Tim de Zeeuw

Pieter Timotheus "Tim" de Zeeuw is a Dutch astronomer specializing in the formation, structure and dynamics of galaxies. He was educated at Leiden, gaining a degree in mathematics in 1976 and one in astronomy in 1977. He graduated from Leiden with a PhD in astronomy in 1984. After stints in the US at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and at Caltech, he returned to the Netherlands in 1990 to become professor of theoretical astronomy at Leiden. In 2003, he was appointed the scientific director of Leiden Observatory, and from 2007 to 2017 he was the director general of ESO. In 2009, he was awarded the Brouwer Award by the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society. He is married to astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck. On 14 May 2018 at the annual Netherlands Astronomy Conference, he was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion.