Branches of Mathematics

Pure mathematics

• Algebra
• Calculus
• Geometry
• Topology
• Trignometry
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• Logic
• Number theory

Applied mathematics

• Dynamical systems and differential equations
• Mathematical physics
• Computing
• Information theory and signal processing
• Probability and statistics
• Game theory
• Operations research

Related Topics

• Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Linear Equations
• Applied Physics
• Nano Technology
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• Computational Mathematics
• Gamma Ray Optics
• Onfrared Optics
• Relative Velocity
• Iciam
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• Neuroscience Research
• Quantum Cosmology
• Brain Research

• Agriculture
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• WP IPA for French
• 
  

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  Belgium
  Belgium (ⁱ/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
  
  wn.com/Belgium
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  Bois de la Cambre
  Ter Kamerenbos (Dutch) or Bois de la Cambre (French) is an urban public park on the edge of the Sonian Forest in Brussels, Belgium. It has an area of 1.23 square kilometres. The park lies in the south of the Brussels-Capital Region, and in the municipality of the City of Brussels. It is linked to the rest of the municipality by Avenue Louise, which was built at the same time the park was laid out, in 1861.
  It comprises a small lake with an island in the centre, called Robinson's island. It is considered by many as one of the finest parks in Brussels.
  The park was laid out in 1861 by Edouard Keilig, a German architect. Queen Marie-Henriette, wife of King Leopold II, often went riding in the park. The horsemans' battle bronze group at the entrance is the work of Belgian sculptor Jacques de Lalaing.
  On June 17 1815, on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo English soldiers played a cricket match on a ground located in the area currently covered by the Park. Ever since is this area called la Pelouse des Anglais (The Englishmen's Lawn), although few are aware of the name. In 1965, the then British Ambassador in Belgium planted an oak tree and unveiled a bronze plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversary of this sporting and historical event.
  
  wn.com/Bois_de_la_Cambre
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  Brussels
  Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏ.səɫ] ( listen); German: Brüssel, pronounced [ˈbʁyː.səl]), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region (French:  Région de Bruxelles-Capitale (help·info), Dutch:  Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.
  Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.
  Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.
  
  wn.com/Brussels
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  Brussels Airport
  Brussels Airport (IATA: BRU, ICAO: EBBR) (also called Brussel Nationaal/Bruxelles-National/Brussel-Zaventem (Brussels National)) is an international airport 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) northeast of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen, both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.
  Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates. It is home to around 260 companies, together directly employing 20,000 people.
  In 2005, the airport was awarded Best Airport in Europe by Airports Council International/International Air Transport Association (ACI/IATA), based on a survey conducted with over 100,000 passengers worldwide.
  The company operating the airport is known as "The Brussels Airport Company N.V./S.A."; before 19 October 2006, the name was BIAC (Brussels International Airport Company), which was created by Belgian law through a merger of BATC with the ground operations departments of the RLW/RVA. It is currently owned by the Australian group MAp Airports (75%) and the Belgian State (25%).
  
  wn.com/Brussels_Airport
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  Expo 58
  Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World’s Fair, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling or Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles, was held from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major World's Fair after World War II.
  Nearly 15,000 workers spent three years building the 2 km² site, found on the Heysel plateau, seven kilometres northwest of central Brussels, Belgium. Many of the buildings were re-used from the Brussels International Exposition (1935), which had been held on the same site.
  
  Every 25 years starting in 1855, Belgium had staged large national events to celebrate its national independence following the Belgian Revolution of 1830. However, the Belgian government under prime minister Achille Van Acker decided to forego celebrations in 1955 to have additional funding for the 1958 Expo.
  Expo 58 was the 11th World's Fair hosted by Belgium, and the fifth in Brussels, following the fairs in 1888, 1897, 1910 and 1935. After Expo 58, Belgium has so far not arranged any more world fairs.
  
  wn.com/Expo_58
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  Flemish Community
  The term Flemish Community (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschap [ˈvlaːmsə ʝəˈmeːnsxɑp] ( listen); French: Communauté flamande; German: Flämische Gemeinschaft [ˈflɛːmɪʃə ɡəˈmaɪ̯nʃaft]) has two distinct, though related, meanings:
  Under the Belgian constitution, the Flemish Community has legal responsibility for the following:
  As the Flemish Community's institutions (parliament, government and ministry) absorbed all competencies of the Flemish region, they became also competent for the following areas:
  Members of the Flemish Parliament who were elected in Brussels region, have no right to vote on Flemish regional affairs. They can only vote on community affairs, since affairs concerning their region are governed by the Brussels Parliament.
  Legally speaking, in the regions of Brussel-Capital as well as of Flanders, the Flemish Community is responsible not for individual people, but for Flemish institutions such as schools, theatres, libraries and museums. The reason for this is that no distinct sub-national status exists in Belgium.
  
  wn.com/Flemish_Community
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  France
  France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
  Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
  
  wn.com/France
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  Nemo 33
  Coordinates: 50°47′46″N 4°18′59″E / 50.796211°N 4.316468°E / 50.796211; 4.316468
  Nemo 33 is the deepest indoor swimming pool in the world. The portal is located in Brussels, Belgium. Its maximum depth is 34.5 metres (113 ft). It contains 2.5 million liters of non-chlorinated, highly filtered spring water maintained at 30 °C (86 °F) and holds several simulated underwater caves at the 10 metres (33 ft) depth level. There are numerous underwater windows that allow outside visitors to look into the pools at various depths. The complex was designed by Belgian diving expert John Beernaerts as a multi-purpose diving instruction, recreational, and film production facility, 2004.
  9
  
  wn.com/Nemo_33
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  Netherlands
  The Netherlands (ⁱ/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] ( listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").
  
  wn.com/Netherlands

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  Alizée Poulicek
  Alizée Poulicek (born 26 June 1987 in Uccle, Belgium) is a beauty pageant contestant who won the title of Miss Belgium 2008 and represented her country in Miss Universe 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam. She went unplaced at the latter pageant. She also represented Belgium in Miss World 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
  She can speak French, English, and Czech. At the time of her election she could not speak Dutch (although she did receive Dutch lessons in school, according to Poulicek "of ridiculous low quality"); which lead to controversy in Flanders.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Alizée_Poulicek
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  Armand De Decker
  Armand De Decker, born in Uccle, 8 October 1948, is a Belgian politician and member of the French-speaking liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR).
  De Decker studied law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and practised law.
  
  wn.com/Armand_De_Decker
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  Axel Merckx
  Axel Merckx (born 8 August 1972 in Uccle), is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer who retired from the sport in August 2007. Since he began his professional career in 1993, he has won an Olympic Bronze medal and competed in 8 Tours de France, finishing in 6 as the highest-placed Belgian rider. During the 2006 Tour he announced that he signed a new contract for one extra season with Phonak, (to be renamed iShares). He also mentioned that this will be his last season as a professional road bicycle racer. However, after Phonak announced that it would stop sponsoring the cycling team, Merckx signed a contract with T-Mobile Team, the same team where he started his professional career.
  Despite several strong years of racing, including winning the Belgian national championship in 2000, Merckx is probably still more famous for being the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx than for any of his own cycling exploits. Despite being overshadowed by his father's formidable record, Merckx has repeatedly vowed to make his mark by accomplishing feats Eddy never managed - including a Tour de France stage win at the top of Alpe d'Huez and a win in the Paris–Tours World Cup race - but has yet to make good on these promises. He has a large number of fans in Belgium, and would undoubtedly engender a great deal more goodwill if he were ever to achieve either of those elusive wins.
  
