100 Notable alumni of University of Liege

André Henri Constant van Hasselt was a Dutch-Belgian writer and poet who wrote mainly in French.

Nicolae Dimitrie Xenopol was a Romanian politician, diplomat, economist and writer, the younger brother of historian Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol and, like him, a member of Junimea society. Initially inspired by Junimea leader Titu Maiorescu, he was later a dissident of Junimism, a Positivist and a supporter of literary realism. Politically, Xenopol also moved away from conservatism and was embraced by...

Jan Nyssen is a Belgian physical geographer, and professor of geography at Ghent University.

Salem Zenia is a Kabyle writer.

Jules Georges Édouard Thilges was a Luxembourgish politician. He served as prime minister of Luxembourg for over three years, from 20 February 1885 until 22 September 1888.

Rita Lejeune was a Belgian philologist who became a leading expert in the study of medieval French literature.

Fernand Dehousse OMRI was a Belgian politician.

Camille Janssen was a Belgian colonial civil servant and lawyer who held the position of Governor-General of the Congo Free State from 1886 to 1892. After 1893, Joseph Chailley would found the International Colonial Institute, for which Janssen would be the secretary-general. His son, Georges Janssen, would become head of the National Bank of Belgium.

Charles-Mathias Simons was a Luxembourgish politician and jurist who served as Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1853 until 1860.

Pol F. Swings was a Belgian astrophysicist who was known for his studies of the composition and structure of stars and comets. He used spectroscopy to identify the elements in astronomical bodies, and, in particular, comets. Swings studied at the University of Liège, where he was professor of spectroscopy and astrophysics from 1932 to 1975. He was also a visiting...

Charles Magnette was a Belgian lawyer and a liberal politician.

Antoine Meyer, also known as Antun or Tun Meyer was a Luxembourg-born mathematician and poet who later adopted Belgian nationality. Sometimes referred to as the father of Luxembourgish literature, he is remembered for publishing the very first book in Luxembourgish, a collection of six poems entitled "E' Schrek ob de' lezeburger Parnassus" (A Step up the Luxembourg Parnassus).

Paul Pastur was a Belgian lawyer and politician from Hainaut. He obtained a law degree of the University of Liège, and started working at the bar of Charleroi in 1893.

Joseph Marie Auguste Bidez was a Belgian classical philologist. He was Professor of Classical Philology and the History of Philosophy at the University of Ghent.

Paul Ledoux was a Belgian astrophysicist best known for his work on stellar stability and variability. With Theodore Walraven, he co-authored a seminal work on stellar oscillations. In 1964 Ledoux was awarded the Francqui Prize for Exact Sciences, and was awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1972 for investigations into problems of stellar stability and variable...

Christophe Lacroix is a Belgian politician of the Socialist Party. He has been a member of the Chamber of Representatives since 2019, having previously served from 2012 to 2014. He was a member of the Senate in 2014, and a minister in the Government of Wallonia from 2014 to 2017.

Lambros Couloubaritsis is a Greek-born Belgian philosopher.

Frank Lucius Packard was a Canadian novelist.

André Hubert Dumont was a Belgian geologist.

Fanny Smets is a Belgian pole vaulter. She competed in the women's pole vault at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.

Marcel Otte is a professor of Prehistory at the Université de Liège, Belgium. He is a specialist in Religion, Arts, Sociobiology, and the Upper Palaeolithic times of Europe and Central Asia. In the book Speaking Australopithecus (written together with the philologist Francesco Benozzo) he argues from the archaeological point of view Benozzo's hypothesis that human language appeared with Australopithecus, between...

Philippe-Charles or Philip Carel Schmerling was a Dutch/Belgian prehistorian, pioneer in paleontology, and geologist. He is often considered the founder of paleontology.

Nikolai Leonidovich Meshcheryakov was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet historian of literature, newspaper editor and head of the Main Administration for Literary and Publishing Affairs (Glavlit) under the People's Commissariat for Education of Russian SFSR in the 1920s.

Robin Vanderbemden is a Belgian sprinter competing primarily in the 200 metres. He also represented his country in the 4 × 400 metres relay winning multiple World and European championship medals with the Belgian men's 4 × 400 metres relay team. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in 200 m.

Viscount Charles Ghislain Guillaume Vilain XIIII was a Belgian politician, serving as governor of East Flanders, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium.

