Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FOREWORD.................................................................................... 5
I. HUNGARY AS A HUB OF SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE IN
CENTRAL EUROPE................................................................... 6
1. HUNGARYS LOCATION, HISTORICAL HERITAGE AND
CONTEMPORARY VALUES...........................................................6
2. ASPECTS OF PRESENTING HUNGARYS SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE.. 9
II. HUNGARIAN INTELLECTUAL CREATIONS THAT ARE
INDISPENSABLE IN EVERYDAY LIFE.................................... 11
III. HUNGARYS RESEARCH ON THE SCIENTIFIC MAP OF THE
WORLD................................................................................. 14
3. C
AMPUS HUNGARY: THE PROGRAM OF INTERNATIONAL
PRESENCE.......................................................................... 28
4. T
HE MOMENTUM PROGRAM: A GROUND-BREAKING INITIATIVE
TO COUNTER BRAIN DRAIN.................................................. 31
1. H
UNGARYS INNOVATION STRATEGY: START-UP PARADISE.... 33
3. C
OOPERATION BETWEEN HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITIES AND
GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES.................................... 42
2. H
UNGARIAN SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS: CLASSICITS AND
YOUNG TALENTS.................................................................. 54
k; Graph theory Microsoft large networks: Lszl Lovsz,
one of the best known mathematicians of the world................ 56
l; Mathematics and epidemics - Gergely Rst.......................... 58
m; The secrets of prime numbers and their application Jnos Pintz......................................................................... 59
n; Within four dimensions in mathematics - Andrs Stipsicz..... 62
3. NETWORK SCIENCE............................................................. 64
6. F
ROM THE SMALLEST TO THE BIGGEST NANOTECHNOLOGY
AND ASTROPHYSICS............................................................ 86
7. L
IFE AND MATTER AT A MOLECULAR LEVEL - MOLECULAR
BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS............ 96
a; The Spatial Structure of Peptides and Proteins
Andrs Perczel.................................................................... 97
b; Gene Technology and Flora - Dnes Dudits......................... 98
c; From Motor Enzymes toward Molecular Bio-IT
Andrs Mlnsi-Csizmadia.................................................... 99
d; Theoretical Chemistry and Atmospheric Research
Mihly Kllay..................................................................... 100
e; The Importance of the Eco-system and Bio-gases University Environmental Research......................................101
8. PARTICLES AND LASERS INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED
PHYSICS RESEARCH CENTRES IN HUNGARY................................. 102
a; Nuclear Physics with Interdisciplinary Radiation - Debrecen.102
9. S
CIENCE IN EVERYDAY DEVICES, INSTRUMENTS - TECHNICAL
SCIENCES, IT.................................................................... 108
b; Spatial Outputs of Technical Mathematics - The Gmbc............ 111
c; World Famous Logical Game and Technical Innovation Rubiks Cube......................................................................113
d; Interdisciplinary Use of IT...............................................114
e; Critical Infrastructure - Protection Research......................115
VI. THE ROLE OF HIGH SCHOOL AND ACADEMIC SCIENCE IN
SUPPORTING HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH....................116
1. COMMUNITY OF SCIENTISTS AND PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH
CENTRE: THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES................116
2. SCIENCE
CANNOT BEGIN EARLY ENOUGH IN HUNGARY:
THE STUDENT RESEARCH MOVEMENT................................. 121
3. THE SCHOOL OF NOBEL LAUREATES: THE PROFESSOR RCZ
AWARD............................................................................. 123
VII. SCIENCE IN SOCIAL NETWORKS........................................ 125
VIII. NATIONAL EXCELLENCE PROGRAM: THE ATTRACTION OF
HUNGARIAN RESEARCH.................................................... 132
IX. SOURCES............................................................................ 136
Foreword
This publication is intended to fill a market niche and to provide a
comprehensive overview of research and development in Hungary and the
nations outstanding achievements in science. Top quality and exacting
scientific research has always been part of Hungarys national identity.
Contributing factors have included universities established in early modern
times, traditional training courses, and the individuals desire to know,
which yielded a large number of Nobel laureates for Hungary. Ever since
Flp Lnrd (Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard), the first Hungarian to
receive the Nobel Prize in 1905 for his atomic model based on cathode
ray tests, the number of our globally noted researchers and inventors has
been growing steadily, improving even further Hungarys reputation both
in Europe and around the world.
This volume uses outstanding personalities, results, workshops and
projects as a vehicle to present research and development in Hungary. It
provides an overview of the scientific performance of the countrys major
research universities, describes the economic and social utilisation of
scientific results, and grants an insight into the excellent and often globally
significant achievements of Hungarian scientists.
