Lodewijk Elzevir, Dutch publisher, co-founded the House of Elzevir (b. 1546)
Lodewijk Elzevir (c. 1540, Leuven – 4 February 1617, Leiden), originally Lodewijk or Louis Elsevier or Elzevier, was a printer, born in the city of Leuven (today in Belgium, then part of the Habsburg Netherlands or Spanish Netherlands). He was the founder of the House of Elzevir, which printed, for example, "Two New Sciences", a work of Galileo, at a time when his work was suppressed for religious reasons. Although the House of Elzevir ceased publishing in 1712, the modern Dutch Elsevier company was founded in 1880 and took its name from the historic Dutch publishing house.