  wn.com/Axel_Merckx
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  Axelle Red
  Axelle Red (born Fabienne Demal on 15 February 1968) is a Belgian singer-songwriter.
  She was born at Hasselt, Flanders, Belgium, the daughter of Roland Demal, a solicitor in Hasselt and Councillor for the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) in the City Council.
  Nowadays a committed artist and a militant humanist, back in 1993 Axelle graduated from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) as a lawyer, the same year her first album Sans Plus Attendre was released which immediately resulted in her artistic break out in France, Switzerland, Canada and Belgium, where sales alone amounted to more than 200,000.
  Her soul album, À Tâtons, recorded in 1996 in Memphis with musicians from the Stax label, including Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes, is a real eye-opener. Axelle received an International Federation of the Phonographic Industry platinum award for sales of more than 1 million and a year later, she sold out the Paris Olympia for the first time.
  Since 1997, Axelle has been an ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) standing up for the rights of children and women in war-torn regions and developing countries. That same year she devoted herself to the Ottawa Convention against land mines and in the poverty-stricken Haiti; she came face to face with children who have been imprisoned in miserable conditions without trial.
  
  wn.com/Axelle_Red
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  Charlemagne
  Charlemagne ( /ˈʃɑrlɨmeɪn/ or /ˈʃɑrləmeɪn/; French pronunciation: [ʃaʁ.lə.maɲ]; c. 742 – 28 January 814), also known as Charles the Great (Latin: Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus), was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans (Imperator Romanorum) from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800 in Rome.
  His rule is also associated with the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the medium of the Catholic Church. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne helped define both Western Europe and the European Middle Ages. He is numbered as Charles I in the regnal lists of Germany, the Holy Roman Empire, and France.
  The son of King Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, a Frankish queen, he succeeded his father in 768 and was initially co-ruler with his brother Carloman I. It has often been suggested that the relationship between Charlemagne and Carloman was not good, but it has also been argued that tensions were exaggerated by Carolingian chroniclers.
  
  wn.com/Charlemagne
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  Henry van de Velde
  Henry Clemens Van de Velde (Dutch pronunciation: [ɑ̃ˈʁi vɑndəˈvɛldə]) (3 April 1863, Antwerp – 15 October 1957, Zürich) was a Belgian Flemish painter, architect and interior designer. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar he could be considered one of the main founders and representatives of Art Nouveau in Belgium. Van de Velde spent the most important part of his career in Germany and had a decisive influence on German architecture and design at the beginning of the 20th century.
  Van de Velde studied painting in Antwerp, under Charles Verlat and in Paris under Carolus-Duran. As a young painter he was thoroughly influenced by Paul Signac and Georges Seurat and soon adopted a neo-impressionist style. In 1889 he became a member of the Brussels-based artist group "Les XX". After Vincent Van Gogh exhibited some work on the yearly exhibition of Les XX van de Velde became one of the first artists to be influenced by the Dutch painter. During this period he developed a lasting friendship with the painter Théo van Rysselberghe and the sculptor Constantin Meunier.
  
  wn.com/Henry_van_de_Velde
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  Henry Van de Velde
  Henry Clemens Van de Velde (Dutch pronunciation: [ɑ̃ˈʁi vɑndəˈvɛldə]) (3 April 1863, Antwerp – 15 October 1957, Zürich) was a Belgian Flemish painter, architect and interior designer. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar he could be considered one of the main founders and representatives of Art Nouveau in Belgium. Van de Velde spent the most important part of his career in Germany and had a decisive influence on German architecture and design at the beginning of the 20th century.
  Van de Velde studied painting in Antwerp, under Charles Verlat and in Paris under Carolus-Duran. As a young painter he was thoroughly influenced by Paul Signac and Georges Seurat and soon adopted a neo-impressionist style. In 1889 he became a member of the Brussels-based artist group "Les XX". After Vincent Van Gogh exhibited some work on the yearly exhibition of Les XX van de Velde became one of the first artists to be influenced by the Dutch painter. During this period he developed a lasting friendship with the painter Théo van Rysselberghe and the sculptor Constantin Meunier.
  
