On Wednesday 19 January 2011, Prof. dr. Jan Verwer of the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam received a royal decoration: He was named Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Mayor T.J. Romeyn of Heiloo, where Verwer resides, bestowed the enamel cross upon him following a symposium organized in honour of the researcher’s retirement. This decoration is only awarded to citizens with outstanding achievements in the field of arts, science, sports or music.

Expert in numerical analysis
Mayor Romeyn praised the merits of the researcher during his speech: "Jan Verwer has made an impressive contribution to science in the Netherlands and abroad. He has conducted excellent scientific research in numerical mathematics in his 37 year career. This is a discipline that has proved to be invaluable for science and industry. Topics that Verwer studied include computational methods for initial value problems – techniques with which time-dependent processes, such as the weather, can be predicted. He has written several books that are internationally well-known. "

Inspirer
Throughout his academic career, Jan Verwer was affiliated with the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the Dutch national research centre for mathematics and computer science. He guided and inspired many young researchers in the Netherlands and abroad. After 37 years of service, holding various academic positions at the institute, he retires on 31 January 2011. CWI organized a three-day workshop in Verwer’s honour.  Jan Verwer also holds the chair Numerical Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Amsterdam, where he will receive emeritus status.

Mrs. Verwer, Mayor Romeyn of Heiloo, and Jan Verwer

Mayor Romeyn: "Led by Jan Verwer, the CWI research cluster Modelling, Analysis and Simulation was evaluated with the highest marks in 2004. He has successfully led the multi-million euro project BRICKS and he played an active role as the chairman of the Dutch-Flemish Research Community on Scientific Computing. (…) During his whole career, Jan Verwer served the Netherlands as a true ambassador in the international scientific community. "