Alapítói köszöntő a "Gerundium" Egyetemtörténeti Közlemények című folyóirat indításához

A gerundium – egy jelkép születésének háttere

Professor Ferenc Kiss Was the First Rector of the Hungarian Royal University of Arts and Sciences in Debrecen.Through delving into the relevant biographical data and publishing his salutatory oration of 1914, the author recalls reminiscences of Ferenc Kiss, the outstanding professor of theology, who was the first rector of the one-time University of Debrecen.

Sándor Szalay Was the Founder of Basic Research in Nuclear Physics in Hungary. Academian Sándor Szalay, former head of the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Debrecen as well as the founding director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI) was born in 1909. He was a trail-blazing physicist, a dedicated teacher, and his achievements in fundamental and applied science are both substantial and diverse. One of his remarkable legacies was the inititation of nuclear physics research in Hungary. On 24 September, 2009, ATOMKI hosted a symposium to mark the centenary of its founder.

Exploring Village Communities Betweeeen the Two World Wars at the Univeversity of Debebreceeceecen. Encouraged by economic, social, historical, as well as ideological factors, the sociological research of villages flourished in Hungary in the 1930s. Debrecen’s earlier involvement in the movement had been rather superficial and was restricted primarily to folk literature as it appeared in historical works. The present essay offers a survey of the appearance in the scene of village research with a sociological angle by demonstrating the fermenting effects of folk literature’s institutions (Ady Társaság), programs (Debreceni Diéták) and interim successes (Márciusi Front) in Debrecen. The survey lays particular emphasis on the sociographical activities of the university attendees’ organizations, fellowships, and the endeavors of two academic workshops: the Institute of Geography and the coterie of linguists). The aim of this study is to provide additional data to the characteristics, differences and coherences of these workshops, also attempting to picture the diversity and complexity of a nationwide involvement in exploring village communities against the background of political, ideological and scientific priorities in the era.

An Attempt to Introduce Comparative Law as a Self-Contaiained Discipliline at the University of Debrecen (1927) At the beginning of 1927, Géza Marton, professor of law in Debrecen, prepared a position paper with regard to the chances of introducing comparative law as a separate subject at the school of law. Commenting on this event, the present study—which thematically pertains to the history of the old law school—offers data concerning the history of comparative law, with proper priority given to disciplinary and educational ramifications of this area of study formerly both parly boosted, partly neglected int he history of Hungarian learning. Prior to the publication of and the comments on Professor Marton’s original text, the study reiterates some memorable facts and aspects of Hungarian scholarly and educational history, interlarding these with some less well-known data and points of interest.

Rector’s Report on Debrecen University 1914–1915 The rector’s report about the first academic year of the Royal University of Debrecen depicts a poignant picture. While recording the national joy that was felt over the opening of a new university, he also notes how the first academic year was rudely disrupted by the outbreak of World War I. His report reflects the sense of duty and the patriotic spirit which pervaded both the students and the faculty of the university, and the immediate ensuing hardship which was conquered by an undiminished faith in education despite all difficulties.

Appeal of the University of Debrecen against the Treaty of Trianon. The source material calls attention to an almost forgotten and unique document: in 1919 the University of Debrecen was the sole institution of higher education in Hungary to bodily appeal to the world’s academic community in a pamphlet (”Appeal to the Universities of the Educated World”) for the purposes of drawing attention to the peace treaties—framed but not yet signed by Hungary—at the end of World War One. The peace treaties spelt out unbearable consequences for Hungary and the Appeal dramatically called attention to the inherent injustices and hazards. Some of the dramatic parts of the desperate manifesto, which is also likely to have been printed in English and French, are quoted verbatim.

Articles of the Student Relief Fund (Bursa Academica) of the University of Debrecen. Bursa Academica, the student welfare fund of the University of Debrecen was one of those student welfare institutions between the two world wars whose existence and operation were unknown even to those members of the general public who show interest in the history of the university. In publishing the full text of the articles of association and by prefixing an introductory essay before it, the author’s objective is to adequately clarify the essence and importance of the institution’s operation. Both in terms of its noble objectives and its activities maintained, the Bursa Academica deserves to be remembered, for it played, together with other similar institutions, an outstanding role in student life.

The Memorandum of Studentsts againstst the “Mutilation” of the University of Debrecen (1933).Between the two world wars, the Great Depression made a significant impact on higher education in Hungary. At the beginning of 1930s, many articles were published in the national and local press about the plans of the government in connection with the handling of the crisis. These rumours were about the “mutilation” of the universities (closing or merging of the faculties, reduction of the estimation). As in the other university towns, substantial social and political protest began in Debrecen against these plans. Besides the parties, the associations and the Calvinist Church, the university students sent a memorandum to the leaders of the University, the town and the government. This paper includes this document of protest and presents the main (historical, judicial and economic) reasons against the “mutilation.”

Földes István, A Debreceni Orvos- és Egészségtudományi Centrum Anatómiai, Szövet-és Fejlődéstani Intézetének története (A debreceni orvosképzés nagy alakjai, 23. füzet), Debreceni Egyetem Orvos- és Egészségtudományi Centrum, 2009, 2009. pp.