The Heineken Prizes
neck shaped to fit into the base of the next bottle, with a little bit
of glue, could be used to build cheap homes in the Third World.
A production run of the bottles was actually made, and a WoBo
home stood for many years in the grounds of his house in
Noordwijk. Unfortunately, his idea ran into practical problems.
The bottle was so heavy that it increased transport costs
dramatically. Moreover, the temperature in a house built of glass
in hot developing countries was unbearable. A wall with these
bottles can be seen in the reception area of the Heineken
Experience in Amsterdam.
biophysics: the Dr. H.P. Heineken Prize. Alfred Heineken decided
to set up the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation in 1988. This
fund also enables the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences to award prestigious prizes every two years to persons
performing pioneering work in the fields of medicine, history,
environmental studies and the arts.
His broad interest in the world around him was Alfred Heineken's
main reason for setting up the foundation. He wanted to be more
than a brewer and a businessman: "That's the fun of doing other
things: you get to know another field and other people. That's
important. I would hate to have a one-track mind," he once said.
Since as long ago as 1964, Heineken N.V. has been presenting
biennial prizes to scientists in the fields of biochemistry and
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