Leeuwarden in the northern Netherlands was selected as the European Cultural Capital of 2018.
Michael van Gerwen from the Netherlands won the 2014 PDC World Darts Championship title by defeating Peter Wright of England 7-4 at Alexandra Palace in London.
Dutch researchers and a global team of astronomers have uncovered the cosmological source of a sporadically repeating milliseconds-long “fast radio burst.” Once thinking these bursts had emanated from within the Milky Way galaxy, or from cosmic neighbours, the astronomers now confirm that they are long-distance flashes from across the universe – more than 3 billion light-years away, according to a new report published on 4 January 2017 in the journal Nature.
Dutch pair Kiki Bertens and Demi Schuurs won their first doubles tennis title together at the Brisbane International on 6 January 2018 beating Andreja Klepac and María José Martínez Sánchez 7-5, 6-2 in 1 hour and 16 minutes.
Researcher Joannes E. Frencken from the Netherlands was awarded China's International Cooperation Award in Science and Technology on 8 January 2016.
All Dutch trains are now 100 percent powered by electricity generated by wind energy, the national railway company NS said on 10 January 2017, calling it a world first.
An international team of researchers, that also includes researchers from the Netherlands, found links between Indians and Aboriginal Australians. The study, published in US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 14 January 2013, found genetic links between Aborigines from the Northern Territory and Indians that pre-dated European arrival in Australia – going back between 4000 and 5000 years.
Dutch teen sailor Laura Dekker completed a solo circumnavigation of the world on 21 January 2012. Laura became the youngest sailor to complete a round-the-world voyage - breaking the previous record of Jessica Watsons from Australia.
The Netherlands ranked as the seventh least corrupt nation in the world, according to the Global Corruption Index published by Transparency International on 25 January 2017.
First blue-eyed boy was a Stone Age man, according to a study published by Dutch and a team of international researchers on 26 January 2014. The man who lived about 7,000 years ago and whose buried bones were discovered in 2006 in a cave near León, Spain has turned out to be the earliest known person with blue eyes, a physical trait that evolved relatively recently in human history, the study suggests.
The Netherlands was ranked as the fifth-least corrupt country in the world according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index published on 27 January 2016.
Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 7-6(2) 6-4 to win the St. Petersburg Ladies Tennis Trophy on 3 February 2019 and claim her eighth WTA singles title.
Dutch researchers and their international colleagues have unveiled 883 galaxies, hidden from view behind the Milky Way, in unprecedented detail for the first time. The discovery, reported in the Astronomical Journal on 9 February 2016, has provided astronomers with new information about a mysterious gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space known as the Great Attractor.
Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won gold in Ladies' 3000 m at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.
Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands won Men's 1,500m gold at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.
The Netherlands on 15 February 2017 successfully launched a nano satellite as part of record 104 satellites launch in a single mission by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
The Netherlands ranked fifth 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).
Dutch skaters Sven Kramer and Ireen Wüst won the men's and women's 2013 World Allround Speed Skating Championships respectively in Hamar, Norway.
Kirsten Wild of Netherlands won the Women's Scratch Race gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 21 February 2015.
A team of researchers from the Netherlands and their international colleagues has discovered that cells use sugars to communicate at the molecular level, as revealed in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 28 February 2019.
Astronomers from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Chile using a powerful telescope in southern Chile have captured the direct image of a protoplanet forming around another star. It would be the first time that scientists have succeeded in observing this process and their research findings were published on 28 February 2013 in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Corry Brokken of The Netherlands was the winner of Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in 1957. The final took place in Frankfurt, Germany on March 3, 1957.
Dutch singer Teddy Scholten won the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 for the song Een Beetje. The final took place on March 11, 1959 in sunny Cannes.
Dutch scientists were awarded 32 research grants by the European Research Council (ERC) on 12 March 2015 as part of the European Union Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020.
Bibian Mentel-Spee of the Netherlands won gold at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Women's Para Snowboard Cross - Standing.
The Netherlands was ranked as the world's sixth happiest country according to the annual UN report released on 15 March 2018.
