Historical walking guide along the trails of Leuven scientists and their laboratories.
Throughout its history, Leuven University has been home to many famous scientists. The names of cartographer Gerard Mercator, discoverer of gas lighting Jan Pieter Minckelers, chemist Jean-Baptist Van Mons, zoologist Pierre Joseph Van Beneden, and inventor of the Big Bang theory Georges Lemaître live on in the local street scene. The laboratories where they worked were housed in university colleges, repeatedly adapted over the centuries to the increasing requirements of scientific research. With the last of these laboratories soon to move out of the inner city to a campus outside the city, this book outlines the urban history of Leuven’s scientists and their laboratories, taking the reader along the still-visible traces of this remarkable heritage.
Leuven’s College Laboratories: An Urban Walking Guide through 600 Years of Science focuses on the material heritage of science. The book provides an engaging and accessible introduction to the university’s urban history, appealing to a wide audience of interested parties such as alumni, visitors, and tourists.
FOREWORD
THE CRADLE OF HUMANISM AND SCIENCE
Stop No. 1 Collegium Trilingue
THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION IN LEUVEN
Stop No. 2 Vicus Artium
THE FIRST LABORATORIES
Stop No. 3 De Valk College
OLD COLLEGES, NEW LABORATORIES
Stop No. 4 Pope’s College · Maria-Theresia College · Veterans’ College
LIVING IN THE LABORATORY
Stop No. 5 King’s College
ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
Stop No. 6 Premonstratensian College
LABORATORIES IN THE PARK
Stop No. 7 Institute for Chemistry (Arenberg Institute)
FROM MERCATOR TO LEMAÎTRE: SCIENTISTS IN TOWN
NOTES
FURTHER READING
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Geert Vanpaemel
Geert Vanpaemel is emeritus professor wetenschapsgeschiedenis aan KU Leuven.
Geert Vanpaemel is professor emeritus of the history of science at KU Leuven.
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