City Profile: Leiden, The Netherlands

City: Leiden/Leyden

Population: 116,967

Sister Cities:

• Buffalo City, South Africa
• Juigalpa, Nicaragua
• Krefeld, Germany
• Oxford, England
  
• Toruń, Poland

Fun fact: The pilgrims lived in Leiden for a time in the early 17th century before their departure to Massachusetts and New Amsterdam in the New World.

and

The following places and things are named after this city:

• Leyden, New York, USA
• Leyden, Massachusetts, USA
• Leyden High School District 212 in Franklin Park, Illinois, USA.
• Leiden scale, for measuring extreme low temperatures.
• Factor V Leiden is named after the city of Leiden where it was discovered in 1994.
• The Leyden jar, a capacitor made from a glass jar, was invented here by Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1746. It was actually first invented by Ewald Georg von Kleist the year before, but the name "Leyden jar" stuck.
• Leiden Nadia Kittles was the name of a pet rabbit owned by Jason Kittles - DJ and student of the University of South Dakota, America. The naming of the rabbit was influenced by Leiden as the birthplace of Dutch DJ and producer Armin van Buuren.

Sad fact: On 12 January 1807, a catastrophe struck the city when a boat loaded with 17,400 kg of gunpowder blew up in the middle of Leiden. 151 persons were killed, over 2000 were injured and some 220 homes were destroyed. King Louis Bonaparte personally visited the city to provide assistance to the victims.

Famous people from Leiden: Rembrandt, Marinus van der Lubbe (accused of setting fire to the Reichstag in Berlin.)

Today's Headline:

Former NATO chief appointed professor in Leiden

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has been appointed professor of international politics at the University of Leiden, the university said in a statement released on Thursday. The former secretary general of NATO is to start his new position, which is limited to three years, on September 1.