Colourful Characters

On 23 August 1614, the University of Groningen was founded. On 9 December 2025, it will have been 400 years since Ubbo Emmius, the founder of the University, passed away. In his tracks, various people who worked and studied there through the centuries made the UG a brighter place. Some of them have been exceptionally important, due to their remarkable achievements, ideas, and activities. This series sheds a light on a number of these ‘Colourful Characters’. The overview page below will be continuously updated over the coming months.

Ubbo Emmius

In 1612, the States of the Groningen region decided to found a university. They asked Ubbo Emmius to set up the Academy. The Academy officialy opened its doors on 23 August 1614, using a former monastery as the Academy Building. Ubbo Emmius became the first Rector Magnificus and Professor of Greek and History. Thanks to his international network, he attracted students and professors, causing the university to grow rapidly.

To this day, his legacy lives on in Groningen, with streets, monuments, a bust, and a memorial window bearing his name and image. Read the rest of the article here.

Petrus Camper

Petrus Camper was a typical man of the Enlightenment. He wrote about a wide range of social issues and opposed slavery a century before its abolition. However, his measurements of the “facial angle” were later used to substantiate scientific racism. Read the rest of the article here.

Albert van Giffen

Albert van Giffen is one of the most famous archaeologists in the Netherlands. Trained as a natural scientist, Van Giffen integrated geological and biological methods into archaeology. The ‘father of the dolmens’ researched mounds, burial mounds, urn fields, honeycomb fields, and dolmens. In addition to research, he also restored collapsed and partially damaged dolmens. The role he played during the Ezinge excavation was legendary. Nowhere in Europe had archaeologists ever uncovered a prehistoric settlement with such a wealth of well-preserved layers of human activity. Read the rest of the article here.

Aletta Jacobs

Aletta Jacobs was the first woman in the Netherlands to be admitted to a university, in 1871. In 1878, she received her medical degree from the Universtiy of Groningen. She subsequently became a leading figure in the fight for women's rights and women's health. She published articles on women’s suffrage, women’s rights, prostitution laws, and the transmission of STDs. In addition, she taught working-class women about hygiene. She became president of the executive board of the Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht (the Association for Women’s Suffrage). She remained in that position until 1919, when active and passive suffrage for women was established in the Constitution. Every two years, on March 8, the UG presents the Aletta Jacobs Prize to ‘a woman with a university degree who assumes a pioneering role in emancipation and acts as a role model for other women.’ Read the rest of the article here.

Jantina Tammes

Jantina Tammes was the first female professor in Groningen. Her genetic research into the agricultural crop flax was particularly meaningful. During her inaugural speech, she expressed criticism towards eugenics, the movement that aimed to improve the human race by applying laws of genetics. She also advocated for better economic conditions. After being named professor, Tammes increasingly began to establish herself on the international stage. Her legacy lives on in Groningen, where her name is carried by, among other things, a faculty and a portrait in the Senate Chamber of the Academy Building. Read the rest of the article here.

Frits Zernike

Frits Zernike was a Appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics in Groningen. On November 4, 1953, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The essence of Zernike’s discoveries was unravelling the mysteries of living matter. Zernike’s invention and development of the phase-contrast microscope made it possible to observe life processes such as nuclear division and cell division, and record them on film. In addition, Zernike had developed a version of the microscope that was affordable for any researcher. He specialized in improving physical instruments that others considered complete. The Zernike school community is named after him. Read the rest of the article here.

Johann Bernoulli

Johann Bernoulli was a professor of mathematics and researcher in Groningen. Together with Newton and Leibniz, the Bernoulli brothers were among the leading mathematical innovators of their time. The Rector Magnificos of Groningen, Johannes Braun, knew Johann Bernoulli and was very impressed by him. He wrote Bernoulli a wonderful letter entitled ‘Nothing beats Groningen’, Bernoulli accepted the offer and became professor of mathematics in Groningen in 1695. During his professorship in Groningen, he found the solution to the brachistochrone problem: what is the shape of the fastest slide if its starting and ending points are fixed? It was rare for the work of a Groningen professor to receive such international acclaim. He was appointed a member of, among others, the Royal Society in London and the Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin. The university had in him a teacher and researcher of stature, who often worked in innovative ways. Read the rest of the article here.

Bert Röling

Bert Röling grew from a young professor to become the legal conscience of the Tokyo Tribunal. He asked penetrating legal questions and dared to express dissenting opinions. Back in the Netherlands, he accepted an invitation from the Board of Trustees of the University of Groningen to become a professor of criminal law, criminal procedure, and criminology, and he increasingly focused on international law. Röling proposed the establishment of the Polemological Institute, a research center on war and peace. With his charisma, sharp arguments, and understandable language, Röling became an important voice in public debate. His legacy lives on in Groningen in the Röling Building, named after him. Read the rest of the article here.