It was the Night of Discoveries on Saturday 16 September: a summer encounter between art and science. Leiden researchers from various disciplines inspired the public with their quest to understand our world.

Simulations of galaxy formation provide much more information about galaxies than a telescope. Simulations have been improving significantly in recent years. Astronomer Evgenii Chaikin made such a significant contribution to this field that he graduated with honours on February 27th.

Eight scientists from Leiden University have been awarded a grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this Vidi funding, the researchers can set up an innovative line of research and further expand their own research group over the next five years.

Not only dark matter, but also ordinary matter and dark energy are tracked in the largest ever cosmological computer simulation ever. In the FLAMINGO simulations, you can see virtual galaxies and clusters of galaxies emerging over the course of billions of years. This is no easy task: with more than…

Pope Francis has appointed astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. She joins an illustrious list of Nobel Prize winners, such as Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck, Niels Bohr and Erwin Schrödinger. What is her view on this? An interview with our professor of Molecular astrop…

More than 700 visitors got to know the Science Faculty during the Leiden Science Family Day. People of all ages could enjoy fascinating experiments, tours, interesting lectures, spectacular nitrogen shows and various workshops. It was an informative day with many (future) scientists, amazement and,…

17 November is all about high tech. From consultations with ASML and a component for the world's largest telescope to our high-tech education. Oh right, and a conversation with the new rector magnificus.

The James Webb Space Telescope continues to surprise us with stunning pictures, but of what exactly? Astronomer Nienke van der Marel shows with three images how massive stars lead short but explosive lives.

An international team of astronomers, including Leiden PhD student Elia Pizzati, has observed several ancient quasars that, surprisingly, appear to be floating alone in the early universe (less than a billion years after the Big Bang). Until now, astronomers, based on models, assumed that quasars are…

With the new Euclid satellite, scientists are going to map a large part of the sky. The satellite ofthe European Space Agency (ESA) will soon give them a better view of the galaxies and matter in the universe. Professor of Galactic Astronomy Koen Kuijken and a team of Dutch scientists are receiving…

Data from 41 million galaxies does not shake up the standard cosmological model after all. To that conclusion, to their own surprise, comes an international team of researchers including Koen Kuijken, professor at the Leiden Observatory.

‘The Oscars of the natural sciences’, is what they are called: the Breakthrough Prizes awarded annually in America by the Breakthrough Foundation. Part of this are the New Horizons prizes for early-stage researchers. Sebastiaan Haffert, researcher at the Observatory, is this year's winner.

Joop Schaye, Professor of The formation of galaxies, has been elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He will be officially inaugurated on 29 September.

An international team of astronomers has shown that a white dwarf and a red dwarf orbiting each other every two hours are emitting radio pulses. Through the discovery, astronomers now know that the monopoly on bright radio bursts is not solely held by neutron stars. The team of international scientists…

As of 1 October Rob van Nieuwpoort is the new professor of Efficient Computing and eScience at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS). Van Nieuwpoort brings with him a wealth of expertise: he is an expert in eScience, high performace computing and advanced algorithms.

Four researchers from Leiden University have been awarded prestigious Vici grants the Dutch Research Council (NWO) has announced. The honoured applications are from researchers at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden Observatory, the LUMC and the Faculty of Archaeology.

Op zaterdag 3 juni vindt de Museumnacht Leiden plaats. Ook dit jaar zijn Leidse wetenschappers en studenten onderdeel van de programmering.

How has evolution shaped our curiosity? And how does that curiosity ensure that we now have the technological ability to discover whether we are alone in the universe? This was all covered during the celebration of Leiden University’s 449th Dies Natalis.

How do you rebuild a field of science after years of war? In June, a remarkable gathering of Ukrainian and Dutch astronomers took place at Leiden’s Old Observatory, aimed at jointly developing a recovery plan for Ukrainian astronomy.

The discovery of a planet far too large for its sun defies models about the formation of solar systems and planets. In a paper in Science, researchers, including Yamila Miguel of Leiden Observatory, report the discovery of a planet more than 13 times heavier than Earth orbiting the ultracool dwarf star…

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Circinus galaxy is being fed with gas by two spiral arms. This is what PhD candidate Wout Goesaert discovered. But only a small percentage disappears into the black hole, the rest is ejected.

