjes sr. (hydraulics)
  • Joël Emanuel Goudsmit (law)
  • F.C. Donders (opthalmics)
  • Charles Darwin (biology)
  • Arthur Cayley (maths)

1873

Cornelis Petrus Tiele (theology)

1835

  • Willem Hendrik de Vriese (botany)
  • Philippus Pieter Roorda van Eysinga (literature)
  • Frederik Kaiser (astronomy)
1831 Johan Rudolph Thorbecke (law)

Awards and prizes

Leiden University awards a number of medals and prizes in recognition of the efforts of people who have contributed to promoting science, education and freedom. 

Leiden University has awarded the William of Orange medal since 1990 to people who have been dedicated to promoting freedon at societal, national or international level. 

Awarded to

2014

2013

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of  the UN

2009

Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile

2008

2006

Edward O. Wilson, professor at Harvard University

2003

Carlo A. Ciampi, President of Italy

1995

Dr. R. Herzog, Federal President of Germany

1994

  • Prof.. M.A. Nur en Din, Secretary General Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo
  • Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission

 

Leiden University has been awarding the Scaliger medal since 2017 to individuals or organisations who strive in a unique way to promote the values upheld by universities worldwide in the area of research and education. 

Presented to

2021 The Europaeum
2020 Henri Lenferink, Mayor of Leiden
2017 Kurt de Ketelaere, President of LERU

 

Since 1958 the Executive Board has awarded the University medal to people who have made a special contribution to the university. These can be individuals from outside the university, as in 2010, when the award was given to the former Head of Cabinet Matters of the municipality of Leiden, or in 2014, when the chair of Minerva student association received the medal  in celebration of the 200-year anniversary of the association.

The biennial Mr. K.J. Cath award is named after lawyer K.J. Cath, who was president of the Executive Board until 1988. The university community nominates students and/or staff who, with their research or teaching - or their support of research and teaching - have promoted the standing of Leiden University. The award consists of a certificate and an amount of 2,500 euros. 

Presented to

2022 Nieuwschekers, a fact-checking project within the Journalism and New Media programme that is coordinated by news experts Peter Burger and Alexander Pleijter.
2020 No presentation
2018 Astronomer and science communicator Pedro Russo for his outreach efforts that bring science to the general public

2016

Edisen Foundation for providing lectures for clients of healthcare institutions.

2014

Student-entrepreneur Wouter Bruins (InOvo) for developing an inexpensive device for tracing malaria, and an animal-friendly method of determining the sex of unborn chicks. 

2012

Curator for Photography Maartje van den Heuvel for exhibiting special Leiden photo collections

2010

Leiden Students In Free Enterprise Foundation (SIFE) for development work via knowledge transfer

2008

‘Math girls’ Jeanine Daems en Ionica Smeets for promoting maths

2006

Rino Foundation for their travelling physics show

2004

Telders Organising Office for organising the annual international moot court contest

2002

Hans Huibregtse for his exam training courses

The Teaching Prize has been awarded since 2000 to university lecturers who distinguish themselves with their innovative teaching and their interaction with students. Following a round of nominations by students,  and attending several lectures, the Leiden University Student Platform selects three finalists. The winner receives a research grant of 20,000 euros and becomes a member of the  Leiden Teachers’ Academy.

Nominees and winners

2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
  • Beerend Hierck (winner)
  • Karène Sanchez
2013

Martin Baasten (winner)

2012

Isabelle Van de Calseyde (winner)

2011
  • Bart van Horck (winner) 
  • Isabelle Van de Calseyde
  • Ellen Raven
  • Yvette Dijkxhoorn
  • Nora Goosen
2010 Manon Grosselink
2009 Luuk Willems
2008 David Fontijn
2007 Larissa Anissimova
2005 Rico Sneller
2004 Enrico Marani
2000 George Maat

The Gratama Science Prize is an encouragement award for promising young researchers from the universities of Leiden and Groningen who have distinguished themselves in innovative, socially relevant and high-profile research. It is an annual prize that is awarded in odd years to a researcher from Leiden and in even years to a researcher from Groningen. The Prize, which is awarded by the Gratama Foundation upon the recommendation of the Leiden University Fund and, respectively, the Groningen University Fund, comprises a research subsidy of 25,000 euros, intended for the further academic development of the winner.

Presented to

2021 Sabine van der Asdonk
2019 Mariëtte Boon
2017 Ahmad Al-Jallad

2015

Jojanneke van der Toorn

2013

Sophie van Rijn

2012

Anton Akhmerov

Once every five years, on anniversaries celebrated by the University, the Executive Board can decide to issue a bronze medal to persons whose special merits  qualify them for this award. In addition, the lustrum medal can also be offered for sale in a limited edition.

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