Inge Schoenthal Feltrinelli
(Germany, 1931)
Inge Feltrinelli was born and grew up in Germany. Before she settled down in Milan in 1960, she travelled all over the world as a graphic reporter, interviewing Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Simone de Beuvoir among other celebrities. In 1969 she was appointed Vice-President of the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore.
Clara Zetkin Chair (2008)     Biography

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra
(Mérida, Spain, 1948)
Spanish politician, President of the Regional Government of Extremadura, representative for Badajoz at the regional parliament, Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Party in the region and University Professor.
Manuel Godoy Chair (2008)     Biography 

Tzvetan Todorov
(Sofia, 1939, Bulgaria)
After he graduated in Slavic Studies at the University of Sofia, he left for France in 1963 for further specialization and he still lives there. From 1968 to 2005 he has been a researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; after that date he is honorary research Director in that institution.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Chair (2008)     Biography

Monica Luisa Macovei
(Rumania, 1959)
Monica Macovei was the Minister of Justice of Romania between 2005 and 2007. She received much praise internationally from politicians and the media for initiating justice and anti-corruption reforms that allowed Romania to join the European Union on January 1, 2007. 
Eugène Ionesco Chair (2008)     Biography

Martti  Ahtisaari
(Viipuri, Finland, 1937)
Finnish politician and President of his country between 1994 and 2000. He worked for The United Nations some time with the Horn of Africa countries. Before finishing his mandate, Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed him as his Special Envoy in Kosovo.
Nicolaus Copernicus Chair (2008)     Biography

Manuela Mendonça
(Evora, Portugal, 1948)
Doctor in Modern and Contemporary History from the Univesity of Lisbon. From 1990 to 1996 she was Vice Director-General of the Portuguese National Archives (Torre do Tombo). Since 2005 she is President of the Portuguese Academy of History.
Joan of Arc Chair (2008)     Biography

María del Carmen Iglesias Cano
(Madrid, Spain, 1942) 
Full member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History and of the Royal Spanish Language Academy. Professor of History of Political Thought and Systems of the Madrid Complutense University (1984-2000), Professor of History of Moral and Political Ideas of  the Madrid Rey Juan Carlos University since 2000.
Montesquieu Chair (2008)     Biography 

Federico Mayor Zaragoza
(Barcelona, Spain, 1939)
Doctor in Pharmacy. Co-founder of the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre. He was Minister of Education and Science (1981-82) and Member of the European Parliament (1987). In 1978 he took up the post of Assistant Director General, and then Director General of UNESCO in 1987.
Leonardo da Vinci Chair (2008)     Biography

Antonio Tabucchi
(Pisa, Italy, 1943)
Writer, Professor for Portuguese Language and Literature. Translator of Fernando Pessoa.
Luis Vaz de Camões Chair (2006)     Biography

María João Pires
(Lisbon, Portugal. 1944)
Maria João Pires is one of the most emblematic figures in Portuguese culture. If Saramago is the symbol of literature, or Manoel de Oliveira is the symbol of cinema, she is the most visible image of music.
Anna Frank Chair (2008)     Biography

Edgar Morin
(France, 1921)
Philosopher and Sociologist. He was co-director of Transdisciplinary Studies Centre (sociology-anthropology-semiology) of l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (1973-1989) in France.
Jean Monnet Chair (2006)     Biography

Paul Preston
(Liverpool, 1946, United Kingdom).
Historian and Hispanist, specialized in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 30 years. He is currently based at the London School of Economics and is a frequent visitor to Spain.
Marcel Proust Chair (2006)     Biography

Valentín Fuster Carulla
(Barcelona,Spain,1943).
Doctor in Medicine by the University of Barcelona. As a researcher he has received the highest scientific awards from important cardiology organisations in the world.
Maimónides Chair (2006)     Biography

Antonio López García
(Tomelloso, Spain, 1936)
Together with Tàpies and Chillida, he is one of the represented Spanish artists in the Modern Art Museum in Brussels. He is considered as an outmost exponent of hyperrealism and magic realism.
Marco Tulio Cicero Chair (2004)    Biography

Alain Touraine
(Hermanville-sur-Mer, France, 1925)
He carried out studies in universities of Columbia, Chicago and Harvard. In 1960 he became “senior” researcher of ‘Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes’ (currently the prestigious School of Social Sciences in Paris), where he founded the Centre of Analysis and Sociological Intervention (CASI).
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi Chair (2004)     Biography

Margarita Salas Falgueras 
(Canero, Asturias-Spain, 1938)
Doctor in Chemistry Sciences. She carried out her postdoctoral work in the University of New York under the direction of Severo Ochoa. In 2003, she became the first woman scientist to be accepted to the Royal Spanish Academy.

Isabel la Católica Chair (2004)     Biography 

Zsuzsanna Sandorné Ferge
(Kecskeméti, Budapest, Hungary, 1931)
Hungary. Economist, she has worked in the fields of social statistics, sociology and social politics. His areas of interests have been social structures, social inequalities, poverty and social consequences of the transition.
John Maynard Keynes Chair (2004)     Biography

Peter Piot
(Leuven, Belgium, 1949)
Physician. He is the Executive Director of the United Nations Group Programme on HIV (UNAIDS) since its foundation in 1994, as well as the assistant of the General Secretary of the United Nations.
Socrates Chair (2004)     Biography



 

Hans Küng
(Switzerland, 1928)
Catholic theologian, University Professor in Ecumenical Theology and Director of the Ecumenical Research Institute in Tubing. He has analyzed the historic evolution of the councils, bishops and cardinals, the missionary enthusiasm of the Church, and the convulsions of the Reform and the Counterreformation.

Wolfgang A. Mozart Chair (2004)     Biography

Ursula Lehr
(Germany, 1930)
Gerontologist. Former German Federal Minister of Youth, Family, Women and Health.
Marie Curie Chair (2000)     Biography

Edoardo Vesentini
(Rome, Italy, 1928)
Former president of the Academia Nazionale dei Lincei. Gold Medal of the Italian Society of Science.
Molière Chair (2000)     Biography

Gilbert Trausch
(Luxembourg, 1931)
Historian. Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for European Studies and Research.
Arias Montano Chair (2000)     Biography

Joaquim Veríssimo Serrão
(Santarem, Portugal, 1925).
Historian. Specialist 13th and 17th centuries and the role played by the Portuguese in Europe at that time.
Immanuel Kant Chair (2000)     Biography

Marcelino Oreja Aguirre
(Madrid, Spain, 1935). 
Spanish politician. Minister for Foreign Affairs (1976-1980); General Secretary of the European Advisory Board (1984-1989) and European Commissar (1994-1999).
San Benito Chair (2000)     Biography

Heinrich Rohrer
(Buch, Switzerland, 1933).
Physician. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1986.
Columbus Chair (1998)     Biography

Peter Shaffer 
(Liverpool, United Kingdom, 1926)
English dramatist, author of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been filmed.
Cervantes Chair (1998)    Biography

Reinhard Selten
(Wroclaw, Germany, 1930)
Economist. Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 1994.
Shakespeare Chair (1998)  Biography

Umberto Eco
(Alessandria, Italy, 1932).
Novelist, Medievalist, Philosopher, Semiotician and literary critic.
Plato Chair (1998)     Biography

Gaston Torn
(Luxembourg, 1927-2007)
Luxembourgian Politician; in January 1981, he joined the European Commission as president and resigned on January 1, 1985; he was substituted by Jacques Delors.
Lorenzo the Magnificent Chair (2000) He died in 2007.      Biography

Ilya Prigogine
(Moscow, Russia,1917)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977. Professor at the Free University of Brussels (1947), Director of the Physics and Solvay Chemistry International Institute (1962) and the Mechanic Statistics and Thermodynamics of the University of Texas (1967). He died in 2002.
J.S. Bach Chair (2000)     Biography

Willem Frederik Duisenberg
(Heerenveen, The Netherlands,1935)
Economist. 
First President of the European Central Bank. The man that introduced the euro. Before taking his post in Frankfurt, he was the president of the Central Bank in Holland. After finishing his studies of Economics at the University of Groningen, Duisenberg took up the charge in the International Monetary Fund, in Washington. He died in 2005.
Diego Velázquez Chair (2004)     Biography

Cardinal Franz König
(Rahestein, Austria, 1905)
Protagonist of the dialogue with Eastern Europe in times of communism. He died in 2003.
Damião de Góis Chair (2000)     Biography

Bronislaw Geremek
(Warsaw, Poland, 1932)
Graduated by the University of Warsaw in 1954, he had a doctorate in the History Institute of the Polish Sciences Academy. He has been a member of Parliament in Sejm (lower house of the Parliament in Poland) since 1989, and he was Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland from 1997 to 2000. He died in 2008.
Ludwig van Beethoven Chair (2004)     Biography

Manuel Fernández Álvarez
(Madrid, Spain, 1921)
Historian. University professor and a member of the Royal Academy of History. Specialized in the 16th century: i.c. Charles V and Philps II. He died in 2010.
Paul Henri Spaak Chair (2000)     Biography

José Saramago
(Santarem, Portugal, 1925)
Nobel Prize in Literature 1998. He died in 2010.
Rembrandt Chair (1998) Biography
 

Václav Havel  
(Prague, Czech, 1936)
Writer and playwright, spokesman of Charter 77, he played a leading role in the Velvet revolution of November 1989. He was the last President of Czechoslovakia and first President of the Czech Republic. He died in 2011.
Franz Kafka Chair (2008)     Biography