Leiden Mayor Peter Heijkoop visited the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Science on Monday,

For her research into migration policy under different political regimes, Katharina Natter has been awarded the Gratama Science Prize for young, talented researchers.

As of April 1, physicist Dorothea Samtleben is the first female program leader of Nikhef, the National Institute for Subatomic Physics. Samtleben will lead the Neutrino Physics group there. ‘This is an important step for Nikhef when it comes to diversity.’

The board of the Pastoor Schmeits Prize for Astronomy Foundation has awarded the Pastoor Schmeits Prize 2025 to two individuals: Yamila Miguel, affiliated to the Leiden Observatory, Leiden University and SRON, and to Else Starkenburg, affiliated to the Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen. The…

Nienke van der Marel has been awarded the New Horizons Prize in physics for her pioneering research on planet formation. This prize is given to young, promising researchers in physics or mathematics. The astronomer and her colleagues found the first observational evidence for 'dust traps' in disks around…

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This summer, one of our BPS-master students, Ramazan Kiliç, will travel to Baltimore to present his research at the annual ARRE Research Symposium, a conference on ASXL-disorders that attracts researchers from all over the world, including the US, Japan, Germany, Ireland and, of course, The Netherlands.…

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has, within the framework of Research along Routes by Consortia (NWA-ORC), awarded the research project Next Generation Immuno-Dermatology (NGID) with a prestigious grant of 11.7 MEuro. NGID is a nationwide, large-scale project to unravel novel biomarkers for six different…

It’s about much more than learning how to write a readable piece or give a presentation that doesn’t send the audience to sleep. The intensive Science Communication Summer School gives young scientists the chance to really make contact with the public.

You can make some astounding images using just a box with a hole. Inspired by the celebration of Leiden as the European City of Science, Professor Matthew Kenworthy left several pinhole cameras across the Observatory over the course of 2021. This is how the simplest devices may uncover the greatest…

Researchers from Leiden University analysed almost 30 years of communication on astrobiology. News articles proved most speculative, especially via quotes from scientists. Especially exoplanet research is often accompanied by high expectations about extraterrestrial life, they write in PLOS One.

From research on stellar winds to sign language: an impressive seven researchers from Leiden University will receive a prestigious Vici grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

On January 1st Jasper Knoester started as our new dean. How is he finding it? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.

A beautiful speech by vice-dean Bart de Smit, a mini-lecture on exoplanets and the presentation of three faculty awards. That's how we started the new year at the faculty. Together with colleagues and students, we raised our glasses to a new year full of great collaborations, science and education.

Five projects with a lead applicant from Leiden will receive an Open Science Fund grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

How do we deal with large sources of greenhouse gases? Do schools provide a socially-inclusive environment for all children? And how can we protect Earth’s nature? These questions have two things in common: they are complex global challenges, and data can help answer them. Mitra Baratchi is computer…

It doesn't happen every day that the research project of a first-year bachelor’s student results in a scientific publication. And not only that, but as first author and on the cover of a leading physics journal. ‘We have given our lab education a thorough overhaul and it is paying off.’

Jasper Knoester, decaan van de Faculteit Wiskunde & Natuurwetenschappen, blikt terug op 2025 in "het jaar van Jasper".

Anthropologist Rodrigo Ochigame studies how AI is changing the practice of scientific research. From astrophysics to mathematics to climate science, they find that the adoption of new AI models is raising questions about what counts as reliable scientific evidence.

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. Normally Jasper looks back on a day in his life, but in the last newsletter of the year he does it a little differently....

A true shower of awards for students from the Faculty of Science during the annual KHMW Young Talent Awards ceremony. On Monday, 25 November, no less than nine first-year students received a prize for the best academic results in their first year. In addition, there were graduation prizes for master’s…

PhD defence

Lecture, Astronomy on Tap

Marlon Titre (1982) studied at Royal Conservatoire The Hague, did his PhD and studied at Leiden University, earned several other qualifications and is now, among others, Director of Filmhuis The Hague. Who is this multi-talent?

Patients with skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis, sometimes spend a lifetime searching for the right medication. To help these patients faster and better, scientists across the country are joining forces. The Next Generation ImmunoDermatology (NGID) project, with LACDR professor Robert Rissmann…

Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.