  wn.com/Henry_Van_de_Velde
• Hergé
  Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also responsible for other well-known comic book series such as Quick & Flupke (1930–1940) and Jo, Zette and Jocko (1936–1957).
  Born into a middle-class family in Etterbeek, Brussels, he took a keen interest in Scouting in early life, something that would prove highly influential on his later work. Initially producing illustrations for Belgian Scouting magazines, in 1927 he began working for the conservative newspaper Le XXe Siècle, where he adopted the pen name "Hergé" [ɛʁʒe], based upon the French pronunciation of "RG", his initials reversed. It was here, in 1929, that he began serialising the first of the Adventures of Tintin, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets.
  The notable qualities of the Tintin stories include their vivid humanism, a realistic feel produced by meticulous and wide ranging research, and Hergé's ligne claire drawing style. Adult readers enjoy the many satirical references to the history and politics of the 20th century. The Blue Lotus, for example, was inspired by the Mukden incident that resulted in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. King Ottokar's Sceptre could be read against the background of Hitler's Anschluss or in the context of the struggle between the Romanian Iron Guard and the King of Romania, Carol II; whilst later albums such as The Calculus Affair depict the Cold War. Hergé has become one of the most famous Belgians worldwide and Tintin is still an international success.
  
  wn.com/Hergé
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  Jaco van Dormael
  Jaco Van Dormael (born 1957, Ixelles, Belgium) is a Belgian film director, screenwriter and playwright. His complex and critically acclaimed films are especially noted for their respectful and sympathetic portrayal of people with mental and physical disabilities.
  Van Dormael spent his childhood travelling around Europe, before going on to study filmmaking at the INSAS in Brussels, where he wrote and directed his first short film, Maedeli la brèche (1981), which received the Honorary Foreign Film Award at the Student Academy Awards. Van Dormael's feature debut, Toto le héros (1991), was an immediate hit and won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
  Five years later Van Dormael was among the prizes again at Cannes with Le huitieme jour (1996), when his two leading actors, Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne, were jointly awarded the prize for Best Actor. His third feature film, Mr. Nobody (2009), received further critical acclaim and many accolades, winning six Magritte Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.
  
  wn.com/Jaco_van_Dormael
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  Jacques Tits
  Jacques Tits (French pronunciation: [tits]; born 12 August 1930 in Uccle) is a Belgian and French mathematician who works on group theory and geometry and who introduced Tits buildings, the Tits alternative, and the Tits group.
  Tits was born in Uccle to Léon Tits, a professor, and Lousia André. Jacques attended the Athénée of Uccle and the Free University of Brussels. His thesis advisor was Paul Libois, and Tits graduated with his doctorate in 1950 with the dissertation Généralisation des groupes projectifs basés sur la notion de transitivité. His academic career includes professorships at the Free University of Brussels (now split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (1962-1964), the University of Bonn (1964-1974) and the Collège de France in Paris, until becoming emeritus in 2000. He changed his citizenship to French in 1974 in order to teach at the Collège de France, which at that point required French citizenship. Because Belgium does not allow dual nationalities, he renounced his Belgian citizenship. He has been a member of the French Academy of Sciences since then.
  
  wn.com/Jacques_Tits
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  Jean Améry
  Jean Améry (October 31, 1912 – October 17, 1978), born Hanns Chaim Mayer, was an Austrian-born essayist whose work was often informed by his experiences during World War II. Formerly a philosophy and literature student in Vienna, Améry's participation in organized resistance against the Nazi occupation of Belgium resulted in his detainment and torture by the Gestapo, and several years of imprisonment in concentration camps.
  Améry survived internments in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, and was finally liberated at Bergen-Belsen in 1945. His most celebrated work, At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and Its Realities, suggests that torture was "the essence" of the Third Reich. Other notable works included On Aging and On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death.
  Améry committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills in 1978.
  Jean Améry was born Hans Mayer in Vienna, Austria in 1912, to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. His father was killed in action in World War I in 1916. Améry was raised as a Roman Catholic by his mother. Eventually, Améry and his mother returned to Vienna, where he enrolled in university to study literature and philosophy, but economic necessity kept him from regular pursuit of studies there.
  
