From heroine to maligned ladyboy. Kenau, a woman from Haarlem in the sixteenth century, is the subject of Dasha Zonneveldts profile paper. This student from Zutphen is awarded at the annual presentation of the Education Prize of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. According to legen
Every year in June the tension rises to great heights in academic Netherlands. Its time again for the Spinoza Prizes, the highest scientific awards in the Netherlands. This year the Spinozas will go to chemist Wilhelm Huck, historical philosopher Lodi Nauta, immunologist Mihai Netea and technical ph
For the first time, a Spinoza Prize goes to philosophy. Lodi Nauta of the University of Groningen will win a premium of 2.5 million euros this year from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). He conducts research into the history of philosophy. “Sparring with philosophers from t
Mindfulness, reiki and acupuncture are widely accepted in our society. Why are people attracted to these modern forms of alternative healing? Ethnologist Peter Jan Margry of the Meertens Institute approaches them as a cultural phenomenon and searches for their social meaning. You only have to open
When and where did humans make prehistoric wolves a favorite pet? An international group of biologists and archaeologists comes up with a new hypothesis:dogs were domesticated twice before the advent of agriculture, once in Asia and separately also in Europe. The study appeared this week in Science
Smuggling used to be the most normal thing in the world, also in the Netherlands. Recent figures show that it often involved a fifth – or even more – of trade. This had quite an impact on the economy, yet historians often do not take this unofficial trade into account. Time for a closer look… Until
MakersRadios fifth podcast is about the Leiden physicist Paul Ehrenfest, a brilliant physicist, passionate teacher and a good friend of Albert Einstein. But despite his achievements, Paul Ehrenfest was deeply unhappy. Richard den Haring and René van Es made a portrait of this professor by special ap
Contrary to what the name suggests, humanities scholars do not study the mind, which is fodder for psychologists. So what do humanities scientists research? And how do they do that? Together with a few students, NEMO Kennislink takes a dive into the humanities. “Nice to know, but other than that it
Freedom of expression has been a hot topic again since Dutch columnist Ebru Umar was arrested for insulting Turkish President Erdogan. Opinions on this are divided. Why insult people, we live in a civilized country after all? But crude jokes also serve a purpose. Satirists have been denouncing abuse
A number of burial mounds in North Brabant will be renovated, and the pile wreaths will be renewed. These are circles of wooden poles that prehistoric people often placed around the hills. But archaeologists first study the soil archive, in order to conserve those ancient soils as much as possible d
Never before has an overview study been conducted into clothing in the early medieval Netherlands. Chrystel Brandenburgh recently obtained her PhD on this subject and made some remarkable discoveries about the clothing behavior of our ancestors. Women wear finer fabrics than men. This doesnt sound
Its that time of year again to publish books about World War II. The book Error! van het Historisch Nieuwsblad, an anthology of national socialist articles from the war years. Error! What Dutch Nazi newspapers wrote about the Netherlands, Jews and the resistance, compiled by historian Bas Kromhout,
On the night of April 26, 1986, reactor four of the Russian nuclear power plant Chernobyl exploded, the worst nuclear accident in history. A radioactive cloud spread across Europe, displaced more than a hundred thousand Soviets and eventually claimed thousands of victims. Thirty years later, NEMO Ke
Never before has technology developed so rapidly as it does now, right? No, says economist Robert Gordon. According to him, there were much more important innovations in the period between 1870 and 1970. The Internet has already drastically changed our lives. We can now communicate with each other
It has been big news for the past week:a – literally – turned up dress from the seventeenth century. Much of the research into the garment has yet to begin, but speculation is rampant. Who wore the dress? When did the ship sink? Various experts, from materials scientists to art historians, will try
March 8 is International Womens Day. A day on which we celebrate womens emancipation. Dutch women have been internationally known for centuries for their independence and assertiveness. Less well known is that in the seventeenth century they came into contact with the law almost as often as men. Thi
It is early February 1916. While Europe is in the midst of the fiercest war ever, the resignation of the Minister of Finance is big news in the neutral Netherlands. His private life is said to have been the cause of this, according to a newspaper report. The Historical Nieuwsblad With its WWI newspa
How old are the stone hand axes found in Bose in southern China in the 1970s and 1980s? About 800,000 years, many researchers think. That would mean that ancient Chinese man made tools with an advanced technique previously thought to be only found in more western areas. According to archaeologist Ma
The Labor Party is 70 years old. Reason for a party, so thought Frans Becker and Gerrit Voerman. They asked twelve political experts to analyze the past seventy years with them. It resulted in a thick book that is difficult to digest. The idea for the Labor Party (PvdA) originated during the Second
Vikings are hot. The History Channel is now airing the fourth season of the series of the same name starring ex-underpants model Travis Fimmel. Danish men and women sail in this at the end of 8e century to the west to plunder the place. This results in bloody battles, intrigue, sacrificial feasts an
Joaquin Phoenix plays Commodus in the film The Gladiator. In reality, the end of the tyrant was decided by a palace conspiracy The stubborn commitment of Commodus to make himself disliked by anyone, it had the effect of provoking a conspiracy to get it out of the way, with great general satisf
The men who took part in the Normandy landings, one of the greatest battles against Nazism, on June 6, 1944, (those who survive) are now in their 90s or 100s. Today their hands may be shaking, their voices hoarse, they may be walking with the help of a wheelchair, but 75 years ago they were young
The Fall of Carthage it is the final act of the Punic wars, a clash between civilizations which in terms of scope we could associate with the world wars of the 20th century, and on a symbolic level we could consider like the Cold War . In this parallel, the fall of Carthage is comparable to the
In September 1939, when the time of trial came, the French government forgot about its treaty obligations and did not support Poland in the fight against Hitler. To this day, it is believed that this French society - made up of apathetic and fearful people - did not want to die for Gdańsk. In fact i