Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)  

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The Catholic University of Leuven (of Louvain in French, and historically in English), founded in 1425 in Leuven as the University of Leuven, closed by the French Republic in 1797, transferred to Mechelen as the Catholic University of Mechelen in 1834 and transferred to the town of Leuven in 1835, was considered the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium.

Notable alumni

For post-1968 alumni, see Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or Université catholique de Louvain.

• Bernard du Bus de Gisignies (1808–1874), law, politician, ornithologist and paleontologist.
• Theodor Schwann (1810-1882), developer of cell theory and discoverer of Schwann cells
• Hippoliet Van Peene (1811–1864), physician and playwright, wrote the lyrics of the Flemish anthem "De Vlaamse Leeuw"
• Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin (1827–1903), a mineralogist and geologist
• Auguste Marie François Beernaert (1829–1912), Prime Minister of Belgium and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• Father Patrick Francis Healy (1830–1910), president of Georgetown University, first Jesuit priest of African American ancestry, first American of acknowledged African-American ancestry to earn PhD
• Antanas Baranauskas (1835–1902), Lithuanian poet.
• Arthur Vierendeel (1852–1940) civil engineer.
• Emile Joseph Dillon (1854–1933), linguist, author and journalist.
• Albrecht Rodenbach (1856–1880), poet.
• Albin van Hoonacker (1857–1933), Catholic theologian and Biblical scholar
• Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin (1866–1962), mathematician who proved the prime number theorem.
• Template:Ill (1868-1955), Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, architect, laywer, founder of the Philosophy Institute and of the first Red Cross hospital in Belgium.
• Charles Terlinden (1878—1972), historian
• Edgar Sengier (1879–1963), director of the Union Minière du Haut Katanga.
• Frans Van Cauwelaert (1880–1961), politician.
• Jean-Baptiste Janssens, S.J. (1889–1964), twenty-seventh Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
• Weng Wenhao (1889–1971), founder of modern Chinese geography.
• Georges Lemaître (1894–1966), astronomer, priest and proposer of the Big Bang theory.
• Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979), American archbishop, television personality, and writer.
• August De Boodt (1895–1986), politician.
• Jerome D'Souza, S.J. (1897–1977), educationist, member of Indian Constituent assembly, & four times Indian Delegate to the UNO.
• Albert Claude (1899–1983), medical doctor and cell biologist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Peter McKevitt (1900–1976), Irish priest, author and sociologist
• Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (1900–1970), physician, social reformer, president of Costa Rica 1940–1944
• Saint Alberto Hurtado, (1901–1952), Chilean Jesuit priest, social worker and writer. Canonized in 2005.
• Victor Delhez, (1902–1985), engraver and artist.
• Hendrik Elias, (1902–1973), Flemish Nationalist, quisling.
• Maurice Anthony Biot (1905–1985), Belgian-American physicist and the founder of the theory of poroelasticity.
• Léon Degrelle, (1906–1994), founder of Rexism, quisling.
• Jean Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers (1907–1991), law, diplomat, businessman.
• Dominique Pire (1910–1969), won Nobel Peace Prize for helping refugees in post-World War II Europe
• Herman Van Breda (1911–1974), founder of the Husserl Archives.
• André Molitor (1911–2005), law, private secretary of Baudouin I of Belgium.
• Otto von Habsburg (1912–2011), heir to the thrones of Austria-Hungary; politician and writer.
• Qian Xiuling (1912–2008), saved nearly 100 lives during World War II.
• Tang Yuhan, (1912–2014), Chinese oncologist.
• Pieter De Somer (1917–1985), first rector of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
• Christian de Duve (1917 - 2013), Nobel Prize in Medicine 1974, for his discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell.
• Anton van Wilderode (1919–1998), Flemish activist and writer.
• Frans Van Coetsem (1919–2002), linguist.
• Aster Berkhof, (1920– ), Flemish writer.
• Charles Mertens de Wilmars (1921–1994), psychiatrist, professor at Harvard Medical School
• Malachi Martin (1921–1999), Irish writer.
• Antoon Vergote, also known as Antoine Vergote (1921–2013), Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, psychologist and psychoanalyst.
• Tomás Ó Fiaich (1923–1990), Archbishop of Armagh.
• Jan Zaprudnik (1924 - ), Belarusian-American historian and poet.
• Geza Vermes (1924–2013), religious historian and translator into English of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• H. Narayan Murthy (1924–2011), Indian Psychologist, Philosopher and Scholar known for Behavioural Therapy.
• José J. Fripiat, a chemist, and laureate of the 1967 Francqui Prize
• Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928 - ), Peruvian Dominican theologian, founder of Liberation Theology.
• Michael Hurley (1923–2011), Irish Jesuit, co-founder of the Irish School of Ecumenics<ref name=rte>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Adolphe Gesché (1928–2003), theologian
• Jacques Taminiaux (1928 - ), philosopher, 1977 laureate of the Francqui Prize
• Camilo Torres (1929–1966), Colombian priest and guerillero.
• Luce Irigaray (1930 - ), French philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, cultural theorist, feminist. Graduated in 1954.
• Marcel Lihau (1931-1999), first Congolese to receive a law degree, constitutionalist
• Father Robert S. Smith (1932–2010), American Catholic priest, author, and educator.
• Herman Van Den Berghe (1933 - ), founder of the Centrum voor Menselijke Erfelijkheid (Belgian Centre for Human Heredity).
• Thomas Kanza (1933–2004), one of the first Congolese university graduates, Congolese ambassador to the United Nations.
• Pierre Laconte (1934 - ), a Belgian urbanist.
• Anton II Esterhazy (1936 - ), Fürst of Esterhazy; head of the Esterházy de Galántha family.
• Abdul Qadeer Khan (1936 - ), Pakistani metallurgist considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.
• Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou (1936 - ), Minister of state, former Chief Cabinet of Albert II and Baudouin.
• Renato Prada Oropeza (1937 - 2011), Mexican writer and semiotician.
• Nguza Karl-i-Bond (1938–2003), notable Zairian politician.<ref>Jeffrey M. Elliot and Mervyn M. Dymally, eds., Voices of Zaire: Rhetoric or Reality, p. 53</ref>
• Baron Piet Van Waeyenberge (1938 - ), economics, President of De Warande.
• Robert Sokolowski (1939 - ), American Catholic priest, and Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America.
• Erik De Clercq (1941 - ), physician and biologist.
• Bernard Lietaer (1942 - 2019), economist and author.
• Arthur Ulens (1946 - ), chemistry and economics, businessman.
• Herman Van Rompuy (1947 - ), Belgian statesman and Prime Minister of Belgium. Appointed as the first President of the European Council in November 2009.

See also

• Academic libraries in Leuven
• Catholic University of Mechlin
• Collegium Trilingue
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
• Leuven Database of Ancient Books
• Old University of Leuven
• State University of Leuven
• Université catholique de Louvain
• Universities in Leuven
• Lovanium University