Vol. 13 No. 3-4 (2022): MMXXII vol. XIII. nos 3-4

Published December 26 2022

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Portraits

  • REZSŐ BOGNÁR PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, RECTOR MAGNIFICUS OF THE KOSSUTH LAJOS UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES BETWEEN THE ACADEMIC YEARS 1951-54. AND 1973-75
    3-23
    Views:
    135

    Rezső Bognár graduated from the József Nádor University of Technology and Economics in Budapest and worked beside Géza Zemplén at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Applied Sciences unil 1950. At the age of 35 he already became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.  He moved to Debrecen as an academic, where he organised the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University's newly established Faculty of Natural Sciences.  The four decades he has spent in Debrecen have spread far beyond the walls of the institute, since he was rector of the university for a total of five academic years, and vice-rector for seven academic years, both positions he has held on two occasions. He played a particularly significant role in enabling the Debrecen Academic Committee to start its work in 1976 and to build its headquarters in Debrecen.  

  • LÓRÁND KESZTYŰS, PROFESSOR OF PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, THE FIRST HEAD AS DEAN (1951), THEN TWO TIMES AS RECTOR (1959-1963, 1967-1973) OF THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL OF DEBRECEN.
    24-66
    Views:
    124

    In 1951 Lóránd Kesztyűs as dean became the first head of the University Medical School of Debrecen formed from the Faculty of Medicine of the Debrecen University, and then he was elected rector of the institution for two  periods (1959-1963, 1967-1973). He had determining roles in the infrastructural extension of departments and clincics, in modernisation of medical education with increased number of medical students, in enhancing productivity of scientific research, in developing clinical service with high regional and national reputation and in shaping a performance based, democratic leadership managament under restrictive conditions of a state party centralized political system. His internationally recognised research activity and national science policy achievements led to foundation of immunology and allergy research in Hungary. He was elected to member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Establishing the related department, with text book writing and creating his school of scientists, made him a momentous professor of pathophysiology. His friendly, direct and open persionality had an important role in realisation of a succesful leadership and organizational climate at the departmental and institutional level. Presentation of his achievements is based on a monograph of his past co-worker with reflections of three professors (two of them also served as rectors).                            

  • CHIEF OF MEDICINE JÓZSEF CZAKÓ, WHO ESTABLISHED CLINICAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAROSVÁSÁRHELY SERVING THE HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE MEDICAL EDUCATION: The Story of the First Heart Surgery in Transylvania
    67-78
    Views:
    140

    The study deals with the life and work of dr. József Czakó, chief of medicine, sanatorium director, university professor, about whom very little summary has been written so far. He tries to bring important historical medical data out of obscurity and save them for posterity, which are related to the establishment of the Marosvásárhely Sanatorium and the first heart surgery performed in Transylvania, by organizing the New Hospital, as well as the Hungarian-language medical training that started in 1944 at Marosvásárhely. By using specialized literary sources and unique documents, as well as based on the author's own experiences, relying on the Czakó legacy, he saves the important data, which reveals new information and important details about the health conditions of the small town at the beginning of the last century.

  • The LEADERS OF THE AGRICULTURAL HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF DEBRECEN BETWEEN 1868 AND 1945
    79-88
    Views:
    135

    . In 2018, Debrecen's agricultural higher education celebrated a century and a half since its foundation. In the decades since, it has become the country's leading professional education institute for agriculture. It was born in the post-1867 Reconciliation era, realising the vision of the city's farmer society, in line with the  state's engagement, which extended the scope of central power, and gave a new impetus to Hungarian education policy and helped to launch the modernisation of Hungarian agriculture. This special anniversary has inspired the chroniclers of our times to provide an overview of the scholarly teachers of a century and a half who were school founders, who were at the head of the institution for a considerable period of time, and whose activities included enhancing the quality of Hungarian agricultural higher education. The articles in the university history journal, Gerundium, serve this purpose.

