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Kitaibelia

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2017): In memoriam Lajos Felföldy
Research paper

Lajos Felföldy: a prominent Hungarian botanist and hydrobiologist

Published:
2017-01-01
DOI Linkhttps://doi.org/10.17542/kit.22.3
Authors
Attila Molnár V.,
Béla Csányi,
Róbert Vidéki,
Norbert Bauer,
Ferenc Dolánszky,
Viktor Gábor Papp,
Krisztina Nótári,
Krisztina Buczkó,
Pál Gulyás,
Viktor Virók
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PDF (Hungarian)
Keywords
agrobotany caryology field botany history of Hungarian botany XXth century nature conservation
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How To Cite
Selected Style: APA
Molnár V., A., Csányi, B., Vidéki, R., Bauer, N., Dolánszky, F., Papp, V. G., Nótári, K., Buczkó, K., Gulyás, P., & Virók, V. (2017). Lajos Felföldy: a prominent Hungarian botanist and hydrobiologist. Kitaibelia, 22(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.17542/kit.22.3
Abstract

Lajos Felföldy (1920–2016) was one of the most versatile and open-minded Hungarian biologists. He began his scientific career as a student of Prof. Rezső Soó. Between 1938 and 1946 he participated in geobotanical studies in University of Debrecen and Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He contributed with important achievements to the development of several biological disciplines. His pioneering study on the effects of air pollution on epiphytic lichens (1942) was among the firsts in the world. He described Hemitherophyte life-form as a discrete unit within Raunkiaer's plant life-form system (1942). He was a pioneer in the cytological (caryological) study of wild vascular plant species in Hungary (1947–1949). His results regarding to primary production of freshwater algae and algal culture (1958–1960) were in leading edge. In 1972 he founded and until 1990 edited the Hungarian series entitled ‘Vízűgyi Hidrobiológia’. Books of this series aimed to publish identification keys of freshwater taxa. These books were proved to be decisive and useful tools for Hungarian hydrobiologists in biological classification of brooks, streams, rivers and different types of stagnant waters. Between 1934 and 2009 he collected more than ten thousand herbarium sheets. After his retirement, he dealt with the revision of the herbarium material of Department of Botany in Hungarian Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden of Eötvös University (Budapest). He participated in the preparation of the New Hungarian Herbal. His scientific work was characterised by deep humility for nature, which was founded on strong theoretical and practical background.