A SCIENCE HALL OF FAME
Four articles describe the significant contribution Hungarians have made to the pure and applied sciences. As Balázs Illényi in a book review in this issue puts it: "... matches, wolfram filiment or krypton-filled light bulbs, the ball-point pen, Rubik's Cube, alternating current technology, streamlined aircraft, radioactive tracing, the atomic reactor, electronically programmable computers, time-sharing e-mail networks, the BASIC programming language, the word processor Word for Windows, the Pentium microprocessor and the Lunar Rover were all born in the minds of people whose cradle rocked in Hungary."
Creative Minds
by István Gazda
The historian of science (and director of the Institute for the History of Science) provides an overview of the history of mathematics, astronomy, physics and chemistry through pen pictures of the individuals who made major contributions to their discipline. From the eighteenth century on mathematicians from Farkas Bolyai to John von Neumann have produced significant work; the astronomers and their achievements are traced; the significant tradition in physics is described in detail, involving in the last century individuals such as Szilárd, Wigner, Békésy and, inevitably, von Neumann. Perhaps not so well known is the work in chemistry, dating from the end of the eighteenth century, which István Gazda also relates to the societal and political background.
Innovators and Innovations
by László Sipka
Kocsi is the Hungarian loan word which has the largest currency in other languages: the coach as we know it was developed in Hungary in the fifteenth century. The author, who writes on the history of science and technology, here traces the many innovations that came "from cradles rocked in Hungary". They range from the output of the Ganz factory through incandescent lightbulbs, colour television to atomic reactors.
The Medical Contribution
by Árpád Szállási
A summary of the history of medical training and practice in the country, this account makes clear the contribution made by centres outside the capital such as Kolozsvár or Szeged.
Developing Cereals
by János Estók
A specialist in agricultural history, János Estók briefly describes the development of wheat strains and milling techniques at the turn of the last century, when Hungary accounted for no less than 26 per cent of the world's wheat exports.
Poems
by András Gerevich
Five poems by a young poet, whose second book is due this year, in George Szirtes's translations.
The Magic of Facts
by Miklós Győrffy
"His role in Hungarian literature of the present day is comparable to that of the film director Miklós Jancsó, another fairly late starter of the same age who is youthful and active today." Miklós Győrffy comments on the career and work of eighty-year-old Miklós Mészőly, who is acknowledged by his younger peers as a key figure in post-modernism.
Map of Alisca
by Miklós Mészőly
A short story.
The Holocaust in Gypsy Folk Poetry
by Károly Bari
"As yet no memorial has been raised to the Gypsy victims of the Holocaust . No one has yet asked the forgiveness of Gypsy survivors..." The Roma poet and painter describes how the horror is expressed through traditional song.
HISTORY
Two articles here deal with notorious cases from the depths of the Cold War.
American Capital and the Hungarian Oil Industry
by Lajos Srágli
Lajos Srágli here traces the torturous story of MAORT (literally, Hungarian American Oil Industry Inc.), an American-owned company, which found itself in limbo once Hungary had declared war on the United States. After the communist takeover it was targeted for nationalization (without compensation) and several Hungarian employees were victims of a notorious show trial.
The Standard Electric Trial
by Vera Pécsi
A fascinating and detailed account of the construction and manipulation of court proceedings against employees both Hungarian (two of whom were hanged) and American of the IT&T controlled company.
Wages and Labour Costs
by Judit Adler and Erzsébet Viszt
The authors are researchers at GKI, a leading economic think tank. Here they examine development levels in Eastern Europe, the relative position of Hungary's wage-earners as the country prepares for EU accession, differentiation in wage levels, and suggests how wage levels will move after accession.
REVIEWS
The In-Betwen Poet
by Győző Ferencz
George Szirtes: The Budapest File. Newcastle-upon-Tyne/Budapest, Bloodaxe Books/Corvina, 2000.
Poet and translator of poetry, Győző Ferencz reviews a new collection by George Szirtes, who "could not be a Hungarian poet if he wanted to, any more than an English one."
Celestial/Extraterrestial Minds
by Balázs Illényi
Győrgy Marx: A marslakók érkezése. Magyar tudósok, akik nyugaton alakították a XX. század tőrténelmét. (The Coming of the Martians. Hungarian Scientists Who Shaped the History of the Twentieth Century in the West). Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2000.
Reviewing this book by the distinguished physicist, Balázs Illényi reflects on the intellectual emigration that was a feature of the twentieth century and on those individual talents that flourished abroad.
The Joke That Dances Over Catastrophe
by Nicholas T. Parsons
Paul Lendvai: Die Ungarn: Ein Jahrtausend. Sieger in Niederlagen. C. Bertelsmann, Munich, 1999.
Citing Tibor Déry's answer to the question "What is Hungarian?" in its title, this review finds much to praise in a book by the Vienna-based journalist and scholar. In particular the essayistic treatment is singled out (ranging from "Will Hungary be German or Magyar" to "The Hungarian Sene of Mission to the Minorities") and the author's sense of the absurd is seen as quintessentially Magyar as exemplified in his account of a fictitious Russian hero, Captain Gusev.
Music's Magic Show
by Paul Griffiths
The New York Times' music critic looks at two pieces on a larger scale by György Ligeti, and finds no slackening of vitality in the composer as he approaches his eightieth year.
