14 June 2024

Swimrun in a multisport discipline born in Sweden

in 2002 which involves

participants

running and swimming over a course that involves multiple swim and run stages.

RUN

9 January 2024 14:00 - 17:00

(58C) - Room 11 Auditorium - 004

Rik Van De Walle

The role of the academia in the EU society - The past couple of years are marked by a series of local and global disruptions (ranging from a global pandemic to the war in Ukraine and elsewhere) – not to mention the greatest challenge of our times: climate change. The disturbances and insecurities caused by the ongoing ‘polycrisis’ have urged universities to revert to their constitutive values (most notably those established in the Magna Charta Universitatum) as well as to critically reflect on their role in the broader society. In his presentation, rector Rik Van de Walle will reflect on the current and future role of academia from a local (a university in Belgium), European (the establishment of a European Research and Education Area in the EU and beyond) and universal (global academic cooperation in research and education) perspective. The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion of Prof. Rik Van de Walle with JRC high level scientists Alessandro Cescatti (biogeosciences in Dir.D), Naoumi Kourti (security technology and evolved into behavioural sciences in Dir.E/S), Frank Dentener (atmospheric science in Dir.C/D and Joanna Bratnicka (Dir.F).

29 February 2024 11:00 - 14:00

JRC ISPRA 36 000/004 AMPHITHEATRE (100P)

Jan Boelen

Post-industrial and post-growth production

Ateliers Luma experiments with artists, designers, scientists and entrepreneurs to develop sustainable local solutions to existing industrial problems, such as the algae in the estuaries of the Rhône or the stalks remaining on sunflower fields after the harvest. Atelier Luma has developed a new transdisciplinary, local and sustainable method that comes close to a real green technology. The method is by now applied in 39 different regions, in Europe but not only.

14 March 2024 11:00 - 14:00

JRC ISPRA 36 000/004 AMPHITHEATRE (100P)

Valerie Trouet

Tree Story: The History of Our World Written in tree rings'

Dendrochronology - the study of the rings in trees - allows us to reconstruct climate variability over the past ca. 2,000 years and to put current anthropogenic climate change in a long-term context. We can use tree rings to study past mean climate, but also climate extremes - such as droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires - and climate dynamical patterns, such as the jet stream. In addition to this, dendrochronology sits at the nexus of climatology, ecology, and archeology and helps us to link climate history to forest history and human history. In my talk, I will present two tree-ring based studies aimed at providing long-term records of (1) jet stream variability and (2) California wildfires. I will show how our century-long proxy records have improved our understanding of the interactions between the climate system, human systems, and ecosystems.

18 April 2024 11:00 - 14:00

JRC ISPRA 36 000/004 AMPHITHEATRE (100P)

Geert Buelens

Prof. of Modern Dutch Literature at Utrecht University, Guest Prof.of Dutch Literature at Stellenbosch University (RSA) and Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress. He is the author of several award-winning books, and the editor of Avant Garde Critical Studies, co-editor of the Journal of Dutch Literature and a regular contributor to Dutch and Belgian newspapers. He is also an award-winning poet. Climate change seen as viewed from the perspective of 1972, the year of publication of the report of the Club of Rome on Limists to Growth. What was the public discussion fifty years ago? What green themes were discussed, or not, at that time? What have we forgotten of these discussions? How did they influence the climate movement and climate science? Geert Buelens will expound on this forgotten history, and ask us what went wrong.

16 May 2024 11:00 - 14:00

JRC ISPRA 36 000/004 AMPHITHEATRE (100P)

Quentin Michel

The end of the free trade era - Quentin Michel, Prof at university of Liege and the Politecnico a Milano. Since World War II, Western economic policy has evolved from initial restrictions to promoting international exchanges of goods, services, and knowledge, with the goal of achieving economic development through open markets and global competition. The Euratom Treaty serves as an illustration of the necessity for transferring and sharing nuclear items among states with diverse allocations of activities and materials.

However, recent events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, and China's civil-military fusion policy, have underscored the limitations of this open policy. Consequently, a recent shift has occurred, with increased restrictions not only through export controls but also via direct foreign investments, economic security strategies, knowledge security, and other mechanisms. These changes raise questions about whether we are witnessing the initial signs of the end of the free trade era.

30 May 2024 11:00 - 14:00

JRC ISPRA 36 000/004 AMPHITHEATRE (100P)

Thomas de Groote

Thomas de Groote is the CEO of RIVER CLEANUP. Every year, 11 billion kilograms of plastic pollution ends up in the ocean. A big part of this pollution flows into our oceans via rivers. Their goal is to remove the plastic before it ever arrives in the oceans. River Cleanup has a global network of volunteers with "blue hearts" who contribute to making our planet a better place by organising or participating in river cleanup initiatives. They also organise awareness activities around the problem, and develop change programs for companies interested in reducing their environmental impact.

