NWO Spinoza Prizes for Lodi Nauta and Bart van Wees

2016 is a good Spinoza year for the University of Groningen. Two laureates have been added to its list of honour in one go: Lodi Nauta, Professor of the History of Philosophy, and Bart van Wees, Professor of Applied Physics. The winning academics both receive EUR 2.5 million for research. In total the University of Groningen now has seven winners of the Spinoza prize.

Lodi Nauta is the first philosopher to receive the Spinoza Prize. ‘I consider this to be not merely the recognition of my own work, but also of the importance of philosophy and its history.‘ Bart van Wees still needs to have a good think about how he will spend the money: ‘I could use it for my current research, but I will certainly use some of it to explore new territory too.

Lodi Nauta and Bart van Wees will present their research at a celebration in the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague on Tuesday 13 September.

Read more about Lodi Nauta  and Bart van Wees  on our special Spinoza website and watch the movies we have made about them.

Very proud

Elmer Sterken is ‘very proud’ of Lodi Nauta and Bart van Wees. ‘They are researchers who encourage and inspire their co-workers, open-minded academics whose enthusiasm is catching and who take young people under their wing and thus lead by example. The same was true for their predecessors.’

Highest distinction in Dutch academia

The NWO Spinoza Prize is the highest distinction in Dutch academia. The award was introduced by NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, a national organization that funds and stimulates academic research in the Netherlands. A maximum of four prizes are awarded annually. The winning academics receive EUR 2.5 million for research, and are given complete freedom to choose their research subject and involve other, mostly young, researchers. Thus, the prize is part recognition for accomplished researchers and part stimulus to conduct further research.