Ernest Van den Broeck was born on December 1, 1851, in Brussels, Belgium.

He was a Belgian geologist, paleontologist, and botanist. He served as a Curator at the Royal Museum of Natural History of Belgium (1879-1919) and the first Secretary-general of the Belgian Society of Geology, Paleontology, and Hydrology (1903). He founded the Belgian Botanical Society and created a "Japanese-Alpine Garden" at his home in Genval. He was also a great collector of Japanese art, and his collections form the basis of the Far Eastern section of the Royal Museum of Natural History. He was the author of numerous geological and botanical publications, e.g., "Une visite à la station zoologique et à l'aquarium de Naples" (1882), "Explication de la feuille de Bilsen" (1883), and "Les cavernes et les rivières souterraines de la Belgique" (1910). In 1989, the Society created a Van den Broeck Medal in his honour.

He died on September 12, 1932, in Genval, Belgium.