Early afternoon

Arrival in Vigo di Fassa

Ascent with the cable from Vigo di Fassa to Clampedie

3 hours walk to Vajolet refuge (2248 m)

Dinner, evening and 1st night in dormitory

Saturday

Édouard, baron Merckx (/ˈmɛʁks/), known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian cyclist born on 17 June 1945.

A professional from 1965 to 1978, Eddy Merckx is often regarded as the greatest cyclist in history, such was his success at the highest level. He won a record 625 races (525 road victories, 98 track wins and two cyclo-cross titles) during his career. Nicknamed "The Cannibal" or "The Ogre of Tervueren" for his insatiability, Eddy Merckx has numerous other records in cycling, including eleven Grand Tours won (five Tours de France, five Tours of Italy and one Tour of Spain) and three world road championships, as well as thirty-one classics including nineteen 'Monuments' (seven Milan-San Remo, two Tours of Flanders, three Paris-Roubaix, five Liège-Bastogne-Liège and two Tours of Lombardy). He also finished on the final podium of a grand tour twelve times. Only Jacques Anquetil did better, with thirteen podium finishes.

Eddy Merckx also broke the hour record. He was voted "Belgian athlete of the 20th century", as well as best cyclist of the 20th century by the International Cycling Union.

René Magritte,

né le 21 novembre 1898 à Lessines (Belgique) et mort le 15 août 1967 à Schaerbeek, est un peintre surréaliste belge.

Associated with surrealism, René Magritte (1898-1967) is the master of enigmas. Known for his paintings that function like rebus or metaphors, he highlights, with humour and poetry, our difficulty in making the reality of the world coincide with our mental images - in short, what makes up the human mind. Magritte developed a veritable pictorial alphabet using recurring motifs: the apple, the bird, the man in the bowler hat, fragmented bodies, etc. His images are often hidden behind or within other images, combining two possible levels of reading, the visible and the invisible.

Adolphe Sax- inventor of the saxophone

Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax - 6 November 1814 – 7 February 1894 -was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba. He played the flute and clarinet.

His father and mother were instrument designers themselves, who made several changes to the design of the French horn. Adolphe began to make his own instruments at an early age, entering two of his flutes and a clarinet into a competition at the age of 15. He subsequently studied performance on those two instruments as well as voice at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

Jacques Brel

Jacques Romain Georges Brel (8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world. He is considered a master of the modern chanson.

Although he recorded most of his songs in French and occasionally in Dutch, he became an influence on English-speaking songwriters and performers, such as Scott Walker, David Bowie, Alex Harvey, Marc Almond, Neil Hannon, and Rod McKuen. English translations of his songs were recorded by many performers, including Bowie, Walker, Ray Charles, Judy Collins, John Denver, The Kingston Trio, Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, James Dean Bradfield, Frank Sinatra, and Andy Williams.

Brel was a successful actor, appearing in 10 films. He directed two films, one of which, Le Far West, was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973.[ Having sold over 25 million records worldwide, Brel is the third-best-selling Belgian recording artist of all time. Brel married Thérèse "Miche" Michielsen in 1950, and the couple had three children. He also had a romantic relationship with actress and dancer Maddly Bamy from 1972 until his death in 1978.

Famous songs: Ne me quittes pas, Le plat pays, Les bourgeois, La valse à mille temps, Mathilde, Marieke, Quand on n’a que l’amour, ... see more on this link on youtube.

Sœur (Sister) Emmanuelle,

(16 November 1908 – 20 October 2008) was a Religious Sister of both Belgian and French origins, noted for her involvement in working for the plight of the poor in Turkey and Egypt.

In the 1930s, Sister Emmanuelle started teaching at the Notre-Dame de Sion High School in Istanbul, where she lived until the 1960s, with teaching assignments by her congregation of several years in Tunis and Alexandria in between.

In 1971, Sister Emmanuelle witnessed the impoverished conditions of the trash collectors in Cairo, Egypt, and decided to live among them. She remained there until 1993, when she returned to France.

In addition to her charity work, she was known for her unorthodox religious views, including her approval of the use of contraception and of the idea of allowing priests to marry. She was voted one of the most popular people in both France and Belgium, and was compared to Mother Teresa, although she herself regarded the comparison as "ridiculous".

She died in her sleep from natural causes at the age of 99, less than four weeks from celebrating her 100th birthday.