Dutch production Afrikaner Blood was named the winner of the 2nd World Press Photo Multimedia Contest on 15 March 2012 by an international jury. The multimedia production follows young white Afrikaner teenagers in South Africa who attend a holiday camp set up to teach them self-defense and how to combat a perceived black enemy.
The Netherlands ranked as the seventh happiest country in the world according to the 2016 United Nations (UN) World Happiness Report.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, the main international airport of the Netherlands, ranked as the World's Thirteenth Best Airport at the World Airport Awards published by Skytrax on 17 March 2016.
The Netherlands was ranked as the sixth happiest country on Earth, according to a United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network report published on 20 March 2017.
The Dutch performers from the Teach-In band gave a magnificent performance at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest and ended up with the trophy singing Ding-A-Dong. It was the fourth time that the Netherlands won the event.
Sicco Mansholt, a Dutch politician, served as President of the European Commission from March 22, 1972 to January 5, 1973. He was the fourth President of European Commission which is the executive body of the European Union-an economic and political union of European countries.
Professor Han Grrit Brunner and Professor Joris Andre Veltman from the Netherlands were named as the winners of the 2016 King Faisal International Prize for Medicine in recognition of their prominent role in introducing a novel method of analyzing DNA, referred to as next generation sequencing.
Dutch film director Mike van Diem's film Character won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards on March 23, 1998.
Elza Van Deel from the Netherlands received a Unesco-L’Oreal International Fellowship for Young Women in Life Sciences on 29 March 2012 for her research to investigate the causes of hereditary heart disease by looking at the multiple roles of a single protein, fibulin-4, using a diversity of disciplines to unravel the mysteries of this disorder.
Lenny Kuhr, a Dutch singer, jointly won the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest for the song De Troubadour. For the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, the outcome of the voting resulted in a tie for the first place. Four countries gained 18 points each: France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Since there was no solution for this situation, all four countries were declared winners.
An international research team, including scientists from the Netherlands, has identified a specific gene fault which causes a hereditary form of melanoma. Their study, could lead to improved prevention, detection and treatment, was published in the journal Nature Genetics on 30 March 2014.
The Dutch company PAL-V Europe NV on 2 April 2012 announced it successfully concluded test flights of its flying car, PAL-V One. The patented vehicle flies in the air like a gyrocopter with lift generated by an auto-rotating rotor and forward speed produced by a foldable push propeller on the back. On the road it drives like a sports car.
Dutchman Wiebe Wakker on 7 April 2019 completed the world’s longest electric car journey after driving almost 60,000 miles from the Netherlands to Sydney.
The European Commission awarded the European Capital of Innovation award 2016 to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Amsterdam's prize of €950,000 will be used to scale up and expand the city's efforts on innovation.
For the first time, a team of astronomers, including Professor Heino Falcke of Radboud University in the Netherlands, have managed to take a photo of a supermassive black hole and its shadow. The black hole is 500 million trillion km away and was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the world as revealed on 10 April 2019.
Dutch Queen Beatrix on 13 April 2013 reopened the Rijksmuseum, the country's national museum, after a 10-year, 375 million euro ($480 million) renovation.
The Netherlands ranked second at the 2016 Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index. The Index is based on an evaluation of media freedom that measures pluralism, media independence, the quality of the legal framework and the safety of journalists in 180 countries.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte was appointed as a member of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Water on 21 April 2016.
Dutch international footballer Robin van Persie was named the English Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) player of the year on 22 April 2012 for his stunning performance with English club Arsenal.
By sequencing the DNA of nearly 40 ancient skeletons found in the Mitelelbe Saale region of Germany, scientists from the Netherlands and an international team have suggested that the foundations of the modern European gene pool were laid down in the Neolithic era, between 4,000 and 2,000 BC. Their findings were published on 23 April 2013 in the journal Nature Communications.
