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A life in pictures

From left to right: Ernst Dorfi and Franz Kerschbaum from the astronomical institute in Vienna, and myself. Picture taken by Kunio Noguchi at IAU symposium 177 on "the carbon star phenomenon", in Antalya, Turkey, May 1996.

From left to right: Maria-Rosa Cioni from Leiden Observatory, myself and Franz Kerschbaum from the astronomical institute in Vienna. Taken at IAU symposium 192 on "stellar populations in the Local Group" in Capetown, September 1998.

My office at the MPA. Picture taken in January 2000 by Lindsay King with her new digital camera. No more glasses because of a LASIK eye operation in August 1999.

Flanked by Chris Lidman (left) and Pascal Fouque. Picture taken in December 2002 at the workskop on "Stellar candles for the extragalactic distance scale" in Concepcion, Chile.

In the pleasant company of Mathias Schultheis and Susanne Höfner. Dinner party at the workshop "Future directions in AGB research, on the occasion of the retirement of Harm Habing" in Leiden, The Netherlands, 10/11-april-2003. Picture taken by Ian Glass (SAAO).

Conference dinner at the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand on the occasion of IAU Colloquium 193 "Variable stars in the Local Group" (6-11 July 2003). To the left of me are Franz Kerschbaum and Giuseppe Bono.

VT-2004 at the institute in Leuven on June 8, 2004. Next to me colleagues Joris Blommaert and Conny Aerts. Picture taken by Katrien Uytterhoeven.

With Michael Feast (left), and Leuven graduate student Djazia Ladjal (right) at the conference "Why galaxies care about AGB stars" in Vienna, August 7-11, 2006.

Myself, Maurizio Salaris, Achim Weiss (front row, right to left),
happy co-organisers of "The Giant Branches" workshop at the
Lorentz Center in Leiden, May 11-15, 2009

workshop poster

People involved in the GAIA project at the ROB; from left-to-right Ronny Blomme, Eric Van Hemelryck, Yves Fremat, Jan Cuypers, Alex Lobel, Thierry Pauwels, Peter de Cat, and myself (March 2010)

ELSA GAIA Meeting in Sevres, June 2010. On my right Ronny Blomme and Peter David.

Chairing a session in "The Life Cycle of Dust in the Universe" conference, Taipei, Taiwan, November 2013.
Q & A with Marco Bocchio.

The conference dinner, with, on the front row, Anja Andersen, Darach Watson, and Greg Sloan to my right.

Members of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Department of the Royal Observatory of Belgium (Nov. 2016).
In the background the picture of Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874) first director of what was then called the Brussels Observatory (founded in 1826 by King William I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands). He was also a statistician and mathematician and invented the Body Mass Index.

Conference dinner at 135m below ground in the Wieliczka Salt Mine at the RR Lyrae 2017 conference in Niepolomice Castle. Gisella Clementini to my right, and Monika Jurkovic, Maurizio Salaris, Marcella Marconi and Matteo Monelli to my left.

Franz Kerschbaum, Hans Olofsson and myself during IAU Symposium 343 on AGB stars, at the IAU GA in Vienna (August 2018)

Standing next to the mounting of the 45 cm refractor during the Open Door Days of 29/30 September 2018.


De Randstad, April 1988. Rowing for "ORCA" rowing club, at the 6 position (In rowing one counts back to front, from the bow at #1 to the stroke at #8).

De ZRB, May 1988.

De ARB, June 1988. The concentration at the start just before coming under starters' orders.

De ARB, June 1988. One of the first strokes after the start.


Triathlon in Karlsfeld, Germany (July 15, 2001)


After the Leuven "student" half-marathon (October 16, 2002)

During the Leuven "student" half-marathon (November 17, 2005)

Sprint to the finish at the 6 km Easterjogging in Erps-Kwerps (17 April 2006)

Suffering on one of the climbs in Heze on a blistering warm day (13 May 2006)

A disappointing run in Tervuren at the 16 km Furaloop (1 April 2007)

Sprint to the finish at the 6 km Easterjogging in Erps-Kwerps (9 April 2007)

20e Lentejogging in Veltem-Beisem (8 May 2010)

Teusserjogging in Bertem (5 September 2010)

28e Stratenloop Gelrode (4 Augustus 2012)

7e Excuus jogging in Kortenberg (5 Augustus 2012)

Ekiden team-marathon Brussel; soaked to the bone (13 October 2012)

11.11.11 Jogging in Vossem (11 November 2012)

Excuus jogging 05-08-2013

Holsbeekplein jogging 11-08-2013

Easter Monday jogging Erps-Kwerps 21-04-2014

Excuusfeesten jogging in Kortenberg 03-08-2014

Loop zonder Dope, 11 October 2014

Manneken Pis corrida, 26 December 2014

Fura loop, 29 March 2015

Paasmaandag jogging, 6 April 2015

Run in Tildonk, 1 May 2015

Aarschotse stratenloop, 25 May 2015

Furaloop in Tervuren, May 2017

Solidariteitsloop in Kortenberg, 18 July 2017

Furaloop in Tervuren, May 2018

Boortmeerbeek, September 2018

Canal Run Brussels, October 2018

Lentejogging, Veltem, April 2019