From 16th century maps to the ‘Cyber Elite’

Over the centuries the region of Flanders has given the world a significant number of pioneers across a range of fields – from map projections to anatomy, from asphalt to plastics, from biotechnology to the Internet… We take a brief glimpse at a few of those to make their names on the world stage…

Pattie Maes – Member of the “Cyber Elite”
Pattie Maes is one of the pioneers in the IT research area of Software Agents. She is an Associate Professor at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology’s Media Laboratory, has been an active Internet entrepreneur since 1994 and was a founder of Firefly Network Inc. as well as several other companies. The World Economic Forum has named her a “Global Leader for Tomorrow”, while Time Digital selected her as a member of the Cyber Elite, the top 50 technological pioneers of the high-tech world.

Dr Catherine Verfaillie – Stem cell research
Dr Catherine Verfaillie is a pioneer in stem-cell research. Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation and Director of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota, she and her team were responsible for identifying a unique class of adult stem cells, designated Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells (MAPCsTM), that exhibit the ability to develop into all major classes of tissue and cell types. While maintaining links with the University of Minnesota, she now heads the Stem Cell Institute at Leuven University in Flanders. In addition to other honors, she was named by US World and News Report as one of the Ten Innovators of 2001.

Robert Cailliau – A World Wide Web pioneer
Robert Cailliau was born in Tongeren, Flanders. In 1974 he joined CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, the world's largest particle physics research center. In 1989 he and Tim Berners-Lee independently proposed a hypertext system for access to CERN data, leading to a common proposal in 1990 and from there to the World Wide Web. In December 1993 he called for the first International WWW Conference, which began in 1994 and continues annually. He left CERN in 2005.

Peter Piot – Director of the UN Aids Program
Born in Leuven, Dr Peter Piot, a physician and microbiologist, was appointed Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Assistant Secretary-General of the UN in 1994 after being Associate Director of the World Health Organization’s Global Program on Aids. He has received a large number of awards, including the Nelson Mandela Prize in 2001, and has been elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Marc Van Montagu and Jeff Schell (1935-2003) – Award-winning biotechnologists
Professors Marc Van Montagu and Jeff Schell developed the Agrobacterium tumefaciens DNA transfer technology, currently used worldwide to introduce foreign genes into a plant. This technology also paved the way for the establishment of one of the world’s first agbio companies, Plant Genetic Systems, now Bayer BioScience. Both were elected Foreign Associates of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Paul Janssen (1926-2003) – Medicine discovery
Dr Paul Janssen established the R&D-based pharmaceuticals company Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1953. The company is now part of Johnson & Johnson. Dr Janssen held more than 100 patents for medicines, was awarded 22 honorary doctorates from universities around the world and received more than 70 scientific and professional honors.

Corneel Heymans (1892-1968) – Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology
This Flemish toxicologist and pharmacologist distinguished himself through his original research into baro-receptors, chemo-receptors, hypertension of nervous origin, cholinesterase blockers, nicotine-antagonists, curari-mimetica, etc.

Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944) – Founder of plastics
Leo Hendrik Baekeland invented bakelite, the first totally synthetic plastic in the family of phenol-formaldehyde resins (used among other things for manufacturing the first telephones). He was awarded many honors and was on Time magazine's list of the 20 greatest thinkers and scientists of the 20th century.

Edward J. de Smedt – Inventor of modern asphalt
After emigrating from Belgium, Professor Edward J. De Smedt invented modern road asphalt in 1870 while at Columbia University. Two months later the first sheet asphalt pavement was laid on William Street in Newark, New Jersey.

Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) – Father of modern anatomy
Born in Brussels, Vesalius laid the foundations of the modern science of anatomy through his dissections of the human body and descriptions of his findings. His definitive work was “De Humani Corporis Fabrica”, the first anatomical textbook that could pretend to scientific accuracy.

Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) – Map projections
Gerardus Mercator was a Flemish geographer, mathematician and cartographer who produced his first map of the world in 1538. The first map using the projection named for him appeared in 1569 and has been more used than any other projection for navigators' world maps. Another Flemish geographer, Abraham Ortelius, produced the first modern world atlas in 1570.