French Singer Calogero dedicated a song to her named "Yalla", which means "move on, move forward" in Arabic, something she was famous for saying. The song was sung to her for her 98th birthday.

In 2018, for the 10th anniversary of her death, the city of Paris decided to name a street after her.

Pater Damiaan,

Père Damien, Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai (3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889) born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious institute. He was recognized for his ministry, which he led from 1873 until his death in 1889, in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to people with leprosy (Hansen's disease), who lived in government-mandated medical quarantine in a settlement on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokaʻi.

During this time, he taught the Catholic faith to the people of Hawaii. Father Damian also cared for the patients and established leaders within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He dressed residents' ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves, shared pipes, and ate poi with them, providing both medical and emotional support.

After eleven years of caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, Father Damian contracted leprosy. He continued with his work despite the infection but finally succumbed to the disease on 15 April 1889. Father Damian also had tuberculosis which worsened his condition, but some believe that the reason he volunteered in the first place was due to his illness of tuberculosis.[

Father Damian has been described as a "martyr of charity". Damien De Veuster is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. In the Anglican Communion and other Christian denominations, Damian is considered the spiritual patron for leprosy and outcasts. Father Damian Day, 15 April, the day of his death, is also a minor statewide holiday in Hawaii. Father Damian is the patron saint of the Diocese of Honolulu and of Hawaii.

Father Damian was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2009. Libert H. Boeynaems, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, calls him "the Apostle of the Lepers." Damian De Veuster's feast day is 10 May.

Joseph, Baron Van Damme (born 25 August 1940 in Brussels), known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone.

At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance. He made his opera début as the music teacher Don Basilio in Gioacchino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Paris Opera in 1961, and remained in the company until 1965, when he sang his first major role, Escamillo from Bizet's Carmen. He then sang for two seasons at Geneva, La Scala, Covent Garden, and in Paris.

Van Dam has performed at L’Opéra de Paris, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Salzburg Festival, and festivals in Aix-en-Provence and Orange, France.

Van Dam has become the Master in Residence of the singing section at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in his home country, Belgium, since 2011.

Here is a link to an abstract of the movie “Le maître de musique”. Le Maître de Musique is a Belgian film directed by Gérard Corbiau and released in 1988.The first sequences of the movie - in which Joachim Dallayrac, played by José van Dam, gives his last recital - were filmed in the theatre of Chimay castle. The scenes of the arrival of the train and the market were filmed at Olloy-sur-Viroin station. Several of the film's interior and exterior scenes were shot at the Château de La Hulpe. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1989. José Van Dam in an interview says that after this film he became better known outside the opera public. Some spectators told him that he had given them a taste for opera music or the impetus to start signing.

Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials RG, was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating The Adventures of Tintin, the series of comic albums which are considered one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. He was also responsible for two other well-known series, Quick & Flupke (1930–1940) and The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko (1936–1957).

Victor Pierre Horta

Victor, Baron Horta after 1932; 6 January 1861 – 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement.

The curving stylized vegetal forms that Horta used in turn influenced many others, including the French architect Hector Guimard, who used it in the first Art Nouveau apartment building he designed in Paris and in the entrances he designed for the Paris Metro. He is also considered a precursor of modern architecture for his open floor plans and his innovative use of iron, steel and glass.

Horta's later work moved away from Art Nouveau, and became more geometric and formal, with classical touches, such as columns. He made a highly original use of steel frames and skylights to bring light into the structures, open floor plans, and finely-designed decorative details.

His later major works included the Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis (1895–1899), Brussels' Centre for Fine Arts (1923–1929) and Brussels Central Station (1913–1952). In 1932, King Albert I conferred on Horta the title of Baron for his services to the field of architecture.

After Art Nouveau lost favor, many of Horta's buildings were abandoned, or even destroyed, though his work has since been rehabilitated. Four of the buildings he designed in Brussels were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000: the Hôtel Tassel, the Hôtel Solvay, the Hôtel van Eetvelde and the Horta House (currently the Horta Museum).

More on: https://www.discoveringbelgium.com/victor-horta/

Dirk Dries David Damiaan, First belgian in space.

Viscount Frimout (born 21 March 1941 in Poperinge, Belgium) is an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency. He flew aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-45 as a payload specialist] making him the first Belgian in space.

Frimout flew as a payload specialist on STS-45 Atlantis (24 March to 2 April 1992). STS-45 was launched from and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. It was the first Spacelab mission dedicated to NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. During the nine-day flight, the crew aboard Atlantis operated the twelve experiments that constituted the ATLAS-1 (Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science) cargo. ATLAS-1 obtained a vast array of detailed measurements of atmospheric chemical and physical properties, which contributed significantly to improving our understanding of our climate and atmosphere. In addition, this was the first time an artificial beam of electrons was used to stimulate a man-made auroral discharge. At mission conclusion, Frimout had traveled 3.2 million miles in 143 Earth orbits and logged over 214 hours in space.