Recent successes with outstanding innovations (Prezi, Ustream, Graphisoft
or Aluinvent) have continued to garner praise around the world for
Hungarian creativity. We would like to better acquaint readers with these
developments, some of which they may use themselves.
This publication endeavours to provide both interesting and useful
information to the international community interested in scientific life and
R&D in Hungary. It offers an opportunity to learn about major scientific
results and research projects in several fields of the countrys higher
education system, and also provides an introduction to the institutions.
Clearly, our intention has been to build a bridge between players in
Hungarian and international science.
Promoting mobility in higher education is clearly in the interest of the
national economy because gaining experience abroad and extending the
sectors professional relations constitute capital contributing to scientific
development and knowledge transfer, and ultimately to increasing the
value of diplomas in the labour market. In order to promote the realisation
of these goals, the government has set up the Campus Hungary program
with supportfrom the European Union. The scheme offers an unrivalled
opportunity for talented Hungarians to developand engage in scientific
activities in any country of the world.
This unique book, also supported by the project, has been compiled in
the hope of evoking fresh ideas in the minds of higher education officials,
policymakers and science aficionados.
Judit Hammerstein
Director General of the Balassi Institute
I. Hungary
as a hub of scientific excellence in Central
Europe
When Einstein and Oppenheimer happened to be absent from a scientific
workshop related to the Manhattan plan (a project aimed at the military
utilisation of the nuclear chain reaction), Nobel Prize winner Le Szilrd
turned to his fellow scientists and said: Gentlemen, perhaps we may now
continue in Hungarian.
What could have been the basis for this anecdote? How is it possible that
people belonging to the little-known linguistic community of a small Central
European country were so vital to scientific development, even though
that community was 20,000 kilometres away from Los Alamos, USA, home
to what was then the worlds most advanced and best-funded scientific
research centre?
It is this question that the authors attempt to answer by specifically
presenting Hungarys contemporary research potential based on historical,
higher education and scientific results, highlighting opportunities that may
be important and exciting for researchers from any country of the world
who seek knowledge, research opportunities, and new discoveries.
1. H
ungarys location, historical heritage and contemporary
values
year-old
country where
East and West
meet.
Hungary
in the heart of Central Europe
Population (2014): 9,877,365
Area: 93,036 km2
Highest point: Kkes, 1,014 m
Capital: Budapest (1.7 million residents)
GDP: USD 196.6 billion (57th in the rank of countries)
Per capita GDP: USD 19,000 (71st in the rank of countries)
Economy:
services: 68.7%
industry: 28%
agriculture: 3.4%
currency: forint (HUF)
Internet coverage: 72%
EU member
NATO member
OECD member
development.
In the first round, the topics were selected based on
measurable aspects of scientific value. The scientific
publications that have claimed most attention and the largest frequentcy
ofcitation outline the thematic map of what is called hot science
in international parlance. These measurements identify the current
mainstream results of Hungarys research and development sector.
clinical medicine
chemistry
engineering
geosciences
physics
materials science
environment/ecology
microbiology
computer science
agricultural sciences
space science
mathematics
psychiatry/psychology
immunology
grants, and
scientists who
have created
research
schools.
10
II. H
ungarian intellectual creations that are
indispensable in everyday life
This volume aims to provide a thorough and clear yet scientifically accurate
introduction of Hungarys prime fields researched in the current network of
higher education and at other institutes in cooperation with global research
networks. At the other end of the innovation chain, there are basic and
applied research results in inventions that render our everyday lives
easier; devices that we routinely use and benefit from, without thinking
of all the hard and often seemingly hopeless work as well as the huge
amount of money and energy invested. In fact, luck and random alignment
of creativity are also needed in many cases.
dinam
vitamin
rdi golystoll
hologrf
word
etvs inga
transzformtor
rdi
ferttlents
pszicholgia
cavinton
golystoll
villamosvast
excel
excel
porlaszt
excel
gyufa
gyufa
cavinton
hologrf
Several devices known and used around the globe are Hungarian inventions,
which few people know but we are very proud of. In this chapter, we list
a few of these devices to offer an insight into the wide-ranging creativity
of Hungarians, without attempting to be exhaustive. Just think about
our everyday lives without computers, telephones, refrigerators, electric
locomotives, safety matches or ball-point pens its hard to imagine, isnt
it? Besides physical devices, there are numerous theories attributable to
Hungarian scientists, without which we would not know what flow or stress
is or why space is curved, and Einstein would probably not have found the
E=mc2 formula either
vitamin, talking picture, Rubiks cube, telephone exchange, radio, safety matches,
Word, positive psychology, transformer, holograph, Excel, electric locomotive,
carburettor, dynamo, Etvs pendulum, Cavinton, computer cryptography, stress
theory, nuclear chain reaction, ball-point pen, Bolyais geometry, Basic language,
colour television, disinfection
11
computer cryptography a study on a basis reduction algorithm, coauthored by Lszl Lovsz, was published in 1982. This algorithm is one of
the main tools in cryptographic research; without it, neither the FBIs nor
excellent Hungarian information encryption systems would work.
