In the media
How brutal was Julius Caesar?
In its first exhibition, the new H'Art Museum (formerly Hermitage Amsterdam) explores how Julius Caesar and his assassins changed Roman history. The assassination itself remains surrounded by many uncertainties. Archaeologist Nico Roymans stated in de Volkskrant that, during his campaigns, Caesar reached the southern part of present-day Netherlands, in particular the area around Kessel in Brabant, just below the Maas and just above Den Bosch. According to Roymans, this is evident from human remains and weaponry that were dredged up on-site that dated back to the time of Caesar. Caesar is said to have caused a massacre near the Maas, ‘for he was merciless against his northern enemies.’
First female minister
It is hard to imagine now, but before the 1950s, our country only had male ministers. In 1956, Marga Klompé became the first female minister of the Netherlands. Anneke Ribberink, researcher in political and gender history, talks about this in the radio programme Villa Vdb. “In the resistance, Klompé became acquainted with politicians and with women who later became important in the women's movement. That's how she got into politics.” During her career, Klompé was always working to improve the position of women, says Ribberink.
Life-changing book
Being so inspired by a book that it changes your life: that's what happened to Professor of Philosophy Govert Buijs, he told the Nederlands Dagblad. He doesn't know if he would have remained a Christian had he left Bob Goudzwaard's book Capitalism and Progress on the shelf. He was particularly moved by Goudzwaard's analysis of modern society, and once, as a sixteen-year-old boy, he cycled fifteen kilometres to see the man in person.
What stood out about the COVID-19 press conferences?
Science as a starting point: that was the way the COVID press conferences were approached, conclude linguistics and communication scientists Robert Prettner and Hedwig te Molder, along with their colleagues Rens Vliegenthart (Wageningen) and Maarten Hajer (Utrecht). They analysed the COVID press conferences from early 2021 and looked at Twitter reactions and House of Representatives motions. “By hiding behind science, it is no longer clear to the outside world what you stand for and what choices you make”, Te Molder explains in de Volkskrant.
Genius hunches
Newton, Darwin and Einstein: spontaneous, brilliant discoveries in science are rare, says science historian Ab Flipse in the Nederlands Dagblad. "It's appealing to hang a great discovery on a single person and a single moment. To Newton, for example, who sees an apple fall from the tree and then comes up with the idea of gravity", he says. "But in reality, a scientific discovery rarely comes from nothing."
magazine for humanities alumni december 2023