Belgian-Flemish statesman, and cowinner (with Paul-H.-B. d'Estournelles de Constant) of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1909.

A lawyer by profession, Beernaert was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Deputies in 1873 and later served as minister of public works. He was prime minister and minister of finance from 1884 to 1894. In 1895 he was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies.

He held the post of president of the International Law Association from 1903 to 1905. He was Belgium's first representative at the Hague peace conferences in 1899 and 1907. In 1909, when he was 80 years old, Beernaert was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.