Belgium

Kingdom of Belgium
Flag
Location  Europe
Capital  Brussels
Area  30,528 sq km
Population  11,570,762

"All things come to those that wait"
(Proverb/Quote of the Week)

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January

January 1 A new law ensuring plain packaging for all tobacco products came into force in Belgium on 1 January 2020 to deter smoking. January 2 January 3 January 4 January 5 January 6 January 7 January 8 January 9 January 10 January 11 January 12 Belgium's Jerome d'Ambrosio won the second Formula E race of the season after a thrilling battle in Marrakesh, Morocco on 12 January 2019. January 13 A wild wolf has been found in the northern Belgian region of Flanders for the first time in more than a century, Belgian environmental group Landschap revealed on 13 January 2018. Belgium had the fifth highest proportions (23.4%) of women in corporate boardrooms in 2014, according to a study of major economies published on 13 January 2015 by the New York based organization Catalyst Inc. January 14 January 15 January 16 January 17 January 18 January 19 January 20 Belgium born Zara Rutherford on 20 January 2022 became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world and the first person to do so in a microlight plane, completing an epic 41-country journey spanning over 52,000 kilometers (32,300 miles), and broke two Guinness World Records in the process. A tree frog, named Frankixalus jerdonii, thought to be extinct for 137 years has been rediscovered in the jungles of north-eastern India by a team of international researchers including Belgian scientists. Their finding was described in a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE on 20 January 2016. January 21 January 22 January 23 January 24 January 25 January 26 January 27 January 28 January 29 Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters won her fourth Grand Slam by taking her first Australian Open on January 29. 2011. Clijsters won the Australian Open with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over China's Li Na. January 30 January 31

February

February 1 February 2 February 3 On 3 February 2012 a team of European scientists announced they have successfully transplanted a complete lower jaw that was created on a 3D printer into the face of an 83 year-old woman. This world’s first patient-specific implant was made from titanium by LayerWise, a specialized metal-parts manufacturer in Belgium, and transplanted into the woman in the Netherlands. February 4 February 5 Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium have discovered that Earth used to turn more quickly, meaning that a day lasted about 23.5 hours and a year equated to 372 days, according to their study published in the journal Paleooceanography and Paleoclimatology on 5 February 2020. February 6 February 7 The Constitution of Belgium was adopted in 1831. On 7 February 1831, the National Congress had completed its discussions and approved the Belgian constitution. February 8 February 9 February 10 February 11 February 12 February 13 A new species of whistling owl with a unique voice believed to exist nowhere else in the world has been identified on the island of Lombok in Indonesia, a Belgian researcher along with an international team reported on 13 February 2013 in the journal PLoS One. February 14 February 15 Belgium ranked top in the world on how effectively children can access the justice system to defend their rights, according to a research report released on 15 February 2016 by Children Rights International Network (CRIN). February 16 February 17 February 18 February 19 February 20 February 21 February 22 A team of international astronomers, including researchers from Belgium, has detected a record seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star Trappist-1, a low-mass, cool star located 40 light-years away from Earth. Three of them lie in the habitable zone and could harbour water, as revealed in the journal Nature on 22 February 2017. February 23 February 24 Belgians passport ranked fourth at the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index 2016, allowing its citizens visa-free access to 174 countries. February 25 Archaeologists from Belgium, Austria and Germany have discovered a large, well-preserved school for Roman gladiators in Carnuntum, Austria. The discovery was reported on 25 February 2014 in the journal Antiquity, reveals intricate details about the daily routine of these famous warriors. February 26 February 27 February 28 Belgian tennis duo Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen extended their unbeaten record in ATP Tour finals on 28 February 2021 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Matthew Ebden and John-Patrick Smith at the Singapore Tennis Open. February 29