  wn.com/Jean_Améry
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  Joachim Lafosse
  Joachim Lafosse (born 18 January 1975, Uccle) is a Belgian film director and screenwriter.
  Lafosse studied at the IAD (Institut des arts de diffusion) at Louvain-la-Neuve between 1997 and 2001. His graduation film Tribu, a 24-minute short, won the best Belgian short subject category at the 2001 Namur Film Festival. His first full length feature, Folie Privée (2004), won the FIPRESCI award at the Bratislava International Film Festival., and the semi-autobiographical Ça rend heureux (2006) took the Grand Prix at the 2007 Premiers Plans d'Angers festival. 2006 also saw the release of Nue Propriété, starring Isabelle Huppert and brothers Jérémie and Yannick Renier, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival where it was nominated for the Golden Lion and won a SIGNIS award. His latest film is Élève libre.
  His 2012 film Loving Without Reason competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
  
  wn.com/Joachim_Lafosse
• Joseph Raphael
  For the American photorealist painter see Joseph Raffael
  Joseph Raphael (1869–1950) was an American Impressionist painter who spent most of his career as an expatriate but maintained close ties with the artistic community of San Francisco, California.
  Born in the town of Jackson, California on June 2, 1869, Raphael studied with Arthur F. Mathews at the California School of Design. In 1902 he entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, but then moved to the Académie Julian and studied under Jean-Paul Laurens. He spent parts of the next several years in the Netherlands, producing paintings in a dark style derived from the Dutch Masters. In 1906 his large oil La Fete du Bourgmestre received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon; it was subsequently purchased by a group of friends in San Francisco and given to the San Franciso Art Association. In 1910 he had a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Institute of Art; beginning in 1913 he had annual exhibitions at Helgesen Galleries, San Francisco. He would ship artworks to his San Francisco friend and patron Albert M. Bender, who bought some and encouraged friends to buy others. Raphael also participated in the annual group shows of the San Francisco Art Association.
  
  wn.com/Joseph_Raphael
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  Lara Fabian
  Lara Fabian (born Lara Crokaert, January 9, 1970) is a Belgian-Italian international singer who holds Canadian citizenship. Multilingual, she sings in French, Italian and English. She has also sung in Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, and German.
  She has sold over 10 million records worldwide.^{[citation needed]} She is a lyric soprano with a vocal range that spans four octaves from E-flat 3 to G#6 in live performances, and has reached up to A5.
  Born to a Belgian father and a Sicilian mother in Etterbeek, Belgium, Fabian spent her first five years in her mother's hometown of Catania in Sicily, before moving back to Brussels, Belgium. She began singing, dancing and taking piano lessons at a young age, and began formal music lessons at age eight. She began writing and performing her own songs during her ten years of formal music study. Fabian's songs were influenced by her classical vocal and music theory training, and by contemporary artists such as Barbra Streisand and Queen.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Lara_Fabian
• Marianne Merchez
  Marianne Merchez (born 25 October 1960 in Uccle) is a Belgian doctor from the Catholic University of Louvain and a former European Space Agency astronaut. She is certified in aerospace medicine and in industrial medicine, and she is also a professional pilot (holds a Belgian Air Transport Pilot License from Civil Aviation School, former co-pilot Boeing 737).
  She has extensive experience as a consultant in human factors. Her predilection field is human relationships and communication and she integrates her training in brief systemic therapy and ericksonian hypnosis in daily personal and professional situations. Her hobbies include classical music, walking, and cycling.
  
