Fred Van Oystaeyen is a professor of mathematics at the University of Antwerp. He published over 300 scientific research papers and 27 research books as well as many proceedings of congresses he organized. He was also very active as a coordinator of many projects of the European Community. His work got international recognition, e.g. he became honorary professor at Beijing Normal University in 1985, and received the doctorate honoris causa at the university of Almeria (Spain) and also at the Free University of Brussels (Belgium). He started to write his only novel more than 50 years ago, gradually changing it by introducing a new philosophy based on some generic model of reality he developed scientifically. The book thus changed from a science fiction horror story into a philosophical and social fiction story which now became an original mixture of philosophy and adventure. Fred is married to his wife Danielle and they have three children and now also three grandchildren. As a young teenager, he began to collect Blues records and later organized some Blues concerts, some of his friends in Chicago named him Bluesfesser Fred, the name he uses on Facebook. Another hobby is growing caudiciform succulent plants and bonsai.
He never got a driver's licence, even not a mobile phone and his office at the university was the only one without a computer in it, if possible he avoided using public transportation and preferred to walk, perhaps because he liked "the walking blues".
