He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with his former PhD student Gerardus 't Hooft for their work on particle theory.

His primary task was the upkeep of a large library collection and occasional lecture preparations for Michels.

He received his MSc degree in 1956, after which he was drafted into military service for two years, returning in February 1959.

[6] In 1960, Van Hove became director of the theory division at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, the European High Energy laboratory.

Meanwhile, in 1960, he married his wife Anneke, who gave birth to their daughter Hélène in the Netherlands, before moving to Geneva to live with Martinus.

Hélène followed in her father's footsteps and in due time completed her particle physics thesis with Mary Gaillard at Berkeley, though she now works in the financial industry in London.

Veltman was closely involved in the 1963 CERN neutrino experiment, analyzing images as they were generated by the detectors.