European Commissioner for science expresses condolences on death of Prigogine

European Commissioner for Science Philippe Busquin expressed condolences on Thursday on the death of Belgian scientist of Russian extraction Ilya Prigogine, a Nobel prize winner.

Prigogine died on May 28 at a Brussels hospital.

"It was with profound grief that I learned of the death of Professor Ilya Prigogine, a Nobel prize winner for chemistry. This death affects me personally as a Belgian politician and the European commissioner for science. It also concerns me personally because I had the good fortune to be his student at Brussels Free University, and since then have remained connected with him," Busquin says in a communique circulated in Brussels.

According to Busquin, Prigogine was one of the brilliant scientists" of Belgium, he founded a "world-famed scientific school." The European commissioner emphasised that Prigogine was a convinced believer in a united Europe, all his life contributing to its building, thus helping the European Commission.