Microsoft Word and Excel Charles Simonyi developed Word (1987) and
Excel (1989), the most widely used document editing programs without
which the creation and editing of text documents or spreadsheets and
statistics would be all but inconceivable.
safety matches Jnos Irinyi patented the noiseless and explosion-free
safety matches, containing red instead of white phosphorus, in 1836.
Without these sticks, the everyday task of lighting fires would be a
hazardous and cumbersome affair.
ball-point pen Lszl Jzsef Brs biro pens, patented in 1938,
revolutionised handwriting. Without this invention, we would probably still
use conventional fountain pens.
Rubiks cube: one of the worlds best-known puzzles, invented more than 40
yeas ago. Ern Rubik originally intended it as a demonstration tool to be used
at the Budapest University of Technology. We could certainly live without
these cubes but seven million people each year would not get to spend their
pastime usefully, developing logics, creativity and stereoscopic vision.
Etvs pendulum the first horizontal variometer, called the Etvs
pendulum, was constructed in 1891. The invention by Lrnd goston
Etvs revolutionised the measurement of gravity. The device, which could
also sense horizontal changes in the field of gravity, is a prime example
of the tangible realisation of a physical theory. Without it, the oil fields in
Texas or Venezuela would have not been discovered.
Bolyai geometry The theory of hyperbolic geometry states that several
lines can be drawn parallel to a straight line through a point outside of it. This
marked the definition of non-Euclidean geometry by Jnos Bolyai in 1832.
Without that, the relativity theory could not have been defined either.
Vitamin C Albert Szent-Gyrgyi was awarded the Nobel Prize for the
description of vitamin C in the 1930s. Since that time, the vitamin has
become an indispensable part of everyday life throughout the world,
without which it would be more difficult to fight infections and support the
human immune system.
Cavinton This medicine, developed under the leadership of chemical
engineer Csaba Szntay, is used world-wide to stimulate brain functions
and especially combat dementia. Without it, treating old-age cerebral
conditions would be more difficult.
antibacterial disinfection Ignc Semmelweis revolutionised medical
practices in the mid-19th century by introducing asepsis. He recognised
that pathogenic agents could be kept away from hospital patients if doctors
washed their hands in chlorinated water before examining them. Without
this discovery, many more mothers would have died of post-partum fever
after giving birth. The discovery of bacteria was another major result.
12
13
III. H
ungarys research on the scientific map of the
world
Scientific excellence is appreciated across the Western civilisation, but
there are few countries where world-class science is more ingrained in
national identity than in Hungary. In difficult times, Hungarians learned
that scientific progress is indispensable to the countrys development.
As the great physicist Lornd Etvs, the creator of the Etvs pendulum
used in measurements for the completion of the gravity theory said:
Real science is for the world; so if we want to be true scientists and
as we should good Hungarians, we must hoist the flag of science high
enough to be seen and duly respected beyond the countrys borders. It
is with this motto that the targeted development of scientific research
started in Hungary around the turn of the millennium, together with the
transformation of the education system (Bologna process).
Now Hungarys science directly participates in the European Unions R&D
framework programs. Research universities are the primary bases of that
activity; they are competitive players on the international scientific and
higher education scene, active members of large scientific and university
networks, and participants in innovative developments by the largest
multinational companies.
A person who works at an excellent Hungarian university, a top research
workshop or an innovative company active in Hungary is also involved in
global scientific and innovation processes.