Michaël Gillon is a Belgian astronomer and astrophysicist. His research focuses on exoplanets and he conducts his research at the University of Liège. He holds a master's degree in biochemistry and astrophysics and also a PhD in astrophysics, and completed his post-doctorate at Geneva Observatory. Co-discoverer of exoplanets such as WASP-18 b and the rings of (10199) Chariclo, he is...

Egide Walschaerts was a Belgian mechanical engineer, best known as the inventor of the Walschaerts valve gear used in steam locomotives. He was born in Mechelen, Belgium. In 1838 he was recognised as an excellent modeller, presenting his work at a local exhibition in Mechelen. Minister Rogier, who opened the exhibition, was so impressed that he arranged a place for...

François Laurent was a Belgian historian and jurisconsult.

Christophe Collignon is a Belgian politician and a member of the PS. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2007.

Andon Dimitrov (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Андон (Антон) Димитров; 1867 – 13 March 1933) was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary, teacher, and lawyer. He was among the founders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).

Antoine Édouard Ducpétiaux was a Belgian journalist and social reformer.

Stanisław Olszewski was a Polish engineer and inventor. He is best known as the co-creator of the technology of arc welding (along with Nikolay Benardos).

Dimitar Hristov Rizov or Rizoff was a Bulgarian revolutionary, publicist, politician, journalist and diplomat.

Michel Poulain was originally trained in astrophysics at University of Liège (ULiège). He received a PhD in demography at University of Louvain (UCLouvain). As a demographer, he has specialized in international Migration Statistics and Longevity studies. Currently emeritus professor at UCLouvain, he is also senior researcher at the Estonian Institute for Population Studies at Tallinn University (Estonia). He has been...

François Bovesse was a Belgian politician and writer who served as Minister of Justice and Governor of Namur as a member of the Liberal Party before his assassination at the hands of Belgian Rexists in 1944.

David Keilin FRS was a British Jewish scientist focusing mainly on entomology.

Léon Rosenfeld was a Belgian physicist and a communist activist.

Edmond de la Fontaine, better known by his pen name of Dicks, was a Luxembourgish jurist, poet, and lyricist, known for his work in the Luxembourgish language. He is considered the national poet of Luxembourg and, along with Michel Lentz and Michel Rodange, one of the most important figures in the history of Luxembourgish literature. In addition, his Luxemburger Sitten...

Jules Edouard Xavier Malou was a Belgian statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 1874 to 1878 and again from June to October 1884.

Godefroid Kurth was a Belgian historian and pioneering Christian democrat. He is known for his histories of the city of Liège in the Middle Ages and of Belgium, his Catholic account of the formation of modern Europe in Les Origines de la civilisation moderne, and his defence of the medieval guild system.

Jean-Marie Klinkenberg is a Belgian linguist and semiotician, professor at the State University of Liège, born in Verviers (Belgium) in 1944. Member of the interdisciplinary Groupe μ. President of the International Association for visual Semiotics.

Yves Winkin is a Belgian academic who spent much of his career based in France. He is known for work in communication, specifically for developing the anthropology of communication, for introducing the concept of enchantment to the social sciences, for investigating pedestrian behavior, and for his analyses of Erving Goffman's work in relation to his life. At various times, he...

Wincenty Kowalski was a Polish military commander and a general of the Polish Army. A veteran of both World War I and World War II, he fought in all the inter-war conflicts of Poland. During the Invasion of Poland of 1939 he commanded the Polish 1st Legions Infantry Division.

Jonkheer Henri Ghislain Joseph Marie Hyacinthe de Brouckère was a Belgian nobleman and liberal politician. Born in Bruges, he was a magistrate and a professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. His brother Charles was mayor of the City of Brussels.

Iosif Tolchanov was a Soviet actor. He was named an Honored Artist of the USSR in 1962.

Jacques Balthazart is a Belgian biologist who specializes in behavioral neuroendocrinology, author of multiple publications and working at the University of Liège.

Édouard Joseph Louis Marie Van Beneden was a Belgian embryologist, cytologist and marine biologist. He was professor of zoology at the University of Liège. He contributed to cytogenetics by his works on the roundworm Ascaris. In this work he discovered how chromosomes organized meiosis (the production of gametes).

Ernestas Galvanauskas was a Lithuanian engineer, politician, and one of the founders of the Peasant Union (which later merged with the Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union). He also served twice as Prime Minister of Lithuania.

Raphaël Liégeois is a Belgian-Luxembourgish biomedical engineer and astronaut. Liégeois completed a doctorate at the University of Liège on the functioning of the human brain from 2011 to 2015, and then held post-doctoral appointments at the National University of Singapore and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He has held a teaching and research position at the University of Geneva...