His flight made him instantaneously very famous in Belgium and triggered what was called Frimout-mania.[5] Prince Philippe of Belgium talked with him when he was in space and a ticker tape parade was organized when he came back to Belgium.

Claude Barzotti

23 July 1953 – 24 June 2023) was a Belgian singer of Italian origin who was prominent during the 1980s. Barzotti recorded several songs which each sold hundreds of thousands of copies. He first achieved success in 1981 with his song Le Rital.

Rital is a derogatory French slang term used to refer to people of Italian descent. The song deals with Barzotti's experiences as a young child and how "he would have preferred to be named Dupont (a common French surname) but the song also deals with his pride concerning the term, exemplified in lines such as Je suis rital et je le reste, (I'm Italian and will so remain). Barzotti's career continued throughout the 1980s, but his last major successful song was Aime-moi (Love Me) in 1990. Although Barzotti took advantage of the wave of nostalgia which gripped France at the turn of the 21st century, he was unable to capture the musical prominence he had once held. Because of his distinctive voice and great successes in the French music industry, he is considered one of the most prominent French pop musicians of the 1980s. Barzotti's music was also popular in Québec, with songs such as Je ne t'écrirai plus (I Won't Write You Anymore), Prends bien soin d'elle (Take Good Care of Her), C'est moi qui pars (It's Me Who's Leaving), and J'ai les bleus (I Have the Blues).

Ernest Gaston Joseph Solvay

16 April 1838 – 26 May 1922) was a Belgian chemist, industrialist and philanthropist.

Born in Rebecq, he was prevented by his acute pleurisy from going to university. He worked in his uncle's chemical factory from the age of 21.

In 1861, he, along with his brother Alfred Solvay, developed the ammonia-soda process (also known as the Solvay process) for the manufacturing of soda ash (anhydrous sodium carbonate) from brine (as a source of sodium chloride) and limestone (as a source of calcium carbonate).

The exploitation of his patents brought Solvay considerable wealth, which he used for philanthropic purposes, including the establishment in 1894 of the "Institut des Sciences Sociales" (ISS) or Institute for Sociology at the Free University of Brussels (now split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel), as well as International Institutes for Physics and Chemistry. In 1903, he founded the Solvay Business School which is also part of the Free University of Brussels.

Amélie Nothomb

Baroness Fabienne Claire Nothomb born 13 August 1967[1]), better known by her pen name Amélie Nothomb is a Belgian Francophone novelist. Part of her childhood was spent in Asia.

A prolific author, since the publication of her first novel Hygiene and the Assassin in 1992, at the age of twenty-six, she has published a book a year. Her novels are among the top literary sales and have been translated into several languages.

She is a Commander of the Order of the Crown and has had the title of Baroness bestowed upon her by King Philippe of Belgium. Her satirical novel about corporate life in Japan Fear and Trembling won the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1999, and in 2015 she was elected to the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature in Belgium.

Benoît Poelvoorde

born 22 September 1964) is a Belgian actor and comedian.

In 1992, Poelvoorde, Belvaux and Bonzel wrote, produced and directed together their first long feature C'est arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog internationally) originally a low-budget school graduation project (1992) and a kind of cynical "noir" movie, inspired from the famous Belgian series "Strip-Tease" which went on to become a critically acclaimed cult movie. The film received the André Cavens Award for Best Film by the Belgian Film Critics Association (UCC).

Poelvoorde subsequently starred in two series on the French pay-channel Canal+ and several movies such as Les Randonneurs, Le Boulet and Podium, which made him famous in France and Belgium. In 2001, he starred in Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert, a movie about one of his passions, bicycling. In 2002, he received the Jean Gabin Prize, which recognized the most hopeful young talents. Poelvoorde became a member of the Cannes Film Festival Jury in 2004 by request of Quentin Tarantino, a big fan of Man Bites Dog who had presided over the Jury that year.

In 2008, his performance in the movie Astérix aux Jeux olympiques won him critical acclaim by both film critics and the public at large. His recurrent character as a pretentious person and a sore loser has drawn comparisons between him and the beloved French comedian Louis de Funès. Poelvoorde also played serious roles. He has starred in 2009 as Etienne Balsan in Coco avant Chanel by Anne Fontain, with Audrey Tautou; as Jean-René in 2010 with Isabelle Carré in a comedy by Jean-Pierre Améris Émotifs anonymes about two extremely shy persons who fall in love, and also as August Maquet in L'autre Dumas by Safy Nebbou, alongside Gérard Depardieu and Dominique Blanc, a movie about the creative ghostwriter, Maquet, who played a crucial role in the production of French writer Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers. For his work in A Place on Earth (2013), Poelvoorde received a Magritte Award for Best Actor.

