Historical walking guide along the trails of Leuven scientists and their laboratories. Throughout its history, Leuven University has been home to many famous scientists. The names of cartographer Gerard Mercator, discoverer of gas lighting Jan Pieter Minckelers, chemist Jean-Baptist Van Mons, zoologist Pierre Joseph Van Beneden, and inventor of the Big Bang theory Georges Lemaître live on in the local street scene. The laboratories where they worked were housed in university colleges, repeatedly adapted over the centuries to the increasing requirements of scientific research. With the last of these laboratories soon to move out of the inner city to a campus outside the city, this book outlines the urban history of Leuven’s scientists and their laboratories, taking the reader along the still-visible traces of this remarkable heritage. Leuven’s College Laboratories: An Urban Walking Guide through 600 Years of Science focuses on the material heritage of science. The book provides an engaging and accessible introduction to the university’s urban history, appealing to a wide audience of interested parties such as alumni, visitors, and tourists. FOREWORD THE CRADLE OF HUMANISM AND SCIENCE Stop No. 1 Collegium Trilingue THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION IN LEUVEN Stop No. 2 Vicus Artium THE FIRST LABORATORIES Stop No. 3 De Valk College OLD COLLEGES, NEW LABORATORIES Stop No. 4 Pope’s College · Maria-Theresia College · Veterans’ College LIVING IN THE LABORATORY Stop No. 5 King’s College ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE Stop No. 6 Premonstratensian College LABORATORIES IN THE PARK Stop No. 7 Institute for Chemistry (Arenberg Institute) FROM MERCATOR TO LEMAÎTRE: SCIENTISTS IN TOWN NOTES FURTHER READING ILLUSTRATION CREDITS