Leopold II of Belgium died March 17, 1909.
After Herman Van Rompuy was designated the first permanent President of the European Council on 19 November 2009, he offered the resignation of his government to King Albert II on 25 November 2009
Three Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Belgians: Jules Bordet (Universit libre de Bruxelles) in 1919, Corneille Heymans (University of Ghent) in 1938 and Albert Claude (Universit libre de Bruxelles) together with Christian de Duve (Universit catholique de Louvain) in 1974