Dutch professional road bicycle racer Wout Poels won the 2016 Liège-Bastogne-Liège race representing Team Sky. Wout became the fifth Dutchman to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The Netherlands ranked fifth at the 2017 Press Freedom Index, ranking freedom of the media in a country, compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
Scientists from the Netherlands have for the first time measured the rotation of a planet in another solar system – a juvenile, gassy giant spinning at a breakneck 90,000 km/h. The planet, Beta Pictoris b - about 63 light years from Earth, was reported on 30 April 2014 in the journal Nature.
On 30 April 2013 the Netherlands got a new and its first king since 1890 after Queen Beatrix abdicated, handing over to her eldest son, Willem-Alexander.
The Gemini Windpark, a 600 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands, was officially opened on 8 May 2017.
The Netherlands placed 9th in the global school ranking published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as revealed on 13 May 2015.
Dutch sociologist Saskia Sassen was bestowed with the 2013 Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences for her work in the field of globalization and urban sociology.
The 1928 Summer Olympic Games were held in Amsterdam, Netherlands from May 17 to August 12. From this Olympic, the lighting of a flame became part of Olympic symbolism.
Dutch tale The Detour, the book written by Gerbrand Bakker from the Netherlands, was announced as the winner of the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize at an awards ceremony in London. The United Kingdom based Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is awarded annually to the best work of contemporary fiction in translation.
Angela Visser of the Netherlands was crowned the Miss Universe title in 1989 at the age of 22. Angela is the first woman from the Netherlands to win the Miss Universe contest.
Bicycle racer Tom Dumoulin became the first Dutchman to win the Giro d’Italia race on 28 May 2017.
Scientists at the Dutch Forensic Institute have discovered a method to date fingerprints, a breakthrough that could one day let police date crime scene prints from years ago. The method was revealed on 4 June 2014.
Dutch Scientist Dr. Sander van der Leeuw was named as one of the winners of the 2012 United Nations Champions of the Earth award for his research, which applies lessons learned from history to understand why humanity is not facing up to the long-term issue of environmental change.
The Netherlands won the 2014 Women's Hockey World Cup. The Dutch beat Australia 2-0 to win a record seventh women's title at the Hague.
Netherlands ranked as the 20th most peaceful country in the world at the 2015 Global Peace Index published by Institute for Economics & Peace.
Lieke Wevers of the Netherlands won gold in the Women's Beam - Gymnastics Artistic at the 2015 European Games.
Researchers from the Netherlands and their international colleagues have reported that there was flowing water on Mars 500,000 years ago. Their study was published in Nature Communications on 23 June 2015.
Students from the Netherlands' Eindhoven University of Technology on 4 July 2013 unveiled 'Stella,' the world's first solar-powered family car with room for four people, a trunk, intuitive steering and a range of 600 kilometers.
A broad range of evidence from linguistics, genetics, paleontology, and archaeology suggests that Neandertals, an extinct species or subspecies of the genus Homo which is closely related to modern humans, perhaps possessed languages, tribes and chiefs and had brains that developed during infancy much differently than ours, according to a study published on 5 July 2013 by Dutch researchers Dr Dan Dediu and Dr Stephen Levinson.
According to a Dutch research, Swordfish have a previously unrecognized oil gland near the base of the sword that produces an oily coating on the swordfish head, which may boost swimming speeds. The findings were published in the Journal of Experimental Biology on 6 July 2016.
Dutch 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.
Life-size human statues and the remains of an ancient temple dating back some 2,500 years have been discovered in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. The discoveries made by the Dutch and Iraqi researchers were reported on 7 July 2014.
The Netherlands was named Europe’s fifth most innovative country, according to the European Commission ranking published on 14 July 2016.
A team of Dutch and international scientists has suggested that the rise of ceramic production was closely linked with intensified fishing at the end of the last Ice Age. The study, examined 800 earliest known pottery remains, was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 16 July 2018.
Dutch, English and American researchers have presented a new map of the human brain characterizing 97 previously undiscovered areas, as published in the journal Nature on 20 July 2016.
Dutch researchers, in collaboration with a team of international scientists, have shown that artificial blue light can synchronize the body clock under conditions in which natural light is scarce or unavailable. They performed their experiment under real conditions in Antarctica and published the study on 29 July 2014 which can be appreciated with the knowledge that disturbance to this biological clock causes problems with sleep, alertness, cardiovascular problems and even depression.
Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University from the Netherlands unveiled world's first lab-grown burger - produced from a cow's stem cells - at a news conference in London on 5 August 2013. Researchers say the technology could be a sustainable way of meeting what they say is a growing demand for meat.
The Netherlands women claimed maiden European soccer title by beating Denmark 4-2 in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 championship.
Researchers from the Netherlands 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.
Sanne Wevers became the first Dutch women to win an individual Olympic gold in Artistic Gymnastics at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.
Dutch footballer Lieke Martens was named as the UEFA Women's Football Player of the Year on 24 August 2017.
The Netherlands won the 2017 men’s Rabo EuroHockey Nations title beating Belgium 4-2 in final, coming from two goals down.
Jacobus Henricus, a Dutch chemist, won the inaugural Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901. Mr. Jacobus was awarded in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions. He was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on August 30, 1852.
Former Dutch Minister, Maria van der Hoeven, took office as Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, an autonomous organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its member countries and beyond, on 1 September 2011.
H.Johannes Witteveen from the Netherlands was the fifth Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from September 1, 1973 to June 16, 1978. 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.
The Netherlands ranked as the tenth most generous nation in the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) 2017 World Giving Index. The index measures the average percentage of people in each country who donate money, volunteer or help a stranger.
Dutch scientists and a team of international researchers have discovered a galaxy supercluster forming in the early Universe, just 2.3 billion years after the Big Bang. This galaxy proto-supercluster, nicknamed Hyperion, is the largest and most massive structure yet found at such a remote time and distance, as revealed in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on 6 September 2018.
A collaborative effort by researchers from the Netherlands and their international colleagues has identified compounds that act on a novel target in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Their experiments that cured mice of the disease were detailed in the journal Nature on 7 September 2016.
Scientists from the Netherlands and their international colleagues have carried out the first DNA analysis of the tiger, lion and snow leopard in an effort to help critically-endangered cats to survive. The research, published on 17 September 2013 in the journal Nature Communications, gives clues to how big cats evolved to become top predators with superior muscle strength and a carnivorous diet.
Michael van Doorn of the Netherlands won the 2015 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award in the Galaxies category for an image titled M33 Core.
Dutch mountainbiker Joost Wichman won the Four-Cross World Championship title on 21 September 2013 in Austria.
Marianne Vos of the Netherlands won her third and second successive bicycle road race world championship title on 28 September 2013.
The Netherlands ranked as the fifth 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 the Netherlands has been nurturing innovation and talent.
The Netherlands won the prestigious FEI Nations Cup Show Jumping 2017 Final in Barcelona on 1 October 2017, following a thrilling night of showjumping.
Dutch Formula One driver Max Verstappen won the 2017 Malaysia Grand Prix representing Red Bull.
Dutch chemist Bernard L. Feringa jointly won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.
The Royal Dutch Airlines, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij in Dutch, or just KLM, was founded on 7 October 1919. Currently KLM is the world's oldest operating airline.
The Dutch Nuon Solar Team won the World Solar Challenge race, a biennial solar-powered car race from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia, on 10 October 2013 for the record fifth time.
The Netherlands clinched the fourth 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.
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental organisation, located in The Hague, Netherlands, was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.
The Nuon Solar team from the Netherlands claimed their seventh title in the Challenger class at the 2017 World Solar Challenge, a biennial solar-powered car race.
Max Rive of the Netherlands won the 2015 EPSON International Pano Awards Photographer of the Year for his image The Ice Prison, which was taken in the Himalayas during spring.
The Netherlands won the 2011 Baseball World Cup on October 15, 2011. They defeated Cuba 2-1 to win the World Cup.
Dr. Rob Verpoorte of the Netherlands won the prestigious 2015 Gusi Peace Prize in the Scientific Research (Pharmacology) category.
Dutch footballer Lieke Martens won the Best FIFA Women’s Player award on 23 October 2017.
The Netherlands ranked as the ninth most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2017.
