1,528 search results for “light” in the Public website
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Keti Koti in Leiden: 'Here, too, slavery is all around us‘
Many traces of the city's slavery history can be found in Leiden but the public isn't always aware of them. The initiators of 'Mapping Slavery in Leiden' want to change this with guided tours and street markers. Representatives of the University and other Leiden institutions will be giving the first…
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A headset and ample amounts of coffee: working from home in times of Corona
Now that university buildings have closed, most staff members have started working from home. How are Faculty of Science colleagues faring in their new offices?
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Resolution of electron microscope greatly improved
The use of a new type of detector has generated a strong improvement in the resolution of electron microscopes. The 'low-energy electron microscope' (LEEM) can now be used for research on the thinnest possible materials. The tests with the detector represent the first result of the ESCHER project.
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Should you leave academia to handle democracy?
The relationship between academia and democracy is a complicated one. Should policy makers listen to scientists or to citizens? That is the dilemma Valérie Pattyn and Johan Christensen will discuss with a panel of experts during the academic conference EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF).
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1963-1993: Common Market Law Review and the maturation of EU Law Academia
As part of her doctoral studies at the University of Copenhagen, Dr Rebekka Byberg explored the history of the Common Market Law Review from 1963 to 1993 in an engaging article which illustrates the evolution of European law as an academic discipline.
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Eleven Vidi grants for Leiden
NWO has awarded eleven Leiden researchers a Vidi grant of 800,000 euros. The research subjects range from Cicero and muscle dystrophy to the archaeology of bogs.
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As many as 6 NWO grants for Leiden political scientists
Recently, a new round of NWO XS grants was awarded. This grant is given to researchers with small, high-risk, innovative or promising research projects by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In this round of the so-called Open Competition XS, no fewer than six researchers from the Institute of Political…
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Vidi grants for 12 researchers from Leiden University
An impressive 12 researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an 800,000-euro grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This will enable them to develop their own line of research over the next five years.
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Children as storytellers and mindreaders
How do children learn to see the world through someone else’s perspective? Max van Duijn, assistant professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), receives 24,167 euros from the Elise Mathilde Foundation and the Leiden University Fund (LUF). With this grant he will set up a…
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Blog Post | The Taliban in Kabul: some diplomatic challenges
The occupation of the Afghan capital Kabul by the radical Taliban movement on 15 August 2021 received enormous international attention, not least because of the crisis that soon enveloped Kabul airport as desperate Afghans sought to flee the country on evacuation flights mounted by the United States…
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Tracking galaxies from a few glowing pixels
In 2018, astronomer Jorryt Matthee won the C.J. Kok Jury Prize for the best dissertation of the Faculty of Science. He succeeded in finding a number of rare galaxies from the early Universe. One of them received the same initials as football player Cristiano Ronaldo: CR7.
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Call for Papers: Imperial Artefacts. History, Law, and the Looting of Cultural Property
Call for Papers: Imperial Artefacts. History, Law, and the Looting of Cultural Property
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‘Working together on the basis of mutual respect is enriching and satisfying’
Since 2017 guest researcher Gerrit de Wit has been working together with Congolese linguists and the Boa community to develop the oral Boa language into a written one. He tells us about 2 unique projects, which are steadily unearthing and describing the structure of a new language.
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Understanding the game of marbles
Not many scientists can claim to have received funding from NWO to blow bubbles and play with sand, but Martin van Hecke definitely can. Van Hecke, Professor of the Organisation of Disordered Matter, delivered his inaugural lecture on Friday 4 September, under the enigmatic title of: ‘Bellen, bollen,…
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A staff exchange with your European peers: ‘Everyone could benefit from this’
Fancy seeing how your job is done at a university abroad? Project Managers Christina Schlüpen and Jeannette de Wolf from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry did just that. They both spent a week shadowing a European colleague: one in Bologna and the other in Berlin. This was through the Una Europe alliance,…
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Physical reality of string theory demonstrated
String theory has come under fire in recent years. Promises have been made that have not been lived up to. Leiden theoretical physicists have now for the first time used string theory to describe a physical phenomenon. Their discovery has been reported this week in 'Science'.
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Freon-40 may not be a useful marker of life
Observations made with the ALMA telescope in Chile and ESA’s Rosetta mission, have detected the faint molecular fingerprint of methyl chloride in gas, a chemical commonly produced by industrial biological processes on Earth, around both an infant star and a comet. Methyl chloride, also known as Freon-40,…
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Document discovered about Rembrandt's student years in Leiden
A previously unknown document about Rembrandt’s student years in Leiden has been found in the archive of Leiden University. The document, which is being kept at the University Library, proves that Rembrandt studied at Leiden University for longer than has always been assumed.