March

March 1 Belgian passport was ranked as the world’s second most valuable by the Nomad Passport Index 2017, assessed based on visa-free travel, taxation, perception, dual citizenship and overall freedom. March 2 March 3 March 4 March 5 March 6 March 7 March 8 March 9 A team of international and Belgian researchers has discovered that Neanderthal remains discovered from a cave in Belgium are thousands of years older than previously reported, as revealed on 9 March 2021. March 10 March 11 March 12 Belgian scientists were awarded 13 research grants by the European Research Council (ERC) on 12 March 2015 as part of the European Union Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020. A team of international scientists, including researchers from Belgium, has discovered a vast reservoir of water under the Earth's mantle, 400-600 kilometers (250-375 miles) beneath the Earth’s surface. Their study, confirmed the finding based on the discovery of a rare mineral ringwoodite, was published in the journal Nature on 12 March 2014. March 13 Belgian researchers have revealed that an ancient human ancestor nicknamed Little Foot probably lived in trees around 3.67 million years ago, as published in the journal Scientific Reports on 13 March 2020. March 14 March 15 March 16 March 17 March 18 March 19 March 20 Belgian mathematician Pierre Deligne won the 2013 Abel Prize in mathematics for his seminal contributions to algebraic geometry and for their transformative impact on number theory, representation theory and related fields. March 21 Scientists from Belgium, France and Italy have discovered the presence of metal in the ink of two Herculaneum papyrus fragments proving that metals were used in ink several centuries earlier than previously believed, as announced on 21 March 2016. March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March 26 March 27 March 28 March 29 March 30 March 31

April

April 1 April 2 April 3 Belgian photographer Nick Hannes won the 2018 ZEISS Photography Award “Seeing Beyond – Untold Stories” for his stunning photography series named Garden of Delight. April 4 A Belgian and international team of palaeontologists has discovered a well-preserved skeleton of a four-legged whale ancestor in Playa Media Luna, in Peru's desert-like Pisco Basin. The 43 million years old skeleton was described in the journal Current Biology on 4 April 2019. April 5 April 6 Belgian world champion Lotte Kopecky won a six-rider dash for the line to claim the women's Paris-Roubaix cobbled classic on 6 April 2024. April 7 April 8 April 9 April 10 April 11 April 12 April 13 April 14 April 15 April 16 April 17 April 18 April 19 Jacques Rogge from Belgium was awarded the prestigious Champions of the Earth Special Prize by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 19 April 2007 for his role as the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Mr. Jacques and the IOC were honored for introducing stringent environmental requirements for cities bidding to host Olympic Games. April 20 Belgium hosted the 1920 Summer Olympic Games from April 20 to September 12, 1920 in Antwerp. Antwerp was awarded the Games in memory of victims of World War I. April 21 April 22 Scientists in Belgium have discovered a bacterium — officially named Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensis — that conducts electricity like a wire. Their discovery was explained in Applied and Environmental Microbiology on 22 April 2025. A team of Belgian and English researchers has experimented with hydrothermally stable zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) that presents an attractive pathway to a new material that could better protect soldiers, athletes and motorists. Their findings were published in Nature Materials on 22 April 2021. April 23 April 24 April 25 April 26 Belgium ranked ninth at the 2017 Press Freedom Index, ranking freedom of the media in a country, compiled by Reporters Without Borders. Belgian footballer Eden Hazard was named the 2015 Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year for his glittering form. April 27 Belgian footballer Eden Hazard was named the 2014 Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Men’s Young Player of the Year. April 28 April 29 April 30