Jacky Ickx

Jacques Bernard Edmon Martin Henry "Jacky" Ickx (born 1 January 1945) is a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times (second-highest of all time) and achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One. He greatly contributed to several World Championships for Makes and World Sports Car championships: Ford (1968), Ferrari (1972), Porsche (1976–1977) and (1982–1985) by his 37 major World Sports Car wins. He also won the Can-Am Championship in 1979 and the 1983 Paris–Dakar Rally.

Ickx twice finished as championship runner-up in Formula One, in the consecutive years of 1969 and 1970. He won the majority of his races for Scuderia Ferrari, for which he was the team's leading driver for several seasons in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

(28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium).[

He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens's highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens was a painter producing altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. He was also a prolific designer of cartoons for the Flemish tapestry workshops and of frontispieces for the publishers in Antwerp.

In addition to running a large workshop in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens was a prolific artist. The catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop.

His commissioned works were mostly history paintings, which included religious and mythological subjects, and hunt scenes. He painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house. He also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the royal entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria in 1635. He wrote a book with illustrations of the palaces in Genoa, which was published in 1622 as Palazzi di Genova. The book was influential in spreading the Genoese palace style in Northern Europe. Rubens was an avid art collector and had one of the largest collections of art and books in Antwerp. He was also an art dealer and is known to have sold an important number of art objects to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

He was one of the last major artists to make consistent use of wooden panels as a support medium, even for very large works, but he used canvas as well, especially when the work needed to be sent a long distance. For altarpieces he sometimes painted on slate to reduce reflection problems.

Stromae

Paul van Haver born 12 March 1985), better known by his stage name Stromae is a Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his music blending hip hop and electronic music. Stromae came to wide public attention in 2009 with his song "Alors on danse" (from the album Cheese), which became a number one in several European countries. In 2013, his second album Racine carrée was a commercial success, selling two million copies in France. The main singles from the album include "Papaoutai" and "Formidable". Stromae also has a series of “leçons” that show how he makes his songs.

Jean Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme is a Belgian martial artist, actor, filmmaker, fight choreographer, and conservationist. Born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, at the age of ten his father enrolled him in martial arts classes, which led Van Damme to compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did odd jobs and worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).

Van Damme became a popular action film star and followed up with box-office successes such as Cyborg (1989), Kickboxer (1989), Lionheart (1990), Death Warrant (1990), Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), Nowhere to Run (1993), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Street Fighter (1994), Sudden Death (1995), The Quest (1996), Maximum Risk (1996), etc. After a decline, Van Damme returned to prominence with the critically acclaimed crime drama JCVD (2008). His first widely released action film since 1999 was The Expendables 2 (2012), in which he starred as the villain, opposite Sylvester Stallone. From thereon Van Damme continued starring in action films and doing extensive voice work.

Van Damme's films have grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making him one of the most successful action stars of all time.[ Outside acting, Van Damme has publicly supported various conservationist causes. In 2017, he became an international ambassador for GAIA (Global Action in the Interest of Animals), and in 2022, was appointed as DRC Ambassador On Environment.

Toots Thielemans

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for playing the chromatic harmonica, as well as his guitar and whistling skills, and composing. According to jazz historian Ted Gioia, his most important contribution was in "championing the humble harmonica", which Thielemans made into a "legitimate voice in jazz". He eventually became the "preeminent" jazz harmonica player.

His first professional performances were with Benny Goodman's band when they toured Europe in 1949 and 1950. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1951, becoming a citizen in 1957. From 1953 to 1959 he played with George Shearing, and then led his own groups on tours in the U.S. and Europe. In 1961 he recorded and performed live one of his own compositions, "Bluesette", which featured him playing guitar and whistling. In the 1970s and 1980s, he continued touring and recording, appearing with musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Werner, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Mina Mazzini, Elis Regina, Quincy Jones, George Shearing, Natalie Cole, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, and Paquito D'Rivera.

Thielemans recorded the soundtracks for The Pawnbroker (1964), Midnight Cowboy (1969), The Getaway (1972), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Sugarland Express (1974) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). His harmonica theme song for the popular Sesame Street TV show was heard for 40 years. He often performed and recorded with Quincy Jones, who once called him "one of the greatest musicians of our time." In 2009 he was designated a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor for a jazz musician in the United States.

