Louis Trasenster
Louis Trasenster's two terms as rector (1879-1882 and 1882-1885) were marked by major advances for the University of Liège. As early as 1880, he had several institutes built to house laboratories for pharmacy, botany, physiology, zoology, chemistry, anatomy and astronomy. In 1881, he opened the university to girls. Finally, he embarked on a scouting trip throughout Europe, to bring back to Liège top-level teachers.
Engineer Louis Trasenster (1816-1887) was undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the academic world of Liège at the end of the 19th century. A graduate of the École des Mines de Liège, he joined the Corps des Mines (1838) as an expert in charge of overseeing the safety of collieries. In 1846-1847, he and a dozen fellow students founded the famous Association des Ingénieurs Sortis de l'Université de Liège (A.I.Lg), which he chaired for 38 years. From 1844, he taught a course in mining at the Faculty of Sciences. He was appointed Professor Extraordinaire in 1849, then Ordinaire in 1855.
Charged by King Leopold II with recruiting new teachers for the University, he succeeded in attracting several leading figures from the scientific world to Liège: the Italian mineralogist Giuseppe Cesaro, the German mathematician Henri Holzer, the Austrian physician Alexandre von Winiwarter and, last but not least, the Swiss jurist Arthur de Senarclens.
At the crossroads of industry and academia, he contributes to the reputation of École des Mines through his scientific activities and international publications, while devoting his energies to the development of public education in Belgium.
Appointed rector in 1879, Trasenster made the entry of women into the University, and their access to secondary education worthy of the name, one of his main battle horses, and enthusiastically welcomed the first female student - Jeanne Rademackers - who enrolled in Pharmacy in 1881.
Mlle Jeanne Rademackers a ouvert courageusement et brillamment aux personnes de son sexe l’entrée à l’Université de Liège et l’entrée dans la profession de pharmacien. [...] Elle est appelée par ses connaissances et son aptitude à faire honneur à la profession qu’elle a embrassée, et que la Commission provinciale du Limbourg l’a autorisée à exercer. Je la prie de recevoir mes plus sincères félicitations.
Following in his predecessor's footsteps, he took up and pushed forward the thorny issue of building new university institutes, several of which were inaugurated during his rectorship (1879-1885).
As son-in-law of printer-publisher Jacques Desoer, owner of the Journal de Liége, he was introduced to the liberal milieu of Liège and befriended future minister Walthère Frère-Orban, of whom he remained a loyal confidant. Christian but openly anticlerical, Trasenster had been a member of the Liège Masonic Lodge since 1839, but in keeping with his increasingly progressive convictions, he maintained sometimes turbulent relations with some of its conservative members. A humanist and philanthropist, Trasenster was also a member of numerous learned societies (Société royale des Sciences, Société libre d'Émulation...), and was equally involved in associations likely to promote the emancipation of the most disadvantaged through education and to offer them greater dignity (Société Franklin, Vestiaire libéral, Société des Bains et Lavoirs...).
RECTOR DE TRASENSTER'S SPEECHES AT THE REOPENING OF CLASSES
Illustration :Lambert Salme, À Monsieur J.L. Trasenster, Professeur ordinaire à l'Université de Liège, Inspecteur des études à l'école des Arts et Manufactures et des Mines, lithographie, 1870, Musée Wittert ULiège,inv.2954.