May

May 1 Belgium's Luca Brecel won the 2023 snooker World Championship beating Mark Selby 18-15 in the final. May 2 An international team led by astronomers at the University of Liege, Belgium has discovered three planets orbiting around a tiny star only 40 light-years away from Earth, according to a study published in the journal Nature on 2 May 2016. This discovery is a world first, because unlike all potentially habitable exoplanets detected so far, these new planets are well suited for a detailed study of their atmospheric compositions with the latest generation of telescopes, making the first search for traces of life around another star finally possible. May 3 Belgian singer Sandra Kim won the 1986 Eurovision Song Contest for the song J'aime La Vie. This was the first time that Belgium won the contest. May 4 May 5 On May 5, 1835 the first train ran on Belgium’s national railway from Brussels to Malines. It was the first railway in continental Europe. May 6 Camille Gutt, a Belgian economist and politician, served as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s first Managing Director from May 6, 1946 to May 5, 1951. IMF is an organization of over 180 member countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. May 7 May 8 May 9 Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians was appointed as one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocates on 9 May 2019. May 10 Alain Schroeder of Belgium won the 1st Prize in the Story Sports category for his image “Dead Goat Polo” at the 7th Istanbul Photo Awards on 10 May 2021. May 11 May 12 Belgian footballer Eden Hazard was voted the 2015 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association. The Belgian international collected some 53% of members’ votes, making him a comfortable winner ahead of English striker Harry Kane. May 13 An international group of researchers including scientists from Belgium has discovered two species of large-bodied sabre-toothed fishes, called, Clupeopsis straeleni and Monosmilus chureloides, that roamed the seas about 40 to 45 million years ago. The findings were published on 13 May 2020 in the journal Royal Society Open Science. May 14 May 15 May 16 May 17 May 18 May 19 May 20 May 21 The Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, Belgium was awarded the prestigious European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) 2011 on May 21, 2011 by the European Museum Forum (EMF). May 22 May 23 May 24 May 25 May 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 Belgian astronomers and their international colleagues have found a rare exoplanet, named as NGTS-4b, as revealed on 29 May 2019. The planet is three times the size of Earth and 20% smaller than Neptune and the planet has its own atmosphere. Belgian physicist François Englert was named co-winner of the 2013 Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for his contributions in Technical and Scientific research. May 30 May 31

June

June 1 June 2 June 3 June 4 After 55 days, Belgian polar explorer Dixie Dansercoer and Canadian Eric McNair-Landry succeeded in becoming the first polar explorers to fully circumnavigate the Greenland ice sheet. On 4 June 2014, on Day 56, they completed the expedition with a record total distance of 4,044.9km. June 5 June 6 June 7 June 8 The UN General Assembly on 8 June 2018 elected Belgium as a non-permanent member to the UN Security Council to serve during 2019-2020. June 9 Belgian journalist Philippe Leruth was elected as the President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a global union federation of journalists' trade unions—the largest in the world, on 9 June 2016. A 27-year-old Belgian woman has become the first in the world to give birth to a healthy baby after having her fertility restored by a transplant of ovarian tissue that was removed and frozen when she was 13. The Belgian doctors detailed the transplant in the journal Human Reproduction on 9 June 2015. June 10 June 11 An international team including researchers from Belgium, France and Czech Republic have proposed a new model that shows an ocean lies only a few kilometers beneath Saturn's moon Enceladus’s icy surface. Their findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters on 11 June 2016. The genetic blueprint of the Eucalyptus grandis (flooded gum) has almost been sequenced by a team of international researchers, including scientists from Belgium. The five-year effort to analyze the 640 million base-pair genome was reported on 11 June 2014 in the journal Nature. June 12 June 13 June 14 June 15 European astronomers including Belgian scientists have identified a green light in the atmosphere of Mars coming from oxygen atoms when they are excited by sunlight. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Astronomy on 15 June 2020. June 16 June 17 Belgium ranked as the 14th most peaceful country in the world at the 2015 Global Peace Index published by Institute for Economics & Peace. June 18 June 19 June 20 June 21 June 22 June 23 Belgium successfully launched 3 satellites on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C38 powered by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 23 June 2017. June 24 Brussels Airport in Belgium won the Asian Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain (AFLAS) Award for ‘Best Airport in Europe’ at a ceremony held in Shanghai on 24 June 2026. June 25 June 26 A team of Belgian and international researchers has discovered genes responsible for early onset Alzheimer's disease in people with Down syndrome. Their findings were published in the journal Brain on 26 June 2018. June 27 June 28 The Saxophone, a musical instrument, was invented by a Belgian musician-inventor Adolphe Sax and was patented by him on June 28, 1846. He designed the instrument in his Paris workshop. June 29 June 30

