Laureates
The academic world has countless awards, the highest of which in the Netherlands is the Spinoza Prize. It is awarded annually by the NWO to two laureates who are doing "outstanding and pioneering research" with great impact. The only Tilburg scientist to receive this prize so far is economist Lans Bovenberg. He received the Spinoza Prize in 2003 partly for his economic models on the environment and taxes and the combination of the two. Bovenberg was called by the NWO "an absolute outlier in the Netherlands" and "the first economist who can fill the gap after Tinbergen."
The Spinoza prize is awarded to the economist Lans Bovenberg (pictured above)
In addition, there are dozens of Tilburg scientists who were able to amass important grants or awards. There are also three scientists who received honorary doctorates elsewhere. The first was economist Dick Schouten (1923-2018), who succeeded Cobbenhagen as full professor of General Theory and History of Economics in 1954. From the early 1960s, he was crown member of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER), which he would remain for more than 30 years making him the longest serving SER member ever. Schouten received an honorary doctorate from Ghent University in 1977 for his scholarly work. Ghent also lauded Lans Bovenberg, in 2008.
The university of Gent praises Dirk Schouten (image topright)
In 2000, Professor Stef Tijs (TiSEM) received an honorary doctorate from the Miguel Hernandez University in Elche (Spain), in 2005 Jan Vranken (TLS) received an honorary doctorate from Leiden University, in 2006 Fred van Raaij (TSB) received an honorary doctorate from the Helsinki School of Economics, and in 2015 Robert Roe (by then departed from Tilburg University) received an honorary doctorate from the University of Valencia.
From the Schouten heirs, the university received, among other things, the medal of honor, but also his pipe. This is symbolic of the period when smoking was allowed in the buildings, rooms, and sometimes in the lecture halls.
The pipe of Schouten (pictured above)
More about history and academic heritage
The Tilburg University academic heritage is a very diverse set of archives, visual materials, collections, devices, recorded stories, et cetera that relate to the history of the university.