Studies

  • The PAPAL RECOGNITION OF THE THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAGYSZOMBAT (TRNAVA) IN 1635
    89-125
    Views:
    113

    It is a cornerstone of Hungarian historiography that the foundation of the University of Nagyszombat in 1635 was merely approved by the Emperor. Pope Urban VIII refused to confirm it because of the lack of a medical and legal faculty. The present study establishes that, from the side of the Apostolic See and thus also from the side of canon law, recognition was granted by prior authorization to the foundation of the University of Nagyszombat (Trnava) by Archbishop Peter Pázmány in 1635. It turns out that the failure to obtain immediate papal confirmation of the foundation of the university on 12 May 1635 was due to the objections of the leadership of the Jesuit order.  It proves that the Roman Curia's failure to solemnly confirm the founding of the Pázmány was not in fact due to the two-faculty nature of the institution, but rather to its Jesuit character. The reasons for this can be found in the more effective lobbying of the medieval universities and the mendicant orders, and the gradual decline of the Society of Jesus. Despite the subsequent confirmation by the Holy See, and the failure to grant university privileges in the form of a bull, the foundation of the university in 1635 may have been carried out with papal approval because Pázmány received a - preliminary - authorisation to found a university from Orban VIII in May 1632, during his imperial embassy to Rome.

  • ARISTOCRATIC STUDENTS IN THE "ATHENS OF HUNGARY": THE HIGH NOBLE STUDENTS OF THE GYMNASIUM AND UNIVERSITY OF NAGYSZOMBAT (1616–1773)
    126-145
    Views:
    117

    Tyrnau (Nagyszombat, Trnava) was a location of great importance in the Jesuit school network of the Kingdom of Hungary, which provided students with various levels of education, from primary to university studies. The country's premier Catholic school centre also played a very important role in the education of the noble and aristocratic families. The aim of this study is to outline and examine the high noble-born student body of the University and Gymnasium of Tyrnau, using the new school records available. In the paper I will try to reconstruct how the function of Tyrnau in the educational practices of the nobility changed over the decades and centuries, which families attended the institution, and through some case studies I will also discuss the role of the knowledge acquired in shaping later careers.

  • The STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NAGYSZOMBAT IN THE LIGHT OF MORE CONTEMPORARY SOURCES
    146-181
    Views:
    107

    . The University of Nagyszombat, established in 1635, is Hungary's first, continously operating university. It's successors are the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest and the Pázmány Péter Catholic University. A significant part of the university's archival resources were destroyed in a fire at the Hungarian National Archives during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Therefore it is extremely difficult to  compile a list of the students who studied at the first Hungarian university. Recently, in Esztergom, new, previously unknown sources emerged about the students of the university. In this article we summarise the findings that can be drawn from the new documents regarding the students that studied at the Faculty of Arts and Theology of the University. The article analyses the university's geographical area, the evolution of the number of students and the social stratification of the student population and nationality, the proportion of foreign and national students.

  • The STUDENTST OF THE JESUIT ACADEMIE OF BUDA 1713-1777
    182-195
    Views:
    84

    The study presents the historical sources, history, students, educational level and attendance of the Buda Jesuit Academy (1713-1777), the Pest Piarist High School of Arts (1752-1784) and the short-lived Pest Law School (1756-1771). These are so far hardly known institutions of higher education in Buda and Pest before 1777, which laid the foundation for the subsequent flourishing of higher education in the capital.

  • The DESTRUCTION OF THE DOCUMENTS OF THE EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY IN THE 1950S
    196-233
    Views:
    162

    At Eötvös Loránd University, registers have been kept continuously since its foundation in 1635. The storage of these and then the documents and minutes created in the rector’s and dean’s offices posed a challange to the institution at the beginning of the 20th century. From 1948, in accordance with the decrees and instructions issued in the name of paper-saving, as well as the archival decree published in 1950, large-scale document disposition began, and the remaining documents were transferred to the Hungarian National Archives. The documents created between 1635 and 1900 were transported from the university in 1951. From 1952, in addition to the disposition, documents also had to be transferred to the Hungarian Labour Movement Institute, so only a fraction of the documents created after 1900 ended up in the National Archives between 1953 and 1955. In November 1956, a fire broke out in the National Archives as a result of a shot, and all the delivered documents of the university were destroyed. Between 1948 and 1956, the Eötvös Loránd University suffered an irreparable loss, since according to conservative estimates, only 20 meters of documents remained out of approximately 2500 meters of documents, and thus it lost not only its documents, but also a large part of its past.