Mieczysław Wolfke was a Polish physicist, professor at the Warsaw University of Technology, the forerunner of holography and television. He discovered the method of solidification of helium as well as two types of liquid helium. He was a Masonic Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Poland from 1931 to 1934. He served as president of the Polish Physical...

Daniel Alain Marie Bacquelaine is a Belgian Walloon politician. As a member of the Reformist Movement, he served as the Federal Minister for Pensions in the Michel Government and Wilmès Government and a member of parliament since 1994.

Christine Defraigne is a Belgian politician and a member of the MR. She was the President of the Belgian Senate, in office 2014 to 2018.

Jean Louis Joseph Lebeau was a Belgian liberal statesman who served as prime minister of Belgium from 28 March to 21 July 1831, and again from 1840 to 1841.

Frédéric Daerden is a Belgian politician and a member of the French-speaking Socialist Party.

Anne-Marie Lizin-Vanderspeeten was a Belgian politician, who served as the President of the Senate of Belgium from 2004 to 2007.

Paul Furlan was a Belgian Walloon politician who served as Minister of Local Government and City Policy (including Tourism) in the Walloon Government for the Parti Socialiste. Furlan had a degree in public administration obtained at the University of Liège.

George de Bothezat was a Romanian-Russian American engineer, businessman, and pioneer of helicopter flight.

Frédérique Ries is a Belgian politician and former Member of the European Parliament for the French Community of Belgium with the MR/MCC/PRL, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Hubert Joseph Walthère Frère-Orban was a Belgian liberal statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 1868 to 1870 and again from 1878 to 1884.

Ahmed Laaouej is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives elected through the Parti Socialiste. He is the mayor of the commune of Koekelberg and Head of the PS parliamentary group in the House of Representatives.

Edmond Jules Isidore Leburton was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1973 to 1974.

Jean-Claude Marcourt is a Belgian politician who has been serving as President of the Parliament of Wallonia since 2019. He was the Vice-Minister-President and Minister of Economy and Foreign Affairs of the Walloon government and Vice-Minister-President and Minister of Higher Education of the Government of the French Community. He is a member of the Belgian Francophone Socialist Party (PS).

Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski was a Polish geophysicist, meteorologist and explorer.

Pierre Kroll is a Belgian cartoonist and caricaturist. He is the nephew of architect Lucien Kroll.

Willy Demeyer is a Belgian politician. He is the mayor of Liège since 1999 and has served as the Vice-President of the Socialist Party since 6 December 2011. He also served as a deputy in the Chamber of Representatives for the Socialist Party between June 2014 and September 2017.

Jean-Baptiste, Baron Nothomb was a Belgian statesman and diplomat, who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1841 to 1845.

Maurice Grevisse was a Belgian grammarian.

Alain Destexhe is a Belgian politician. He was a senator from 1995 to 2011, and remained a member of the Brussels Regional Parliament until 2019. Destexhe was a member of the liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR) and represented Belgium in the World Economic Forum. He was awarded the Prize for Liberty by Nova Civitas in 2006. He was Secretary-General of Médecins...

Stefania "Stefa" Wilczyńska was a Polish educator who was murdered in the Holocaust.

Charles Latour Rogier was a Belgian liberal statesman and a leader in the Belgian Revolution of 1830. He served as the prime minister of Belgium on two occasions: from 1847 to 1852, and again from 1857 to 1868.

Lt. Col. Jan Kowalewski was a Polish cryptologist, intelligence officer, engineer, journalist, military commander, and creator and first head of the Polish Cipher Bureau. He recruited a large staff of cryptologists who broke Soviet military codes and ciphers during the Polish-Soviet War, enabling Poland to weather the war and achieve victory in the 1920 Battle of Warsaw.

Jean Rey was a Belgian Liberal politician who served as the second president of the European Commission from 1967 to 1970. He served as European Commissioner for External Relations from 1958 to 1967. The 1983–1984 academic year at the College of Europe was named in his honour.

Jean Joseph Camille Huysmans was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1946 to 1947.

Aleksander Yakovlevich Arosev was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet diplomat and writer.

Marc Tarabella is a Belgian politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament for the French Community of Belgium with the Parti Socialiste, part of the Socialist Group. In February 2023 he was charged with corruption and money laundering in connection with the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament.