July

July 1 The Mining Sites of Walonia in Belgium, some of the best preserved 19th and 20th century mining sites in Europe and surrounding buildings, are named as UNESCO World Heritage Site on 1 July 2012. July 2 Jean Rey, a Belgian lawyer and politician, served as President of the European Commission. He took the office on July 2, 1967. He was the second President of European Commission which is the executive body of the European Union-an economic and political union of European countries. July 3 Belgian cyclist Jasper Philipsen of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team on 3 July 2023 won the third stage of the Tour de France. July 4 July 5 July 6 Belgian researchers and their international collaboration have discovered the first evidence of Neanderthal cannibalism in northern Europe. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports on 6 July 2016 based on the analysis of Neanderthal human remains. July 7 July 8 July 9 July 10 Professor Yves Vanlandewyck from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium was named as the winner of the 2019 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Paralympic Scientific Award for his commitment to improve the quality of life for individuals with a disability since his early career as a physiotherapist in the 1980s, and later on as a wheelchair basketball player and coach. July 11 July 12 Belgian astronomers and a team of international researchers have discovered a star about the size of Saturn – the smallest ever measured. The newly-measured star, called EBLM J0555-57Ab, is located about six hundred light years away, as revealed on 12 July 2017. July 13 July 14 July 15 July 16 July 17 July 18 July 19 July 20 July 21 King Philippe I became Belgium's seventh monarch after the abdication of his father, Albert II, on 21 July 2013. July 22 July 23 July 24 July 25 The first ever example of a plant-eating dinosaur with feathers and scales, named Kulindradromeus zabaikalicus, has been discovered in Russia. The finding could mean that feathered dinosaurs were widespread than previously thought, as Belgian scientists reported in the journal Science on 25 July 2014 in collaboration with a team of international researchers. July 26 July 27 July 28 July 29 July 30 July 31

August

August 1 August 2 August 3 Belgian cyclist Raf van Hulle won the inaugural France to China solar bike race organised by Sun Trip of France on 3 August 2018, who rode 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) from the French city of Lyon to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in just 45 days. August 4 August 5 August 6 Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium won the Men's Road Race Cycling gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil. August 7 August 8 August 9 August 10 August 11 August 12 August 13 Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium won the Women's Heptathlon gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil. August 14 Researchers from Belgium and an international team have set out the first comprehensive map of mutational processes behind the development of tumors - work that should in future lead to better ways to treat and prevent a wide range of cancers. Their study, published on 14 August 2013 in the journal Nature, discovered the genetic imprints and signatures left by DNA-damaging processes that lead to cancer. August 15 August 16 Belgian footballer Kevin De Bruyne on 16 August 2020 won the Premier League Player of the Season award for 2019-20 playing for Manchester City, becoming just the third Belgian to win the award for the league's top performer. August 17 August 18 August 19 August 20 August 21 August 22 August 23 August 24 Belgian teen Mack Rutherford, 17, became the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a small aircraft as he landed at Sofia in Bulgaria on 24 August 2022, after a five-month journey across 52 countries. August 25 August 26 August 27 August 28 August 29 August 30 August 31

September

September 1 September 2 September 3 Belgium football team became the first European nation to clinch qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 3 September 2017 with two games to spare when they won 2-1 away to Greece. September 4 September 5 September 6 September 7 September 8 Belgian researchers and their international colleagues have found that the dynamics of springtime plant growth, specifically whether green-up progresses like a wave or not, explain where deer migration occurs in many ecosystems, as revealed on 8 September 2020. September 9 Researchers from Belgium, Italy and Peru have found fossils of three dolphins in the Pisco-Ica desert in Peru. The dolphins, reported in the Journal Vertebrate Paleontology on 9 September 2014, not only belong to a new species but also related to endangered river dolphins living in the Indus and Ganges rivers in India today. September 10 A pair of Belgian and Australian palaeontologists has revealed the fossilised skin of a bull-like carnivorous dinosaur, as the discovery was revealed on 10 September 2021. Belgian director Fien Troch won the Orizzonti Award for Best Director for her film HOME at the 73rd Venice Film Festival on 10 September 2016. September 11 Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters won her third US Open Grand Slam Tennis Championships on 11 September 2010. Clijsters beat Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in the final. September 12 September 13 September 14 September 15 September 16 September 17 September 18 September 19 September 20 September 21 September 22 September 23 Belgian professional road bicycle racer Philippe Gilbert won the world championship race in Valkenburg, Netherlands on 23 September 2012. September 24 September 25 September 26 September 27 September 28 Belgium's Lotte Kopecky successfully defended her title at the women's road race at the cycling world championships on 28 September 2024, beating her rivals in a six-way sprint finish. September 29 September 30 Belgium ranked as the 19th most competitive country in the world, according to a World Economic Forum report released on 30 September 2015. This report, provides insight into the drivers of a country’s productivity and prosperity, suggests Belgium has been nurturing innovation and talent.