Key areas: material sciences,
machinery, sustainability,
nanotechnology
Students: 13,000
Lecturers: 1,700
Key areas: vehicle
engineering
Students: 11,000
Lecturers: 400
Gyr
Gdll
Budapest
Key areas:
veterinary studies,
agriculture
Students: 2,900
Kaposvr
Key areas: medical
sciences, pedagogy
Students: 22,000
Lecturers: 1,900
Kecskemt
Key areas: major European laser
physics investment, medical and
molecular biology, laser phisics
Students: 18,000
Lecturers: 1,500
Szeged
Pcs
14
Miskolc
Budapest
University
Key areas
Students
Lecturers
mathematics, physics,
information technology,
psychology, teacher
training, special education
28,000
1,500
Budapest University of
Technology and Economics
engineering, information
technology, natural
sciences
21,000
1,000
Semmelweis University
medical sciences,
genomics
13,000
1,100
Budapest Corvinus
University
economics
17,879
867
National University of
Public Service
critical infrastructure,
state and military studies
10,371
15
Infrastructure
of research
universities
outside
Budapest
enhanced by
competition
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
2013
2011
2012
2010
2009
2007
2008
2005
2006
2003
2004
2001
2002
2000
1999
1997
1998
1995
1996
1993
1994
1991
1992
1990
Corporate research
and development unit
16
The share of
companies in
total research
expenditure is
over 50%.
500000
400000
300000
200000
100000
Corporate
Central budget
Other domestic
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
Foreign
30000
20000
10000
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Corporate research
and development unit
17
14250
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
13000
18
Hungarian
universities
stand their
ground in the
international
competition
among
publications,
with
a growing
number
of articles
and books
appearing
in foreign
languages.
As regards
the innovation
content of
exports,
Hungary is
in the top
league.
2. T
he international competitiveness
of Hungarian universities
Ever since their establishment, Hungarian universities have been involved
in the international world of higher education. Todays Etvs Lornd
University, an institution established by Cardinal Pter Pzmny in 1635
and operated continuously since that time, gave Hungary an opportunity to
catch up with Western scholarship as well as theological and philosophical
thinking, and to close the gap in public administration related knowledge.
Meanwhile, Hungarian students were directly involved in European higher
education through peregrination, i.e. visits to Protestant universities
and studies at the pontifical university. The knowledge acquired there
and brought back to Hungary was a major contribution to the countrys
19
With
Peregrine
students and
a university
in operation
for 400 years,
Hungary has
been part of
the European
higher
education
network for
600 years.
system has
adopted
Western
standards:
scientific
qualification
and
accreditation,
credit
systems,
international
compliance,
as well as
students and
lecturers
mobility.
20
Major global
corporations
have
innovation
capacities in
Hungarian
universities.
Due to the increased need for equipment and research capacity, scientific
performance in modern research and development greatly depends on the
motivation provided by expenditures and funding, as well as on the ability
to participate in international cooperation.As in other Eastern European
countries, the funds available for research in Hungary are significantly
lower than in other parts of the world, but the cooperation capacity has
been maintained. Nevertheless, the composition of expenditures has
changed considerably, with almost half of all R&D funding coming from the
private sector, in line with international trends.
Higher education in general and leading research universities in particular
remain prime sources of research results. Performance as measured by
publications is increasing steadily and is internationally very significant
compared to the countrys economic characteristics and research
capacities. Relative to expenditures, the number of scientific publications
in Hungary is amongst the highest in an international comparison.
21
Hungarys
higher
education
and research
are among
the best in
the world
in terms of
performance
relative to
expenditures.
22
(1)
EU
Source: EU Commission
Both the absolute value of research and development expenditure and its
share in GDP have increased considerably in recent years with the ratio
rising to 1.44% in 2013 (from 0.88% in 2004).
R&D expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)
2
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
23
Source: OECD
Hungarys
acknowledgement
in the EUs
research
competition
is clearly
the highest
among
recently
joined
member
states.