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Veni grant for ten Leiden researchers
Ten Leiden researchers have been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant, of up to 280,000 euros, will enable them to elaborate their ideas over a period of three years.
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Two Leiden astronomers awarded with prestigious IAU PhD Prize
Two Leiden astronomers will receive the prestigious IAU PhD Prize. Both Jorryt Mathee and Niels Ligterink of the Leiden Observatory won a prize. Scientific director Huub Röttgering: We are proud that this year two of our PhD students receive an IAU prize for the best thesis in their field of researc…
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Driss Moussaoui: Moroccan psychiatrist with a mission
Psychiatrists in Morocco can't ignore Islam. Driss Moussaoui was one of the first modern psychiatrists in this North African country. He delivered the LUCIS annual lecture on 12 April.
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Victims’ rights: do they work?
Crime victims cannot always fully exercise their rights, said Maarten Kunst, Professor of Criminology, in his inaugural lecture on 26 October. His mission is to find out why exactly this is and to see whether change can be brought about.
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Giant cosmic tsunami wakes up comatose galaxies
Galaxies are often found in clusters, which contain many “red and dead” members that stopped forming stars in the distant past. Now, an international team of astronomers, led by Andra Stroe of Leiden Observatory and David Sobral of Leiden and the University of Lisbon, has discovered that these comatose…
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Cleveringa Lecture by Gert Oostindie: Leiden University should also reflect on its colonial history
It is crucial that Leiden University reflects on its colonial history. These were the words of Cleveringa Professor Gert Oostindie in his inaugural lecture on 24 November. ‘As a university community, we must dare to hold up a mirror to ourselves and, where possible and necessary, also take concrete…
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Greek texts offer fascinating glimpse of multicultural Roman Empire
Casper de Jonge, Professor of Greek Language and Literature, believes that Greek texts from the Roman Empire are more interesting than was first thought. They offer a fascinating glimpse of the polyphonic and multicultural world of the Roman Empire. Inaugural lecture on 7 October.
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How our single-celled relatives package their DNA
A group of single-celled organisms organises its DNA in a similar way to higher organisms such as plants, animals, and fungi. However, the way packaged DNA is read out differs between the two related groups, Bram Henneman discovered. PhD defence on 5 December.
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Kids become real scientists with Lil'Scientist
Children are perfect scientists: they are bursting with curiosity, they want to know how the world works and they go exploring every day. Yet many children barely get a chance to be engaged in science. A number of scientists from the Young Academy want to change that. They have received 150,000 euros…
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Exhibition photographic oeuvre of world traveller Alexine Tinne
In collaboration with the The Hague Historical Museum and photographer Dagmar van Weeghel, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) is the first to present a retrospective exhibition of the photographic oeuvre of Alexine Tinne (1835 – 1869). New research into her life and work is the reason for a reappraisal…
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Searching for an explanation for remarkable behaviour of ice on Earth
If you replace the standard hydrogen atoms in ice with a heavier variant, something odd happens. The volume occupied by the molecules increases by 0.1 per cent. Leiden chemist Jörg Meyer and his colleagues have created a theoretical model that describes this behaviour. Their research appeared on the…
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‘Discoverer of the Year’, best dissertation and Education Award 2014
At the New Year’s reception of the Faculty of Science on 6 January, it was announced that Annelien Zweemer, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, has been awarded the ‘Discoverer of the Year 2014’ prize. Matteo Brogi, Leiden Observatory, wrote the best dissertation in 2014 and Dennis Claessen, Institute…
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Breaking and making the ancestors
Arjan Louwen (MA) will start a PhD research project on the social and ideological aspects of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age cremation graves in continental Northwest Europe (1100-500 BC): Breaking and making the ancestors. Making sense of the inconspicuous 99% of urnfield graves.
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The Middle East doesn't exist
On Friday 2 October journalist Sander van Hoorn starts his lecture series ‘The Middle East doesn't exist’, which was organised by the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS). ‘If all goes well, people will understand the Middle East that bit less after my lectures.’
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Call for papers: The Hague Program for Cyber Norms Conference 2019
The Hague Program for Cyber Norms organises the second conference of an annual series to encourage academic diversity in the study of cyber security. The theme is 'Dealing with Uncertainty'. The conference will take place in The Hague on 5 and 6 November 2019. Deadline submission of extended abstracts…
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Multiple star systems: how they got here and why it matters
Disk formation around stars is an important factor in determining whether one or multiple stars evolve. But the big picture of star formation is still far from complete, says PhD researcher Nadia Murillo.
