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A world without Belgium
- 1. A WORLD WITHOUT BELGIUM P R E S E N T S
- 2. A WORLD WITHOUT BELGIUM P R E S E N T S
- 4. NO BELGIUM? SO WHAT? You might think that very few people would notice any difference in a Belgiumless world. We beg to disagree.
- 5. CAN YOU NAME ANY BELGIAN INVENTION? Need help? Let’s give you a hand... Perhaps not everyone knows that...
- 6. HEALTH CARE Contraceptive pill (Ferdinand Peeters, 1961) Non-direct blood transfusions (Albert Hustin, 1914) Body Mass Index (Adolphe Quetelet, 1830s-1850s)
- 7. CARTOGRAPHY Mercator projection (Gerardus Mercator, 1569)
- 8. IT Daubechies wavelets JPEG 2000 compression (Ingrid Daubechies, 1988) The World Wide Web (Tim Berners-Lee & Robert Cailliau, 1990) Rijndael cipher Advanced Encryption Standard (Vincent Rijmen & Joan Daemen, 1998)
- 9. AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY Parking sensors (Rudy Beckers, 1987) Internal combustion engine (Étienne Lenoir, 1858)
- 10. INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY Asphalt (Edward de Smedt, 1870) Soda ash (Ernest Solvay, 1861)
- 11. INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY Mosquito repellent (Alfons Van Doninck, 1987) CFCs, aka Freon (Frédéric Swarts, 1890s) Bakelite (Leo Baekeland, 1912)
- 12. EDUCATION Cuisenaire rods (Georges Cuisenaire, 1931)
- 13. Belgian fries FOOD French (unknown, 18th century) Praline (Jean Neuhaus, 1912) Russian salad (Lucien Olivier, 1860s)
- 14. ARTS Saxophone (Adolphe Sax, 1840) The Adventures of Tintin (Hergé, 1929) The Smurfs (Peyo, 1958)
- 15. LET’S TRY AGAIN! IS ANYTHING MISSING?
- 16. YES! AND THE WORLD WOULD NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT IT!
- 17. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! Now you can have some Belgian beer!
Editor's Notes
- Perhaps birth control would not be the same. Perhaps blood clotting prevention would not have been achieved. Perhaps weight statistics would not have their most common index.
- The world as we commonly represent it (and imagine it) would not be the same.
- Perhaps we wouldn’t have compressed digital pictures, digital cinemas, biometrics (think of speedy fingerprint scans) or medical imagery. We wouldn’t have the Internet, perhaps 20th century’s most revolutionary invention. Perhaps we wouldn’t have the world’s most advanced encryption algorithm.
- Perhaps modern engines would not be the same. Perhaps our cars would have more bumps and bruises.
- Perhaps our streets would be noisier, less durable and especially more dangerous for their users. Perhaps we wouldn’t have found a way to easily produce one of the world’s most common water softeners, also used in glass production, cooking and chemical processes.
- Perhaps our refrigerators would not be the same. Perhaps modern plastics would not have existed. Perhaps more people would have been infected by mosquito-transmitted diseases.
- Perhaps millions of pupils around the world would have struggled with basic math concepts. Perhaps some of them wouldn’t have gone on to become scholars or researchers.
- Perhaps some of the world’s most delicious side dishes or desserts wouldn’t exist.
- Perhaps jazz and popular music would not be the same. Perhaps the world of comics wouldn’t have some of their most representative characters.