  She is married to Italian astronaut Maurizio Cheli.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Marianne_Merchez
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  Olivier Strebelle
  Olivier Strebelle is a Belgian sculptor born in Brussels on 20 January 1927.
  His monumental (usually bronze) sculptures adorn many public places in Brussels as well as in Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, singapore, Switzerland, and the United States.
  Strebelle, 82, has been a prolific artist for more than 60 years, and his works are found in private collections and public settings around the world. His style has evolved from robust, organic abstract forms to the sinuous lines seen in "Athletes’ Alley," on the site of the Beijing Olympic Games.
  At more than 340 feet long and 65 feet high, the sculpture is made up of five modules of interlaced stainless steel tubes. Seen from the side, it appears to be a collection of graceful yet fragmented shapes. But viewed from a designated point, the composition reveals five figures carrying the Olympic rings.
  The sculpture "The Abduction of Europa" (French: L’Enlèvement d’Europe) in Square of Europe, Moscow was gifted Belgium to Moscow (opened September 2002).
  
  wn.com/Olivier_Strebelle
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  Philippe Moureaux
  Philippe Moureaux (born 12 April 1939 in Etterbeek) is a Belgian politician, senator, mayor of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, and professor of economic history at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
  His first government post was a Minister of the Interior and Institutional Reform in the government of Wilfried Martens (Martens III) in 1980. Moureaux's name was attached to the loi contre le racisme et la xénophobie (Law against Racism and Xenophobia) of 30 July 1981 as he was then serving as Minister of Justice.
  Resigning from the Federal Government in 1993, Moureaux's coalition defeated the incumbent mayor of Molenbeek Léon Spiegels at the 1994 council elections. A key part of Moureaux's campaign, then and since, was the involvement of ethnic minorities in the campaign, Mariem Bouselmati of Ecolo being the first Belgian of Moroccan origin elected in Molenbeek. In 2004, as a senator, Moureaux submitted the law granting the right of foreigners to vote in municipal elections.
  However, Moureaux's attempts at revitalizing the municipality have, however, not been successful. The Dutch company BBDO in June, 2011 citing over 150 attacks on their staff by locals, posted an open letter to the mayor, Phillippe Moreaux announcing their withdrawal from the town. As a result, serious questions have been raised about governance, security, and the administration of Mayor Moreaux.
  
  wn.com/Philippe_Moureaux
• 
  Pierre Harmel
  Pierre Charles José Marie Harmel, Count Harmel (16 March 1911 – 15 November 2009) was a Belgian lawyer, Christian Democratic politician and diplomat. Harmel served eight months as the 40th Prime Minister of Belgium.
  He was born in Uccle, son of father Charles Harmel and mother Eusibie André. He studied law at the University of Liège (Liège), where he obtained the titles of Doctor of Laws and Master of Social Sciences in 1933. During his studies, he was active in the Association catholique belge, of which he became the chairman in 1938.
  Mobilized in 1940, he took part in the 18 days Campaign. In 1947, he was appointed professor of Law at the University of Liège.
  Member of the PSC-CVP since its creation in 1945, Harmel was elected deputy for the first time in the parliamentary elections of 17 February 1946. He would keep his seat without interruption until 1971.
  Harmel represented Belgium at the fourth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1949. He subsequently was member of several governments in the 1950s and 1960s.
  
  wn.com/Pierre_Harmel
• 
  Pope Leo III
  Pope Saint Leo III (750 – 12 June 816) was Pope from 795 to his death in 816. Protected by Charlemagne from his enemies in Rome, he subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him as Roman Emperor.
  Leo, who was of non-noble birth, had risen in the hierarchy of Rome and was elected Pope only one day after the burial of his predecessor, Pope Adrian I, who had worked for good relations between Rome and the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne. Leo announced his election to Charlemagne, sending him the keys of Saint Peter's tomb and the banner of Rome, requesting an envoy. Charlemagne's reply stated that it was his function to defend the Church, and the function of the Pope to pray for the realm and for the victory of his army.
  Leo aroused the hostility of Rome's nobility, who saw the papal post as reserved only for noble candidates. During his rule, he was accused of adultery and perjury. In April 799, he was attacked by a gang who unsuccessfully attempted to gouge out his eyes and cut off his tongue for his earlier actions, only to be saved by Magnus Forteman and 700 Frisian nobles of his army. He was then formally deposed and sent to a monastery, but escaped and made his way to Paderborn, where he met Charlemagne.
  
