Auguste Beernaert (1829-1912) was a Belgian statesman, born in Ostend, and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1909 with Paul d’Estournelles de Constant.
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, two years after which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 80. He died three years later in Lucerne, Switzerland.