Nobel Prize Winners

FERENC KRAUSZ, PHYSICIST

(Mór, 1962. – ) 

Studies: After completing his studies at Radnóti Miklós Primary School and then Táncsics Mihály High School in Mór, he obtained an electrical engineering degree from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and a physics degree from the Faculty of Science at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE TTK) in 1985. He earned his doctorate from the Vienna University of Technology in 1991, where he also habilitated.

Career: He began his research work at the Institute of Physics at BME (Budapest University of Technology and Economics). Subsequently, he taught as an associate professor and then as a full professor at the Vienna University of Technology. In 2003, he was appointed director of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany, and since 2004, he has been the head of the Department of Experimental Physics at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität). He is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and has been an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) since 2007.

Scientific Activities: Ferenc Krausz and his research group were the first to use attosecond light pulses to make the movement of electrons between atoms observable in real-time, laying the foundation for the science of attophysics. In recent years, they have succeeded in controlling electrons in molecules and have observed numerous fundamental electron processes in real-time, such as tunneling, charge transport, coherent EUV emission, delayed photoelectric effect, valence electron movement, and the regulation of the optical and electrical properties of dielectrics. Currently, they use femtosecond laser technology to further infrared spectroscopy for biomedical applications. The research collaboration, consisting of laser physicists, mathematicians, doctors, and molecular biologists, aims to monitor people's health status and detect diseases at an early stage by measuring the EMF of blood samples.

FÜLÖP LÉNÁRD, PHYSICIST

(Pozsony, 1862. – Messelhausen, 1947.)

Studies: He studied physics and chemistry (under Károly Than) at universities in Vienna and Budapest and also studied mathematics in Heidelberg and Berlin. He obtained his doctorate in Heidelberg in 1886.

Career: He worked for a year with Loránd Eötvös in Budapest, then became an assistant professor in Heidelberg, Breslau, and Bonn, where he habilitated in 1893 while working with Hertz. Afterward, he taught in Breslau, Aachen, Heidelberg, and Kiel. From 1907 to 1931, he was a professor at the University of Heidelberg and the director of the Radiological Institute. He received numerous honors and was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) in 1897, but was expelled in 1945 for joining National Socialism and the racial theory.

Scientific Activities: He began his cathode ray experiments with Hertz in Bonn. In the late 1890s, he designed a cathode ray tube with an auxiliary electrode for studying cathode rays in free space. For his investigations, he was awarded the Baumgarten Prize from the University of Vienna in 1896 and the Rumford Medal from the Royal Society. Another significant area of his research was the study of phosphorescence. His explanation of the photoelectric effect is still generally accepted today and laid the groundwork for Einstein's discovery of the photoelectric law. For this work and his atom model based on cathode ray studies (dynamid), which underpinned Rutherford's atomic theory, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905. He maintained his connection with Hungarian scientific life until his death.

GYÖRGY HEVESY, CHEMIST

(Budapest, 1885. – Freiburg, 1966.)

Studies: He graduated from the Piarist High School in Budapest and then enrolled at the University of Budapest. However, after a year, he traveled to Germany, where he completed his university education as a chemist. He earned his doctorate in Zurich, focusing on the electrolysis of melts.

Career: In 1911, he joined Rutherford in Manchester, where he became acquainted with the most important principles of radioactivity. From 1912, he conducted research in Vienna, during which he discovered radioactive tracing. In 1913, he obtained his private lecturer qualification at the University of Budapest. In 1918, he was appointed as an associate professor, and in 1919, as a full professor at the university. After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, he was forced to go abroad. From 1920, he continued his career in Copenhagen at Bohr's institute. From 1926 to 1934, he was a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Freiburg. Due to the rise of Nazism, he had to leave Germany and returned to Copenhagen. From 1940, he worked in Stockholm, where he received the Nobel Prize in 1943. After the war, he settled there permanently.