David and Stephen Dewaele (Soulwax)

Soulwax are a Belgian electronic band and DJ/production collective from Ghent, who formed in 1995. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor and Laima Cavalera, and Stefaan Van Leuven. The group first rose to prominence following the release of their album Much Against Everyone's Advice, and have released five studio albums to date. Outside of Soulwax, the Dewaeles also perform DJ sets under the moniker 2manydjs (first known as The Fucking Dewaele Brothers/The Flying Dewaele Brothers).

The group are also known for their project Radio Soulwax. Their 2002 compilation, As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2, was named the best popular music album of 2002 by The New York Times. The brothers have also hosted a show on Belgian television, titled Alter8.

Baudouin the First

(7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993) was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his death in 1993. He was the last Belgian king to be sovereign of the Congo. During Baudouin's reign the colony of Belgian Congo became independent.

Baudouin was the elder son of King Leopold III (1901–1983) and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden (1905–1935). Because he and his wife, Queen Fabiola, had no children, at Baudouin's death the crown passed to his younger brother, King Albert II.

Baudouin reigned for 42 years. He died of heart failure on 31 July 1993 in the Villa Astrida in Motril, in the south of Spain. Although in March 1992 the king had been operated on for a mitral valve prolapse in Paris, his death still came unexpectedly, and sent much of Belgium into a period of deep mourning. Within hours the Royal Palace gates and enclosure were covered with flowers that people brought spontaneously. A viewing of the body was held at the Royal Palace in central Brussels; 500,000 people (5% of the population) came to pay their respects. Many waited in line up to 14 hours in sweltering heat to see their King one last time. All European monarchs attended the funeral service.

Axelle Red

Fabienne Demal (born 15 February 1968), better known by her stage name Axelle Red, is a Belgian singer-

songwriter. She has released 12 albums, including Sans plus attendre, À Tâtons, Toujours Moi and Jardin Secret. She is best known for her 1993 single "Sensualité", a hit in France in 1994.

Since 1997, Axelle Red has been an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), standing up for the rights of children and women in war-torn regions and developing countries.

In May 2008, the University of Hasselt awarded Axelle the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa for her social commitment as an artist and human rights' activist. On the occasion of International Women's Day, Axelle was guest speaker at the Council of Europe during a debate on domestic violence.

As ambassador for Handicap International in 2022, she visited the organization's workshop in Colombia, where efforts are being made to clear the soil of land mines, inch by inch.

Paul Van Himst (Polle Gazon)

Paul Van Himst (born 2 October 1943) is a Belgian former football player and a football manager who played as a forward, most notably for R.S.C. Anderlecht.

Van Himst was nicknamed Polle Gazon (Polle is Paul in Brussels dialect, and Gazon means lawn in Dutch and French) due to the large number of fouls committed on him. In 1964, he played in the Belgium-Netherlands match alongside 10 Anderlecht players after the substitution of goalkeeper Delhasse by Jean-Marie Trappeniers.

Van Himst won the Belgian championship eight times, all of them with Anderlecht, the club for which he played his first professional season in 1959–60. With Anderlecht, he scored 233 goals in 457 matches (16 seasons). He then played for RWDM (another Brussels club) in 1975–76 and for Eendracht Aalst (then in the second division) in the following season.

Between 1960 and 1974, Van Himst scored 30 goals (in 81 matches) for the Belgian national team. This performance made him Belgium's second top scorer—along with Bernard Voorhoof—and the tenth most capped player for his country. He made his debut on 19 October 1960 in a match against Sweden and he was part of Belgium's team which qualified for the 1970 World Cup. Van Himst then helped Belgium reach third place at the Euro 1972. As a football manager, Van Himst worked notably for Anderlecht and the national team which he led to the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Dirk Martens

(Latin: Theodoricus Martinus) (1446 or 1447 – 28 May 1534) was a printer and editor in the County of Flanders. He published over fifty books by Erasmus and the very first edition of Thomas More's Utopia. He was the first to print Greek and Hebrew characters in the Netherlands. In 1856 a statue of Martens was erected on the main square of the town of his birth, Aalst.

Louis Paul Boon

Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht (Louis Paul) Boon (15 March 1912, in Aalst – 10 May 1979, in Erembodegem) was a Belgian writer of novels, poetry, pornography, columns and art criticism. He was also a painter. He is best known for the novels My Little War (1947), the diptych Chapel Road (1953) / Summer in Termuren (1956), Menuet (1955) and Pieter Daens (1971).

He was born in 1912 as Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht Boon in Aalst, Belgium, the oldest son in a working-class family. Although he was still very young during the First World War, memories of a German soldier shooting a prisoner would end up in later autobiographical work. Boon left school at age 16 to work for his father as a car painter. He was expelled from school for possession of forbidden books. During evenings and weekends he studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts, but soon had to abandon his studies due to lack of funds.

Boon was thought to have been shortlisted for a Nobel Prize in Literature in the late 1970s, and even received an invitation to appear at the Swedish Embassy, probably to be told that the Prize had been awarded to him. The day before the appointment he died at his writing table of a heart attack. Very little of his writing has been translated into English, but De Kapellekensbaan and Zomer in Ter-Muren are both available in English translation from Dalkey Archive Press as Chapel Road and Summer in Termuren, and Paul Vincent's translation of Mijn kleine oorlog (as My Little War) was published by Dalkey in 2009.

Angèle

Angèle Van Laeken (born 3 December 1995) is a Belgian singer and songwriter. She was one of 2018's biggest breakout acts in French and Belgian pop music, breaking Stromae's record for weeks at the top of the Belgian singles charts with her 2018 single "Tout oublier" which features her brother, Roméo Elvis.

Angèle is a fan of Ella Fitzgerald and Hélène Ségara. She is inspired by many musical genres from French songs to electronic music and rap, which she disliked as a teenager. She became influenced by rap, particularly while performing with her brother Romeo Elvis and the rappers Caballero and JeanJass.

Most popular songs: Tout oublier, La loi de murphy, Fever, Bruxelles je t’aime, ...

Ambiorix, Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae

Ambiorix (Gaulish "king of the surroundings", or "king-protector") (fl. 54–53 BC) was, together with Cativolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul (Gallia Belgica), where modern Belgium is located. In the nineteenth century Ambiorix became a Belgian national hero because of his resistance against Julius Caesar, as written in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico.

Caesar wrote about Ambiorix in his commentary about his battles against the Gauls, De Bello Gallico. In this text he also famously wrote: "Of these [three regions], the Belgae are the bravest." ("... Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae ...").

Ambiorix remained a relatively obscure figure until the nineteenth century. The independence of Belgium in 1830 spurred a search for national heroes. In Caesar's De Bello Gallico, Ambiorix and his deeds were rediscovered. In 1841, the Belgian poet Joannes Nolet de Brauwere Van Steeland wrote a lyrical epic about Ambiorix.

Furthermore, on September 5, 1866, a statue of Ambiorix was erected on the main market square in Tongeren, Belgium, referred to by Caesar as Atuatuca, i.e. Atuatuca Tungrorum.

Today, Ambiorix is one of the most famous characters in Belgian history. Many companies, bars and friteries have named themselves after him, and in many Belgian comics such as Suske en Wiske and Jommeke he plays a guest role. There was also a short-lived comic called Ambionix, which featured a scientist teleporting a Belgic chief, loosely based on Ambiorix, to modern-day Belgium.

In the French comic Asterix, in the album Asterix in Belgium, Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix and Vitalstatistix go to Belgium because they are angry with Caesar about his remark that the Belgians are the bravest of all the Gauls.

Will Tura

Arthur Achiel Albert, Knight Blanckaert (born 2 August 1940 in Veurne), known by his stage name Will Tura, is a Belgian artist considered as the most successful Flemish-speaking singer of the 20th century. Famous in Flanders and the Netherlands, Tura is a singer, musician (he plays the piano, guitar, drums, accordion and harmonica), composer and songwriter. Nicknamed the Emperor of the Flemish Song, he released hundreds of singles and albums that cover a wide array of styles, and continued to tour into the 2010s.

Maurice Carême

2 May 1899 – 13 January 1978) was a Belgian francophone poet, best known for his simple writing style and children's poetry. His work was part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Carême was born in Walloon Brabant in Wavre, then a rural part of Belgium. Although he grew up in a family of modest means – his father was a housepainter, and his mother a shopkeeper. Carême had a happy childhood, which would be reflected in his work.

Carême attended school in his hometown, and in 1914 was awarded a scholarship to attend Normal School in Tienen. It was at this time that he began writing poetry. In 1918, he graduated from Normal School and was assigned a primary school teacher's position in Anderlecht, near Brussels.

Carême's poetry progressively took on a greater place in his life, and in 1943 he resigned from his teaching profession to commit himself fully to writing. He also translated works of Dutch poets into French.

Carême died in Anderlecht. At his request, he was buried in Wavre. His wife died in 1990. His home in Anderlecht, "La Maison Blanche", now houses the Musée Maurice Carême.