Dutch sailor Marit Bouwmeester was named as the 2017 Rolex World Female Sailor of the Year in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Catharina Lodders from the Netherlands won the 1962 Miss World contest. Lodders was the second Dutch woman to win the title.
The Netherlands ranked seventh in the 2015 Charities Aid Foundation's World Giving Index which measures each country's charitable behavior.
Scientists from the Netherlands and their international colleagues have recognized a particular form of the HLA-DRB1 gene that may provide better protection against typhoid fever, which infects millions of people each year. The discovery, described in Nature Genetics on 10 November 2014, is expected to lead to improvements in the rational design of vaccines for this and other bacterial infections.
Corine Rottschäfer from the Netherlands won the 1959 Miss World contest. She was the first woman from the Netherlands to win the title.
Paul Polman of the Netherlands won the 2015 Banksia International Award representing Unilever as its CEO. Under his leadership Unilever developed an ambitious vision to fully decouple its growth from overall environmental footprint and increase its positive social impact through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.
An international scientific collaboration that includes researchers from the Netherlands has mapped the genome of the domestic pig in a project that could enhance the animal's use in the testing of drugs for human disease. The research findings were published on 14 November 2012 in the science journal Nature.
Dutch environmental activists Boyan Slat, founder of the innovative The Ocean Cleanup initiative, was announced as a winner of the UN’s top environmental accolade the Champions of the Earth award on 17 November 2014 for his inspiring efforts to cleanup the ocean.
On 22 November 2011, it is revealed that researcher Ed de Vogel from the Netherlands discovered a night-flowering orchid, the first of its kind known to science, during an expedition to New Britain, an island near Papua New Guinea.
Dutch researchers at the University of Twente created microscopic pyramids to cage living cells, according to an official announcement on 23 November 2012. This microscopic pyramid, constructed to better observe cells in their natural 3D environment, as opposed to the 2D view offered by a petri dish.
Dutch women rights activist Rebecca Gomperts was named as one of the world's top 100 global thinkers by Foreign Policy, a Washington-based prestigious magazine of global politics, economics and ideas, on 1 December 2015.
An international team of researchers, including scientists from the Netherlands, has discovered engravings on a shell that dates to between 540,000 and 430,000 years ago. Their findings, reported in the journal Nature on 3 December 2014, provided new insights into the evolution of human behavior.
A team of International scientists, including researchers from the Netherlands, have discovered huge reserves of freshwater buried beneath the seabed on continental shelves off Australia, China, North America and South Africa. Their study was published on 4 December 2013 in the journal Nature.
Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen won the 2017 FIA Personality of the Year award for the third year in succession.
Jacob Kaptein from the Netherlands won the first place at the 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest in Landscape category for his image Struggle of Life.
Dutch researchers and their international colleagues have discovered a new class of stem cells, raising hopes of a new era of regenerative medicine in which currently incurable illnesses are conquered using patients’ own cells. Their study was published in the journal Nature on 10 December 2014.
The Nobel Peace Prize 1911 was awarded jointly to Dutch lawyer Tobias Michael Carel Asser for his role in the formation of The Permanent Court of Abiration and his initiation in starting International Private Law conferences.
Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen, along with Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for 1969 for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes on December 12, 1969.
Dutch scientists at the Delft Technical University have developed the world's smallest autonomous flapping drone, a dragonfly-like beast with 3-D vision that is able to fly around by itself and avoid obstacles. The university announced the discovery on 16 December 2013.
Scientists from the Netherlands, England and Turkey have discovered the oldest recorded stone tool ever to be found in Turkey, revealing that humans passed through the gateway from Asia to Europe much earlier than previously thought, approximately 1.2 million years ago. Their study was published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews on 20 December 2014.
Photographer António Francisco Ribeiro de Oliveira of Portugal was named as one of the winners of the 2017 World Meteorological Organization Water Ways Photo Competition.
Dutch physician André Kuipers was launched to space aboard the Soyuz TMA-3M spacecraft on 21 December 2011 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. André is destined to perform his duty at the International Space Station.