Scientific Activities: He was a pioneer in radioactive tracing: not only did he discover the method (1913), but he also revealed its main application areas. In 1922, at Bohr's institute in Copenhagen, he discovered the chemical element with atomic number 72, hafnium. It was then that he began his first experiments on the biological applications of tracing, initially on plants. During his eight years at the University of Freiburg, he began applying tracing to animal tissues, demonstrating that the bismuth concentration was significantly higher in tumor cells than in healthy ones. In the second half of his career, he focused almost exclusively on medical, biological, and biochemical topics. His work culminated after the artificial production of isotopes: he began using them to examine the human body, measuring the rate and extent of renewal, the paths of various molecules, and their formation in the body. He was interested in DNA formation, which led him to study certain malignant tumors. His research was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1943.

ALBERT SZENT-GYÖRGYI, BIOCHEMIST

(Budapest, 1893. – Woods Hall, USA, 1986.)

Studies: He completed his studies at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Budapest from 1911 to 1917. He then continued his studies and delivered lectures in Pozsony, Prague, Berlin, Leiden, Groningen, and later in Cambridge, where he earned a doctorate in chemistry in 1927.

Career: From 1931 to 1945, he was a professor at the Institute of Medical Chemistry at the University of Szeged. Between 1945 and 1947, he served as a professor of biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine in Budapest, and from 1946 to 1948, he was the vice president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). He became an ordinary member of the MTA in 1935 and an honorary member in 1945. From 1947, he worked in the USA, where he served as the director of the Marine Biological Laboratory of the Scientific Institute for Muscle Research from 1947 to 1962, and from 1962 to 1971, he was a university professor at Dartmouth. He was a member of numerous scientific councils. He never severed ties with his homeland and regularly visited Hungary from the 1960s. In 1987, the University of Szeged (which had previously awarded him an honorary doctorate) adopted his name.

Scientific Activities: At the beginning of his career in Szeged, he focused on biological oxidation, demonstrating that metabolism is based on the activation of hydrogen and oxygen. He discovered the C4 dicarboxylic acid catalysis, which forms the basis of the Krebs cycle. His discoveries related to the peroxidase system led to the identification of the reducing agent necessary for oxidation, later known as ascorbic acid. He determined the composition of hexuronic acid, identified it as ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C. For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1937. In Szeged, he also began investigating the biophysical and biochemical mechanisms of muscle contraction. According to later evaluations by one of his leading colleagues, Bruno F. Straub, these discoveries laid the foundation for modern muscle biology and were considered even more significant than the work for which he received the Nobel Prize. After his submolecular studies, his interest turned to malignant tumors, and he spent two decades studying cellular regulation phenomena.

GYÖRGY BÉKÉSY, ACOUSTICIAN, BIOPHYSICIST

(Budapest, 1899. – Honolulu, 1972.)

Studies: He studied physics and chemistry at the University of Bern between 1916 and 1920, earning his doctorate in physics in Budapest in 1923.

Career: From 1923 to 1941, he was a researcher and later chief engineer at the Postal Experimental Station. In 1933, he habilitated as a private lecturer at the University of Budapest, and in 1941, he became a full professor and head of the Institute of Practical Physics. In 1946, he conducted research at the Royal Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. In 1947, he moved to the USA at the invitation of Harvard University, where he worked as a leading researcher in the university's psycho-acoustic laboratory until 1966, when he was invited to the University of Honolulu to head the newly established Department of Sensory Sciences.

Scientific Activities: His research significantly advanced the field of physiological acoustics. The most notable aspect of his life's work was the observation and description of the mechanical-physical processes in the inner ear and the development of a new theory on the nature of hearing, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1961. He explained the physical reasons for the previously unknown existence of "traveling fluid waves" and collected extensive data on how sensory cells in the cochlea respond to physical stimuli. He designed an automatic hearing tester (Békésy audiometer), which he used to study the electrophysiological processes in the cochlea. During his research on the biophysical processes of the cochlea, he also began studying nerve conduction, recognizing sensory response similarities, which led him to conclude the uniformity of neural organization. Recognizing the common properties of sensory mechanisms, he also sought to clarify the processes of touch, skin sensation, taste, and smell. Békésy combined talents that are rarely found in a single individual: a well-trained physicist with extensive technical knowledge and an excellent ability to design tools suitable for investigating targeted phenomena. At the same time, he was a self-taught individual in the field of medicine, acquiring the necessary knowledge for successful physiological research.

(Translated by AI)