Jean Gol was a Belgian politician for the liberal Walloon party Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL). He was a minister, on several occasions, in the Belgian government, including service as Deputy Prime Minister.

Auguste Kerckhoffs was a Dutch linguist and cryptographer in the late 19th century.

Raoul Hedebouw is a Belgian politician who has been serving as the president of the Workers' Party of Belgium (PVDA-PTB) since 2021. He previously served as the national spokesperson of the party until 2021, as well as parliamentary leader in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. He furthermore serves as member of the Liège City Council.

Noémie Happart is a Belgian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Belgium 2013. She represented her country at Miss Universe 2013 and Miss World 2013.

Henryk Bronisław Arctowski, born Henryk Artzt, was a Polish scientist and explorer.

Vladimir Volkoff was a Russian writer who lived in France and whose books were written in French. He produced both literary works for adults and spy novels for young readers under the pseudonym Lieutenant X. His works are characterised by themes of the Cold War, intelligence and manipulation, but also by metaphysical and spiritual elements.

Ludivine Dedonder is a Belgian politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who served as Minister of Defence in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo from 2020 to 2025.

Laurette A. J. Onkelinx is a Belgian politician from the Francophone Socialist Party. She was the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health in the Belgian federal government, i.e., the Di Rupo Government, which took office on 6 December 2011.

Vinciane Despret is a Belgian philosopher of science. She is an associate professor at the University of Liège and also teaches at the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Didier Reynders is a Belgian politician of the Reformist Movement (MR) who served as European Commissioner for Justice in the first Von der Leyen Commission from 2019 to 2024. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of the House in 1992. Until his appointment to the European Commission, Reynders had been a minister continuously since 1999.

Hassan Pakravan was a well-known diplomat and minister in the Pahlavi pre-revolutionary government of Iran. He is not only notable for his political involvement with the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi government and SAVAK, but also his relationship with Ruhollah Khomeini.

Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau was a Belgian physicist and mathematician. He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this, he used counterrotating disks with repeating drawn images in small increments of motion on one and regularly spaced slits in the other. He called this device of 1832 the phenakistiscope.

Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam is a Belgian athlete specialising in multi-event competition. She is the first athlete with three multi-event gold medals at the Olympic Games, winning the heptathlon at the 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics. Her three individual Olympic golds in a row for a woman equals the record of Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland in the hammer...

Theodor Schwann was a German physician and physiologist. His most significant contribution to biology is considered to be the extension of cell theory to animals. Other contributions include the discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, the discovery and study of pepsin, the discovery of the organic nature of yeast, and the invention of the term "metabolism".

Giovanni Battista "Gianni" Caproni, 1st Count of Taliedo was an Italian aeronautical engineer, civil engineer, electrical engineer, and aircraft designer who founded the Caproni aircraft-manufacturing company.

Haroun Tazieff was a Franco-Belgian volcanologist and geologist. He was a famous cinematographer of volcanic eruptions and lava flows, and the author of several books on volcanoes. He was also a government adviser and French cabinet minister. He also served in the Belgian resistance during World War II.

Gauthier Destenay is a Belgian architect who is the husband of former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel.

Jean-Pierre Delville is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Bishop of Liège since 2013. His earlier career was devoted to church history and teaching, which he always combined with pastoral activity. He has been associated with the Community of Sant'Egidio since 1978.

Albert Claude was a Belgian-American cell biologist and medical doctor who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 with Christian de Duve and George Emil Palade. His elementary education started in a comprehensive primary school at Longlier, his birthplace. He served in the British Intelligence Service during the First World War, and got imprisoned in concentration camps...

Sir Philippe Samyn is a Belgian architect, engineer and urbanist. He is the creator of over 686 projects, 250 of which are built. His architecture is characterized by a holistic approach, investigating new ways of construction focused on efficiency between the material, the shape, the function, and the energy needed in the making and functioning of the building.

Steven Laureys is a Belgian neurologist. He is principally known as a clinician and researcher in the field of neurology of consciousness.

Yaël Nazé is a Belgian astrophysicist, author and professor at the University of Liège. She specializes in massive stars and their interactions with their surroundings. In her research, she has worked with images and data collected from various space telescopes and has worked on creating new observation satellites.

Pierre Charles José Marie, Count Harmel was a Belgian lawyer, Christian Democratic politician and diplomat. Harmel served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1965 to 1966, leading a centre-left cabinet.

Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac was a nobleman and statesman of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Chancellor (1658–1684) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.