October

October 1 October 2 October 3 October 4 October 5 October 6 Belgian physicist Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in Physics 2026 while working at the University of Wisconsin for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. October 7 October 8 Scientists François Englert from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium and Peter W. Higgs from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland jointly won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. October 9 October 10 October 11 Belgium clinched the fifth spot on the 2016 Girls’ Opportunity Index released by Save the Children, a global index that provides a snapshot of the situation of girls in respective countries according to their opportunity to control their own lives and to fulfill their potential. Belgium qualified for the 2014 FIFA footbal world cup - for the first time since 2002 - after a 2-1 win over Croatia on 11 October 2013. October 12 October 13 October 14 October 15 October 16 October 17 October 18 October 19 October 20 October 21 October 22 Scientists from Belgium and their international colleagues have unearthed fossils in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert that have allowed them for the first time to build a complete picture of one of the most unique dinosaurs, Deinocheirus mirificus. Their study was published on 22 October 2014 in the journal Nature. October 23 A joint international research team, including researchers from Belgium, has described a new songbird species — the Rote Leaf-Warbler Phylloscopus rotiensis named after Rote, Indonesia where it was found. The discovery was published in the journal Scientific Reports on 23 October 2018. October 24 Belgium’s Tim Wellens of Lotto Soudal won the overall title of the inaugural Gree UCI WorldTour Tour of Guangxi cycling race on 24 October 2017. October 25 October 26 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) moved its headquarters to Brussels from Paris in 1966. After lengthy arguments between the countries which wished for the Alliance Headquarters to remain in Paris and those which wished for it to be moved elsewhere, on 26 October 1966, the decision was taken to set up house in Brussels. October 27 October 28 October 29 October 30 October 31

November

November 1 November 2 November 3 November 4 November 5 November 6 November 7 November 8 November 9 November 10 November 11 November 12 November 13 November 14 November 15 November 16 November 17 November 18 November 19 November 20 November 21 November 22 November 23 November 24 November 25 November 26 November 27 November 28 November 29 November 30

December

December 1 December 2 Belgian heptathlon athlete Nafissatou Thiam was awarded the Female Rising Star title at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016. December 3 December 4 December 5 December 6 A new species of semi-aquatic dinosaurs, nicknamed "Halszka" for Halszkaraptor escuilliei, that could kill prey on land and in water has been discovered by Belgians and a team of international scientists. Scientists made the discovery after studying a fossil which was found at Ukhaa Tolgod in southern Mongolia, as revealed in the journal Nature on 6 December 2017. December 7 December 8 December 9 December 10 Belgian lawyer Henri La Fontaine won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1913 for his work and aspiration toward fervent and total internationalism in the cause of peace. Auguste Marie François Beernaert, the 14th Prime Minister of Belgium, jointly won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1909 for his work and representation at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in order to resolve international dispute. The Nobel Peace Prize 1904 was awarded to Institute of International Law, founded in Belgium in 1873, in recognition of its contribution to promote international peace and study of international law. December 11 December 12 December 13 December 14 December 15 December 16 December 17 December 18 December 19 December 20 December 21 December 22 December 23 December 24 December 25 December 26 Researchers from Belgium, Brazil and Canada have described the first known hybrid bird species to be found in the Amazon rainforest, as published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) on 26 December 2017. Through a series of genetic and other tests the team have revealed that the golden-crowned manakin -- first discovered in Brazil in 1957 but not seen again until 2002 - is in fact a hybrid species. December 27 Belgium was admitted as a member of the United Nations (UN) on 27 December 1945. December 28 December 29 December 30 December 31

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