George-Joseph Bekker

George-Joseph Bekker was rector of the University of Liège in December 1835, when the organic law was passed to organize the curriculum, impose French as the language of instruction and create new courses to meet the needs of the time. Bekker fell ill and was unable to complete his term of office. He was replaced by Évrard Dupont.

George-Joseph Bekker was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1792. After studying classical philology at the University of Heidelberg, he was invited to teach ancient literature at the State University of Louvain. When the latter was abolished in 1835, Bekker came to Liège, where he was immediately appointed rector at the difficult time of the reorganization of course curricula. Bekker's works include a Hebrew Grammar (1826) and an Odyssea Homerica (1829), adapted to teaching needs.

A member of the Institut des Pays-Bas and correspondent of the Académie royale de Bruxelles, he left an impressive library at his death in 1837, catalogued by Tandel and published the same year.

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