Remco Evenepoel

born 25 January 2000) is a Belgian professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Soudal–Quick-Step.

He is the son of Patrick Evenepoel, a former racing cyclist who won the 1993 Grand Prix de Wallonie. Remco Evenepoel started his sport career in association football, playing for the youth teams of R.S.C. Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven, as well as being featured in the youth national teams of Belgium. Realising that his physical abilities made him more suited for cycling, he switched to the discipline in 2017. After winning the road race and time trial in the junior categories at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships, Evenepoel turned professional with Deceuninck–Quick-Step, skipping the under-23 rank.

Evenepoel won the 2022 Vuelta a España and the 2022 UCI World Road Race Championships two weeks later.

Jean-Marie Pfaff

(born 4 December 1953) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper who spent most of his professional career with Beveren and Bayern Munich. Pfaff was capped 64 times playing for Belgium, and participated at the 1982 FIFA World Cup and 1986 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Despite his sturdy physical build, Pfaff possessed quick reflexes and was known for his spectacular playing style, as well as his ability to produce acrobatic saves, which made him an effective shot-stopper. He was also known for his extroverted and outspoken character, his lively and eccentric personality, and his strong and charismatic leadership qualities, as well as his confidence, fair-play, and professionalism, which made him an excellent organiser of the defence and a popular figure among the fans; as such, due to his cheerful attitude on the pitch and humorous demeanor, he earned him the nickname El Simpático ("Mr. Nice Guy," in Spanish) during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He also excelled at quickly rushing off his line; moreover, although he was not the tallest goalkeeper, his large hands aided him when coming out to claim the ball, which made him an authoritative presence in goal. Furthermore, he was renowned for his penalty–stopping abilities. Despite his goalkeeping ability, however, and his reputation as one of the best goalkeepers in the world in his prime, and as one of Belgium's greatest goalkeepers ever – with some in the sport even ranking him as one of the best goalkeepers of all time –, he was also known to be inconsistent and prone to occasional errors.

Justine Henin

born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former world No. 1 tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in tennis, helped establish Belgium as a leading force in women's tennis alongside Kim Clijsters, and led the country to its first Fed Cup crown in 2001. She was known for her all-court style of play and for being one of the few female players to use a single-handed backhand.

Henin won seven Grand Slam singles titles: the French Open in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007, the US Open in 2003 and 2007, and the Australian Open in 2004. At Wimbledon, she was the runner-up in 2001 and 2006. She also won a gold medal in the women's singles at the 2004 Olympic Games and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in 2006 and 2007. In total, she won 43 WTA singles titles.

Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand (which John McEnroe described as "the best single-handed backhand in both the women's or men's game") as the principal reasons for her success. She retired from professional tennis on 26 January 2011, due to a chronic elbow injury. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time. She is widely considered one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. In 2016, she became the first Belgian tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and in 2023, the International Tennis Federation awarded Justine Henin its highest honor, the Philippe Chatrier Award.

Lara Fabian

Lara Sophie Katy Crokaert (born 9 January 1970), better known as Lara Fabian, is a Belgian-Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She has sold over 20 million records worldwide as of 2021 and is one of the best-selling Belgian artists of all time.

She was born in Etterbeek, Brussels, to a Belgian father and a Sicilian mother. She lived the first part of her childhood in Sicily, Catania, speaking Italian as her first language. She moved to Quebec in 1991 and since 1995, she has held Canadian citizenship alongside her Belgian one. In 2003, she returned to Brussels to be close to her parents in Belgium and in 2015 lived in Walloon Brabant province in Belgium just outside Brussels. In 2017, she returned permanently to Montreal, Quebec, to be with her family.

Fabian is a full lyric soprano with a vocal range that spans three octaves from C3 to G5 in live performances.

She is multilingual, she speaks Italian, French, Spanish, Sicilian, English and some Flemish.[citation needed] She has also sung in Azerbaijani, German, Greek, Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, and Turkish.

Fabian has written for other artists such as French female singers Chimène Badi, Nolwenn Leroy and Myriam Abel. She also composed for Daniel Lévi and is said to be currently working with a former contestant from "Nouvelle Star 3", Roland. She has often praised the voice and talent of successful female singer Amel Bent, who was also a contestant on that show. She wrote "Dis-moi comment t'aimer" for Greek singer George Perris on his album Un Souhait. "Imaginer" was originally written in English, under the name 'Broken Vow', by Fabian and songwriter Walter Afanasieff. They rewrote the lyrics especially for Jackie Evancho, in French, for her album Dream with Me. The original meaning of the song, about a sad love, is completely changed in the French version to describe a dream of a beautiful world without war or hunger.