Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)

(1810–1882), German physician and physiologist, developer of cell theory and discoverer of Schwann cells (professor).

Theodor Schwann

also known as Maurice Voituron (1816–1880), Belgian lawyer and burgomaster of Uccle.

Louis Defré

(1827–1903), Belgian geologist and mineralogist.

Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin

(1829–1912), Prime Minister of Belgium and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1909.

Auguste Marie François Beernaert

(1830–1910), president of Georgetown University, first Jesuit Catholic priest of African-American ancestry, first American of acknowledged African-American ancestry to earn a PhD.

Patrick Francis Healy

(1835–1902), Lithuanian poet.

Antanas Baranauskas

(1852–1940), Belgian civil engineer.

Arthur Vierendeel

(1854–1933), Irish linguist, author and journalist.

Emile Joseph Dillon

(1856–1880), Flemish poet.

Albrecht Rodenbach

(1857–1933), Belgian Catholic theologian and biblical scholar.

Albin van Hoonacker

(1866–1962), Belgian mathematician who proved the prime number theorem.

Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin

(1878—1972), Belgian historian and papal chamberlain.

Charles Terlinden

(1879–1963), Belgian mining engineer, director of the Union Minière du Haut Katanga.

Edgar Sengier

(1880–1961), Belgian politician.

Frans Van Cauwelaert

S.J. (1889–1964), Belgian Jesuit Catholic priest, twenty-seventh Superior General of the Society of Jesus.

Jean-Baptiste Janssens

(1889–1971), Chinese geologist and politician, founder of modern Chinese geography.

Weng Wenhao

(1894–1966), Belgian astronomer, mathematician and Catholic priest, proposer of the Big Bang theory.

Georges Lemaître

(1895–1979), American archbishop, television evangelist, and writer.

Fulton J. Sheen

(1895–1986), Belgian politician.

August De Boodt

S.J. (1897–1977), Indian Jesuit Catholic priest, educationist, writer and member of the Indian Constituent assembly (1946–1950).

Jerome D'Souza

(1899–1983), Belgian-American cell biologist and medical doctor, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1974.

Albert Claude

(1900–1976), Irish Catholic priest, author and sociologist.

Peter McKevitt

(1900–1970), physician, social reformer, President of Costa Rica (1940–1944).

Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia

(1901–1952), Chilean Jesuit Catholic priest, social worker and writer, canonized in 2005.

Alberto Hurtado

(1902–1985), Belgian engraver and artist.

Victor Delhez

(1902–1973), Flemish nationalist and politician, quisling.

Hendrik Elias

(1905–1985), Belgian–American physicist and founder of the poroelasticity theory.

Maurice Anthony Biot

(1906–1994), Belgian politician and Nazi collaborator, founder of Rexism, quisling.

Léon Degrelle

(1907–1991), Belgian civil servant, diplomat and politician, graduated in law.

Jean Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers

(1908-1999), French Orléanist claimant to the throne of France.

Henri, Count of Paris

(1910–1969), Belgian Dominican friar, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1958 for helping refugees in post-World War II Europe.

Dominique Pire

(1911–1974), Belgian Catholic priest and philosopher, founder of the Husserl Archives.

Herman Van Breda

(1911–2005), Belgian civil servant and private secretary of Baudouin I of Belgium, graduated in law.

André Molitor

(1912–2011), Austrian politician and writer, heir to the thrones of Austria-Hungary.

Otto von Habsburg

(1912–2008), Chinese-Belgian scientist, saved nearly 100 lives during World War II.

Qian Xiuling

(1912–2014), Chinese oncologist.

Tang Yuhan

(1917–1985), Belgian physician and biologist, first rector of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Pieter De Somer

(1917–2013), Belgian cytologist and biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1974 for his discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell.

Christian de Duve

(1919–1998), Flemish activist and writer.

Anton van Wilderode

(1919–2002), Flemish linguist.

Frans Van Coetsem

(born 1920), Flemish writer.

Aster Berkhof

(1921–1994), Belgian psychiatrist, professor at Harvard Medical School.

Charles Mertens de Wilmars

(1921–1999), Irish Catholic priest, exorcist, palaeographer, and writer.^[19]

Malachi Martin

also known as Antoine Vergote (1921–2013), Belgian Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, psychologist, and psychoanalyst.

Antoon Vergote

(1923–1990), Irish prelate and archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland.

Tomás Ó Fiaich

(1923–2014), Belgian scientist and chemist, 1967 laureate of the Francqui Prize.

José J. Fripiat

(1923–2011), Irish Jesuit, co-founder of the Irish School of Ecumenics.^[20]

Michael Hurley

(1924–2011), Indian psychologist, philosopher and scholar, known for Behaviour therapy.

H. Narayan Murthy

(1924–2018), Ukrainian demographer.

Anatole Romaniuk

(1924–2013), British and Hungarian-Jewish biblical scholar, an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the historical Jesus.

Géza Vermes

(born 1926), Belarusian–American historian and poet.

Jan Zaprudnik

(1928–2003), Belgian Catholic priest and theologian.

Adolphe Gesché

(born 1928), Peruvian Dominican friar and theologian, founder of the Liberation theology.

Gustavo Gutiérrez

(1928–2019), Belgian philosopher and professor, 1977 laureate of the Francqui Prize.

Jacques Taminiaux

(1929–1966), Colombian Catholic priest, socialist and guerrillero, member of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN).

Camilo Torres

(1929–2017), Belgian historian of Africa and anthropologist.

Jan Vansina

(born 1930), French philosopher, linguist, psychoanalyst, psycholinguist, cultural theorist and feminist. Graduated in 1954.