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On the trail of Cleveringa
He is primarily known for his protest speech against the dismissal of his Jewish teacher Eduard Meijers, but who was the man behind this iconic figure? This is the subject of the travelling exhibition 'On the trail of Professor Rudolph Pabus Cleveringa’. The exhibition can be seen from 16 January to…
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Searching explanations for mysterious structures in protoplanetary disks
In the discs of dust and gasses around young stars, mysterious structures occur. Together with professor Ewine van Dishoeck, PhD student Paolo Cazzoletti investigate how we can explain these forms, such as rings, spirals and holes. On 12 December, he will defend his thesis.
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Discoverer of the Year Paul Behrens: ‘We’re running out of time’
Earlier this year, the public voted environmental scientist Paul Behrens Discoverer of the Year 2018. Behrens is an interdisciplinary scientist who wants to understand our impact on the planet. ‘Unfortunately, we are not doing enough. Huge changes are underway and we’re running out of time to avoid…
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Still the cat’s whiskers: De Kattekop nursery at 40
If there’s one place at the University where it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s De Kattekop. This, the University nursery, celebrates its 40th birthday in September. Its history reflects developments at the University. Parents are full of praise for it.
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Producing new plants without sowing
Producing offspring of a crop without sowing and that is even bigger than the parent plant. According to Leiden researchers this can be achieved by overstimulating a single gene that rejuvenates cells, including bringing them back to the embryonic phase.
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Pilgrims came to Leiden for ‘brain training’
The Pilgrims to America exhibition at Museum De Lakenhal inspires reflection. How far do you go in the quest for freedom? It focuses on the Pilgrims’ relationship with the University and which knowledge they took with them from Leiden.
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Using the placebo effect for your health
Even if you have a healthy lifestyle, there's a lot to experience and learn during the Healthy University Week, from 26 to 30 October. Health psychologist Andrea Evers is enthusiastic about the week ahead. She tells us about the programme and gives us a taste of her own talk on what the placebo effect…
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Scientific research with any smartphone camera
Although smartphones and other consumer cameras are increasingly used for scientific applications like citizen science, it’s still difficult to compare and combine data from different devices. PhD student Olivier Burggraaff developed a new easy-to-use standardised method which makes it possible for…
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The real value of the telescope-on-a-plane
Cornelia Pabst is a PhD candidate at Leiden Observatory, whose research is based around primary data taken by instruments onboard SOFIA, an airplane-based observatory on which she has flown multiple times. Pabst explains how this airplane has impacted her research career and gives her views on the ever-present…
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Leiden astronomers calculate genesis of Oort cloud in chronological order
A team of Leiden astronomers has managed to calculate the first 100 million years of the history of the Oort cloud in its entirety. Until now, only parts of the history had been studied separately. The cloud, with roughly 100 billion comet-like objects, forms an enormous shell at the edge of our solar…
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At Beehive it's all about students
Working together, sharing information, communicating and having the same goals. At the official opening on 30 November, biologist Koos Biesmeijer compared Beehive, Leiden University's new student centre in The Hague, with the activities in a real beehive.
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Miraculous mechanism allows plant cells to directionally distribute the growth hormone auxin
Leiden and Austrian researchers have succeeded in further uncovering how a plant cell passes on the growth hormone auxin in a directional manner to the next cell. Three proteins that cling together in a bunch appear to be essential for this important transport process. ‘This discovery solves a crucial…
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Historian cracks Queen Juliana’s unstable image in Hofmans affaire
Queen Juliana was not, as is often claimed, a monarch with an unstable character who was completely under the influence of spiritual healer Greet Hofmans. Furthermore, her religious circle of friends was not a sect with a political agenda. That is what Han van Bree concludes on the basis of a new archival…
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Spinoza prize for Leiden astronomer Xander Tielens
Leiden astronomer Xander Tielens has been awarded a Spinoza prize, the highest scientific prize in the Netherlands. Tielens is Professor in the Physics and Chemistry of Interstellar Space. He studies large and complex, often organic, molecules found in interstellar space. The Spinoza prize carries a…
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On safari in the Bio Science Park
It is a warm day. The sun is shining brightly while biologist Marco Roos makes his way through the bushes towards a peculiar little plant. Insects buzz, birds chirp. In the background rises the LUMC: at the Bio Science Park in Leiden, people and nature come together in a special way.
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Images of the Indonesian War of Independence, 1945-1949 - Online Exhibition
Starting January 18, the online exhibition Images of the Indonesian War of Independence, 1945-1949 can be viewed via the UBL website. The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) and Leiden University Libraries…