De grootste Belg.

After England and the Netherlands got their throw at it, Belgium is finally catching up with their own version to pick the most important person in national history; the fact that this country only exists since 1830 is of little important to the makers of the shortlist.

Together with my brother we made the shortlist of 100 people even shorter and we ended up with 25. Further selections will be based on these 25:

• Beernaert, Auguste: Nobelprize winner (Peace)
• Brel, Jacques: Singer/Songwriter
• Bruegel, Pieter (de oudere): Painter
• Cockerill, John: Industrialist/Inventor/...
• Damiaan, Pater: Missionary on Molokaii (Jozef de Veuster)
• De Gerlache de Gomery, Adrien: Explored the Arctics
• Deligne, Pierre: Mathematician (Fields Medal)
• Dodoens, Rembert: My wife says he gave name to the dodo, we think it's a biologist of some sort.
  
• Ensor, James: Painter
• Gevaert, Lieven: Industrial
• Hergé: Artist
• Horta, Victor: Architect (Jugendstill/Art Nouveau)
  
• Janssen, Paul: Inventor, Industrial (Pharmaceutical)
• Lemaitre, Georges: Father of the Big Bang Theory
• Magritte, Rene: Painter
• Mercator, Gerardus: Cartographer (Gerard de Cremer)
• Merckx, Eddy: Sportsman, Cyclist (did some funky sports stuff which is impressive to people who know about it (ask my brother))
  
• Prirogine, Ilya: Phycisist, Father of Chaos-Theory
• Reinhardt, Django: Musician, Guitar Player (Jazz)
• Rubens, Peter Paul: Painter
• Solvay, Ernest: Inventor, Industrial
• Spaak, Paul Henri: Politician, Chairman of the first U.N. councils, 4 year Secretary General of NATO
  
• Van Eyck, Jan: Painter
• Verbiest, Ferdinand: White Mandarin at the Chinese Court (Missionary, Astronomer)
• Vesalius, Andreas: Scientist, Father of modern anatomy

The votes of the Belgian Jury are not in yet but if their selection does not come from these 25, they are just plain wrong.