Professor Johan van Benthem knighted in the Netherlands

News from the University of Amsterdam:

Royal honour for University Professor Johan van Benthem

1 October 2014

Prof. Johan van Benthem was named Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion upon his retirement as University Professor of Pure and Applied Logic at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Friday, 26 September. Van Benthem received the royal honour in recognition of his myriad research accomplishments and the leading and inspirational role he has played in the academic community.

Ruud Nederveen, Mayor of the municipality of Bloemendaal, conferred the knighthood on Van Benthem.

Van Benthem's research transcends the traditional bounds of science. Pairing vision with leadership and organisational ability, he was responsible for the development and introduction of the discipline of Logic, Language and Computation, and for forging a thriving interdisciplinary and international research community. Focusing on the study of the form and use of information, this field bridges the traditional gap between the exact sciences and the humanities. Van Benthem's work has achieved exceptional impact, and his contributions both to Dutch science and to the Netherlands' reputation in scientific research worldwide are of extraordinary importance.

Johan van Benthem (1949) studied mathematics and philosophy at the UvA, specialising in logic. In 1986 he was appointed professor of Logic and its Applications, with a focus on Information and Cognitive Science, also at the UvA. In 2003 he was subsequently appointed University Professor of Pure and Applied Logic. Van Benthem is also co-director of the Tsinghua University (Beijing) – UvA Joint Research Center for Logic, a position he will continue to hold in his retirement, alongside his teaching activities at Standford University (USA). 

Published by  redactie-uvaweb [at] uva.nl (University of Amsterdam)