On 30 July, Jorrit Rijpma spoke on Dutch BNR news radio programme Spitsuur about the call from ANVR, the Dutch travel sector organisation, for European travel guidelines to be provided.

Employers are calling on rules to be relaxed on labour migrants from outside the EU as a way of attracting more labour migrants to solve staff shortages. Professor of Economics Olaf van Vliet explains on Dutch radio new programme BNR Nieuwsradio that there are various options to reduce staff shortag…

British novelist Sarah Perry picked Anna Scott as one of her favorite musicians for the program Private Passions on BBC Radio 3.

The Old Observatory has a rich history. On this page you will find a short version of the history that took place in the observatory.

The directorate of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) has two new members. Ronald Stark (currently at NWO) will be the new Executive Director of NOVA from 1 September. Amina Helmi (Professor of Dynamics, structure and formation of the Milky Way at the University of Groningen) will…

The West is considering military intervention in Libya to stop the rise of IS. The question is: what does IS want in Libya and what can and will the West do about it?

This thesis is a (biased) journey through very different topics in astrophysics: quasars and new populations of active galactic nuclei, gravitational waves from merging black holes, and protoplanetary discs around young stars.

An international team of astronomers has published a map of the sky showing over 25,000 supermassive black holes. The map, to be published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, is the most detailed celestial map in the field of so-called low radio frequencies. The astronomers, including Leiden astronomers,…

Switzerland and the EU are conducting negotiations on a renewed institutional framework for a number of already existing and future market access agreements.

This thesis mainly extends the theory of positive operators on Riesz spaces to a setting of pre-Riesz spaces.

Vandaag de dag liggen statistische methodes aan de grondslag van beslissingen in allerlei facetten van het leven, van de gezondheidszorg en agricultuur tot de financiële sector en marketing.

On 1 March Armin Cuvyers was interviewed on BNR national radio on Brexit, the Draft Withdrawal Agreement of the Commission and the key Brexit speech by Theresa May planned for 2 March.

A permanent exhibition on the place of humans in the cosmos. This is something Franx wants to use his Spinoza Prize for. ‘So much progress has been made that we are still trying to define the questions. In finding the answers we are constantly coming up against surprises.’

Simulations of galaxies help researchers understand astronomical observations better. The EAGLE simulation, a large project in which Leiden astronomers play a leading role, shows the evolution of the Universe, from just after the Big Bang to the present day.

I have studied the hot, diffuse gas around and between galaxies. Specifically, I have used the EAGLE numerical simulations of galaxy formation to predict the properties of this gas, and I have used those properties to predict specific observables: soft X-ray absorption and emission lines.

In dit onderzoek worden orde isomorfismen en orde antimorfisme bestudeerd in het algemene kader van partieel geordende vector ruimten.

Large telescopes can look so deep into the Universe that they can also look back billions of years in time. From 2018, the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be able to see the period just after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies formed. Astronomers…

Our research regularly receives attention in the (Dutch) popular media. Here is an overview.

Research at Leiden Observatory spans the full width of modern astrophysical enquiry. It is based on observation, theory, simulation, and experiment. Two broad clusters characterize the ongoing research. Within each theme, researchers carry out their personal and specialized research programme. The two…

Promotor: Prof. dr. A.G.G.M. Tielens

Leer meer over de Master Education and Child Studies tijdens de Online Master's Open Dagen van de Universiteit Leiden.

Who inspired you to see a subject in a whole new light? The Teacher of the Year Award celebrates those who not only share knowledge but also spark curiosity, connect with students, and bring research to life. Meet the finalists for 2025!

Improvements of weak gravitational lensing shape measurements are presented and some used for data analysis.

An international team of scientists including Leiden's Joe Callingham has discovered nineteen red dwarf stars that unexpectedly emit radio waves. The outbursts possibly originate from interaction with exoplanets. The results of the research appear in two scientific publications.

All supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies appear to have periods when they swallow matter from their close surroundings. But that is about as far as the similarities go. That's the conclusion reached by British and Dutch astronomers from their research with ultra-sensitive radio telescopes…

Supervisor: S.F. Portegies Zwart Co-Supervisor: A.G.A. Brown

We explored the Universe using weak gravitational lensing, a phenomenon that occurs when light from distant galaxies is bent by the gravitational fields of closer cosmic objects, much like how a lens distorts light.

On Wednesday 9 November, Armin Cuyvers was interviewed on the already infamous UK ‘Internal Market Bill', which was published that day.

On Thursday 12 December, the day of the UK general election, Armin Cuyvers was interviewed by BNR Nieuwsradio.

More on the Dutch webpage.

De menselijke geschiedenis strekt zich ver uit vóór de tijd waarin de mensen opschreven wat er zoal gebeurde.

Promotores: Arjen Doelman, Jens Rademacher, Max Rietkerk

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-promotor: O.W. van Gaans

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-Promotor: O.W. van Gaans

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-promotor: O. van Gaans

The Dutch-Japanese made DESHIMA instrument has passed its first practical tests when measuring the distances and ages of distant galaxies. The core of the instrument is a chip the size of two euro coins that measures 49 shades of far infrared light. The developers of the spectrometer publish the results…

Jordy Bouwman and future Sterrewachter Reinout van Weeren have been awarded a Vidi subsidy to set up or expand their own line of research.

With new algorithms and supercomputers, an incredibly detailed radio map of the universe was created. Now astronomers can look at radio data of galaxies with much more precision. This was published in Nature Astronomy by Leiden PhD student Frits Sweijen and colleagues.

What is our place in the Universe? How did stars, planets, and galaxies form? Could life exist beyond Earth? The minor Our Universe invites you on a journey through space, time, and society. You will explore the scientific story of modern astronomy, the origins of life, and the role of the cosmos in…

Below thesis archives will be moved shortly (work in progress) to the Leiden Repository. Once this is done, theses submitted by MI students (from 2008 onwards) can be accessed via the Repository and will be removed from this site.

For centuries astronomers studied the Universe by collecting light. Nowadays, we are living in times of great technological advancements, which allow us to explore our Universe in a new way - though gravitational wave radiation.

Stellar feedback is a crucial ingredient in the evolution of galaxies.

Promotores: Prof.dr. A.G.G.M. Tielens & Prof.dr. L. Kaper (UvA)

One of the most important puzzles in modern astrophysics is the nature of dark matter.

OB associations are loose groups of young, massive stars. They constitute the last stage of the massive starformation process, and the context in which new stars are formed.