  wn.com/Pope_Leo_III
• 
  Roger De Coster
  Roger De Coster (born 28 August 1944 in Uccle) is a Belgian former world champion motocross racer and current motocross team manager.
  De Coster's name is almost synonymous with the sport of motocross, winning five 500cc Motocross World Championships during the 1970s and tallying a record 36 500cc Grand Prix victories. His stature is such in the world of motocross that he is often simply referred to as "The Man."
  De Coster began his professional motocross career with the Czechoslovakian firm ČZ racing in the 500cc class. He was also competent in other forms of off-road motorcycling, winning a Gold Medal in the 1964 International Six Days Trial, and won the 1964 Belgian Observed Trials National Championship. He won the 500cc Belgian National Championship in 1966 and moved up to the Grand Prix World Championship in 1967. He won his first 500cc Grand Prix in 1968.
  In 1971, De Coster left ČZ and join the Japanese firm Suzuki. It was with Suzuki that he would attain his greatest success, winning the 500cc Motocross World Championship three years in a row in 1971, 1972 and 1973 before Heikki Mikkola dethroned him in 1974. De Coster came back and regained the World Championship for the 1975 and 1976 seasons. By the mid-seventies, he had established himself as the greatest motocrosser of all time. In 1980, He joined Honda for one final season. He left the sport on top, winning his final world championship race — the 500cc Motocross Grand Prix of Luxembourg at the end of the 1980 season. He was also a four-time winner of the Trans-AMA motocross series and was a member of six winning Belgian teams in the Motocross des Nations.
  
  wn.com/Roger_De_Coster
• Sandrine Blancke
  Sandrine Blancke (6 November 1978, Uccle, Belgium) is an actress. She started her acting career at the age of 13 in the 1991 film Toto le héros.
  
  wn.com/Sandrine_Blancke
• 
  Toots Thielemans
  Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (born 29 April 1922, Brussels, Belgium), known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century.
  He has worked as a bandleader (scoring an international hit in the 1960s with his song "Bluesette"), as a sideman (notably on many projects with composer/arranger Quincy Jones), and has appeared on dozens of film soundtracks. In 2009 he became NEA Jazz Master, the highest honour for a jazz musician in the United States.
  He is perhaps best-known to the American public for whistling the melody in commercials for Old Spice cologne.
  Thielemans started his career as a guitar player. In 1949 he joined a jam session in Paris with Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and others. In 1949 and 1950 he participated in European tours with Benny Goodman, making his first record in Paris with fellow band member, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims. In 1951 he became a band member of the singer-songwriter and compatriot Bobbejaan Schoepen (at the time still as a guitarist).
  
  wn.com/Toots_Thielemans
• 
  Vincent Kompany
  Vincent Jean Mpoy Kompany (born 10 April 1986 in Uccle, Brussels) is a Belgian footballer who plays for Manchester City and the Belgium national team. He is capable of playing at both centre back and defensive midfield. In the 2011–12 season he was awarded the captaincy of Manchester City, leading his club to win the Premier League that season, their first league title in 44 years.
  Kompany began his professional career at Anderlecht, spending three years at the Belgian club before moving to German club Hamburger SV in 2006. In the summer of 2008, at the age of 22, he completed a transfer to his current club, Premier League side Manchester City. He has since established himself as an integral part of the Manchester City squad and is one of the bargain buys of the revolutionised City era, blossoming into one of the Premier League's best centre backs. Kompany was included in the Premier League Team of the Year for two years in a row in 2011 and 2012, and won the Premier League Player of the Season in 2012.
  
  wn.com/Vincent_Kompany

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