  • The HISTORY OF THE CLINIC OF NEUROLOGY
    234-252
    Views:
    90

    The medical training at the Faculty of Medicine of the Debrecen Hungarian Royal University started in 1921. The Department of Mental and Neurological Diseases began its operation in 1921 at the Magoss György Square (current Bem square) under the leadership of László Benedek. The clinic moved to its new building at the Nagyerdő in 1927. László Benedek was succeeded by István Somogyi in 1937, and by Kálmán Sántha in 1938. Sántha’s main merit was the introduction of neurosurgery procedures and the establishment of the neurosurgery unit in Debrecen. He was convicted with fictional political accusations, and exiled to Balassagyarmat in 1951. Although rehabilitated in 1956, he was unable to return to the clinic in Debrecen. While Sántha worked at Balassagyarmat, the clinic was run by Sándor Rusz. Between 1957 and 1967 Pál Juhász had been the director of the clinic, who established a neurosis unit and EEG laboratory. After a two-year transitional period, László Molnár was appointed to be head of the clinic in 1969. Realizing that stroke is a public health issue, he was among the first who established a cerebrovascular unit in Europe. He was succeeded by László Csiba, who led the clinic between 1992 and 2017. The separation of the Department of Neurology and Department of Psychiaty in 1992, as well as the relocation of the Department of Neurology to the Auguszta area took place during his leadership. Professor Csiba established an excellent stroke center, and introduced reperfusion therapies in Debrecen. Currently, the Department of Neurology is headed by László Oláh.

  • The FOUNDATION AND THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF THE HEALTH COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN
    253-278
    Views:
    100

    The article reviews the circumstances of the foundation and dynamic development of the Health College during its first two decades when, with extensive Hungarian and international cooperation, four programs were launched in the college, which had not existed previously in Hungary.  In addition, several other programs, that up till that time had been available only in Budapest, were initiated. As a result of the dynamic training development, the number of students increased significantly by the end of the nineties.  Because of the increase enrollment, the College was struggling with a significant lack of space, consequently beginning in 1997 developing and improving the infrastructure became increasingly critical. By taking over and repairing old and erecting new buildings the college significantly expanded by several thousand square meters. Additionally, the dormitory of the college was also renovated. The creation of the college was part of the national concept and strategy in the nineties aimed at establishing and expanding higher education for healthcare workers.  In the first twenty years, six new programs were launched at the college, and by the end of the 2000s, the institution was able to start a master degree.The rate at which the college was developing was somewhat broken or slowed down by the transformation of higher education in the 2000s, the start and the storms of university integration, the introduction of the Bologna system, and the accompanying structural transformations. The college successfully faced the obstacles, and tried to take advantage of the opportunities arising from the new systems. The 2000’s saw the creation of new bachelor programs, specializations and master programs, including some that had not existed in our country before.The overview of the history of the first twenty years is inseparable from Dr. Zsolt Lukácskó, who was the founding director general of the college and then, after it had been declared to be a faculty, its first dean until 2007.

Remembrance

  • LAST RADIO INTERVIEW OF PÉTER ADLER, PROFESSOR OF STOMATOLOGY IN DEBRECEN
    279-286
    Views:
    85

    With the legacy of Professor Péter Adler, we received a tape recording. On this a radio interview with himself can be heard. The radio-report was broadcast in 1983. Here he gives a detailed account about his life, work, and achievements. The information and data presented significantly contribute to the understanding of the period and gives insight to the operation of the Stomatology Clinic. The interview was made in the year of his passing, so it is a sort of sum up and a closure to his career. The report is approx. 20 minutes long, which is published in its entirety in this article.

Book Reviews

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