Luce Irigaray

(1931–1999), Congolese constitutionalist and politician, the first Congolese to receive a law degree.

Marcel Lihau

(1932–2010), American Catholic priest, author and educator.

Father Robert S. Smith

(born 1933), Belgian geneticist, founder of the Centrum voor Menselijke Erfelijkheid (Belgian Centre for Human Heredity).

Herman Van Den Berghe

(1933–2004), Congolese ambassador to the United Nations, one of the first Congolese university graduates.

Thomas Kanza

(born 1934), Belgian urbanist.

Pierre Laconte

(born 1936), Pakistani metallurgist considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.

Abdul Qadeer Khan

(born 1936), Belgian politician, Minister of State, former Chief Cabinet of Albert II and Baudouin.

Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou

(1937–2011), Mexican semiotician and writer.

Renato Prada Oropeza

(1938–2003), notable Zairian politician.^[21]

Nguza Karl-i-Bond

(born 1938), Belgian businessman and president of De Warande, graduated in economics.

Piet Van Waeyenberge

(born 1939), American Catholic priest and professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America.

Robert Sokolowski

(born 1941), Belgian physician and biologist.

Erik De Clercq

(born 1942), Belgian civil engineer, economist and author.

Bernard Lietaer

(born 1946), Belgian businessman, graduated in chemistry and economics.

Arthur Ulens

(born 1947), Belgian statesman and Prime Minister of Belgium. Appointed as the first President of the European Council in November 2009.

Herman Van Rompuy

(Count) (born 1948), investigative journalist, political adviser, writer, and public affairs executive, known for his long term investigation into the JFK assassination.

Bernard Le Grelle

Academic libraries in Leuven

Collegium Trilingue

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Leuven Database of Ancient Books

Old University of Leuven

State University of Leuven

Université catholique de Louvain

Universities in Leuven

Lovanium University

List of split up universities

(in Latin)

Text of De Ram's inaugural speech at the opening of the University

1834: L'Ami de la religion, 1834, p. 233

1837: A. Ferrier, Description historique et topographique de Louvain, Bruxelles, Haumann, Cattoir et Cie, 1837.

1841: Augustin Theiner, Jean Cohen, Histoire des institutions d'éducation ecclésiastique, 1841, p. 112.

1850: , La parti libéral joué par le parti catholique dans la question de l'enseignement supérieur, Bruxelles, 1850, p. 16.

Maurice Voituron

1860: , Louvain monumental..., Louvain, C.-J. Fonteyn, 1860.

Edward Van Even

1864: Correspondance du R. P. Lacordaire et de Madame Swetchine, 1864, p. 26.

1864: Journal des économistes, of Paris, Société de statistique de Paris, 1864, p. 13.

Société d'économie politique

1864: , Histoire populaire du règne de Léopold Ier, roi des Belges, 1864, p. 154.

Louis Hymans

1866: , Sciences Mathématiques et Physiques chez les Belges au commencement du XIXe, 1866, p. 534.

Adolphe Quetelet

1875: Patria Belgica, encyclopédie nationale, 1875, p. 140.

1881: Analectes pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique de la Belgique, Volume 17, 1881, p. 236.

1885: , Documents relatifs à l'histoire de l'Université de Louvain (1425–1797), 1885, p. 228

Edmond Henri Joseph Reusens

1930: Georges Weill, L'éveil des nationalités: et le mouvement libéral (1815–1848), 1930, p. 181.

1952: Marcel Dessal, Charles Delescluze, 1809–1871: un révolutionnaire jacobin, 1952, p. 30.

1958: Mémoires de la Société royale des sciences de Liège, 1958, p. 89.

1967: L'esprit laïque en Belgique sous le gouvernement libéral doctrinaire, 1857, 1967, p. 665.

1974: Ruth L. White, L'Avenir de La Mennais: son rôle dans la presse de son temps, 1974, p. 173.

1975: , Gaston Braive, Jacques Lory, Mélanges dédiés à la mémoire de Mgr Aloïs Simon, 1975, p. 145.

Aloïs Simon

1977: Jean Préaux, Église et enseignement, 1977, p. 177.

1980: Carlo Bronne, Léopold Ier et son temps, Bruxelles, éd. Paul Legrain, 1980, p. 154.

1981: John Bartier, Guy Cambier, Libéralisme et socialisme au XIXe siècle, 1981, p. 17.

1998: Astrid von Busekist, La Belgique: politique des langues et construction de l'Etat de 1780 à nos jours, 1998, p. 87.

1999: Véronique Laureys, L'histoire du sénat de Belgique de 1831 à 1995, 1999, p. 71.

2006: Jacqueline Aubenas, Suzanne Van Rokeghem, Jeanne Vercheval-Vervoort, Des femmes dans l'histoire de Belgique, depuis 1830, 2006, p. 14.

1860: Souvenir du XXVe anniversaire de la fondation de l'Université catholique: Novembre 1859, Louvain, typographie Vanlinthout et Cie, 1860 .

Souvenir du XXVe anniversaire de la fondation de l'Université catholique: Novembre 1859

1887: Université catholique de Louvain : Liber Memorialis : 1834–1884, Louvain : Peeters, 1887.

1975: R. Mathes, Löwen und Rom. Zur Gründung der Katholischen Universität Löwen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Kirchen-und Bildungspolitik Papst Gregors XVI, Essen, 1975.

2006: abbé André Tihon: Article Löwen. In: Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, vol. 6. Herder, Fribourg, Bâle, Vienne, 3e éd., 2006, p. 1070–1073.

2011: Pieter Dhondt, Un double compromis. Enjeux et débats relatifs à l'enseignement universitaire en Belgique au XIXe siècle, Gand : Academia Press, 2011.