News

These are NWO's press releases of the last 30 days that have been translated in English. You can also sort by NWO Division or by month, or survey a list of all press releases.

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31 January 2012

True history of Ferdinand Bol paintings revealed

For the past 100 years, four gigantic paintings have hung in the Peace Palace in The Hague. Together with a fifth painting in the State Room in Den Bosch they form an impressive series. This series, painted by Ferdinand Bol in the 17th century, has always been shrouded in mysteries. Why was the series commissioned and who commissioned it? How did the paintings originally hang? And why is there no apparent connection between the subjects of the paintings? With the help of an innovative interdisciplinary approach, NWO researcher Margriet van Eikema Hommes discovered that the paintings are the result of the ambitions of an incredibly rich widow from Utrecht who decorated her spectacular reception room with them.
30 January 2012

Children can learn arithmetic faster and better

During the first two years of primary education children can learn to do arithmetic faster and better with the help of a more systematically structured educational programme. For older children, teaching arithmetic with the systematic use of visual aids, such as blocks and strings of beads, has many advantages. This is apparent from the review study by NWO researchers Egbert Harskamp and Annemieke Jacobse from the University of Groningen.
24 January 2012

World-famous works of art unravelled with the help of science

NWO is bringing scientists, museums and curators from throughout the world together to do research into the conservation and restoration of works of art. The Science4Arts programme has awarded funding to six projects. Works such as paintings by Van Gogh and Rembrandt, ancient Mexican pictographic stories and modern photographic art will be examined in greater detail. A total of 3.6 million euros has been made available for the research.
16 January 2012

Dutch laboratories depart for Antarctica

This year the Netherlands will have its own laboratories on Antarctica for the first time. Three of the four laboratories started their journey to Antarctica on Monday 16 January. State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, Halbe Zijlstra, together with NWO chair, Jos Engelen, sealed the laboratories for transport and announced their names.