Leo Vroman

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Leo Vroman (born April 10, 1915 in Gouda) is an Dutch-American hematologist and poet.

Vroman studied biology in Utrecht. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands on May 10, 1940 he fled to London. From there he traveled to the Dutch East Indies. He finished his studies in Batavia. After the Japanese occupied Indonesia he was interned and stayed in several prisoner-of-war camps.

After the war Vroman went to New York where he worked as a hematology researcher. He has been an American citizen since 1951.

In 1946 he published in his first poems in Holland. He has since won almost every Dutch poetry prize possible.

In 2003 his former school, "de Goudse ScholenGemeenschap" (GSG), changed her name into "de Goudse ScholenGemeenschap Leo Vroman" (GSG Leo Vroman), to honour their famous student. The school originally existed out of three schools, of which de HBS was his school. They merged in 1993, and when the merged school existed 10 years, they changed names.