24
COUNTRY
University
ARWU
Leiden
SCIMAGO
THE
QS
2012
2013
2014
2014
2014
2013
2014
2013
2013
2014
University
of Vienna
Austria
151
200
151
201
151
200
242
323
324
182
170
158
156
Technical
University of Graz
Austria
401
500
401
500
401
500
422
699
678
394
411
420
Vienna University
of Technology
Austria
401
500
401
500
282
337
331
226
250
226
250
264
246
Sofia University
Bulgaria
1229
1144
University
of Zagreb
Croatia
401
500
401
500
601
650
Charles University
Czech
Republic
201
300
201
300
201
300
693
Palacky University
Czech
Republic
University
of Helsinki
Finland
73
76
Etvs Lornd
University
Hungary
301
400
University
of Szeged
Hungary
Budapest University
of Technology and
Economics
288
601
650
160
159
301
350
351
400
233
244
631
1010
1053
73
269
150
153
103
100
69
67
301
400
301
400
540
798
778
551
600
601
650
401
500
401
500
401
500
707
808
783
501
550
551
650
Hungary
561
667
636
Semmelweis
University
Hungary
541
749
704
University
of Debrecen
Hungary
698
879
852
601
650
601
650
Corvinus University
of Budapest
Hungary
2260
2251
651
700
701+
University
of Trieste
Italy
401
500
361
694
653
201
225
226
250
501
550
601
650
Jagiellonian
University
Poland
301
400
301
400
301
400
667
397
400
376
371
University
of Warsaw
Poland
301
400
301
400
301
400
596
516
528
301
350
301
350
338
335
BabesBolyai
University
Romania
868
877
701+
701+
University
of Bucharest
Romania
993
1033
701+
651
700
Comenius
University
Slovakia
699
770
776
Slovak University
of Technology
Slovakia
1043
1010
University
of Ljubljana
Slovenia
401
500
401
500
401
500
278
291
551
600
501
550
University
of Maribor
Slovenia
1030
991
733
285
25
Central
European
Initiative
University
Network
(CEI-Ininet)
Danube
Rectors
Conference
(DRC)
International
Association of
Universities
(IAU)
Egyetemek
a nemzetkzi
szervezetek,
hlzatok
tagjaknt
Utrecht
Network
Coimbra
Group
European
University
Association
(EUA)
Network
of the
Universities
from the capitals
of Europe
(UNICA)
Agence
Universitaire
de la
Francophonie
(AUF)
26
Miskolc
ELTE: 1000 foreign students
Semmelweis University:
3000 foreign students
BME: 1200 foreign students
Gyr
Debrecen
Budapest
Kecskemt
Kaposvr
University of Pcs:
2000 foreign students
Pcs
Acronyms:
ELTE Etvs Lornd University, BME Budapest University of Technology
and Economics , DE University of Debrecen, SZTE University of Szeged
ERASMUS
FULBRIGHT
LEONARDO
SOCRATES
TEMPUS
CEEPUS
27
CERN
LASERLABEUROPE
(ELI-ALPS)
The
International
Society
for Professional
Innovation
Management
(ISPIM)
NANOS3
program
European
Association on
International
Education
Association of
European Science &
Technology Transfer
Professionals
Confucius
Institutes
Cooperation
Platform of Central
and East European Metropolitan
Universities of
Technology
PLASMON
Top Industrial
Managers
for Europe
Agence
Universitaire
de la
Francophonie
European
Society for
Engineering
Education
Licensing
Executives
Society
International
(LESI Inc.)
CESAEER
ProTon
Europe
3. C
ampus Hungary: the program of international presence
Campus Hungary is a unique program for students and staff involved in
the international aspects of higher education, such as the development of
mobility systems and presence on the international scientific scene. The
varied nature of the program is key to its success: while it seeks first of all to
promote the mobility of students, it also boasts remarkable achievements
in increasing Hungarys presence in the international higher education. The
activities include, among others, supporting the countrys higher education
institutions in developing their international strategies and communicating
with foreign partners. The program aims to attract more foreign students
by introducing the national cross section of Hungarys higher education
system and by elevating higher education to the level of an internationally
known Hungarian brand. In addition to helping students, Campus Hungary
also offers grant programs to the staff of higher education institutions,
thus promoting international research, education and networking, and the
acquisition professional experience.
Results in mobility
The Campus Hungary Program was launched in 2012 first of all to provide
grants to students of Hungarian higher education institutions for periodical
studies abroad. As a result of eight grant phases concluded by the Balassi
Institute since the autumn of 2012, more than ten thousand people (8,663
students and 1,722 employees) have been awarded support. Consequently,
the number of Hungarian students who have received some form of grant
for foreign studies has doubled. Campus Hungarys grants have helped
students go on short study trips individually or in groups, spend a semester
abroad, or work as interns.
More than 25% (2,659 people) went on short study trips (1-28 days) to
participate in conferences and exhibitions as visitors or presenters,
28
29
30
4. T
he Momentum Program: a ground-breaking initiative
to counter brain drain
The Momentum Program was launched in 2009 by Jzsef Plinks, then
chairman of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, primarily in response
to the brain drain affecting scientific institutions of Eastern European
countries. The program has proved to be a very successful scheme for
offsetting or preventing the large-scale exodus of researchers. Specifically,
it is a unique grant program aimed at encouraging career-starting young
talents working in other countries to return to Hungary, with conditions that
are, in several ways, competitive with those offered by foreign institutions.
Besides luring back young researchers, the program also places emphasis
on keeping those researchers home who are contemplating to move abroad.
The scheme convinced several researchers to return to Hungary to go on
working under conditions previously only seen in foreign institutions. As
another unique aspect of the Momentum Program, grant recipients are
expected to participate in other (mostly international) grant schemes.
(See chapter VII for details about the activities and programs of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences.)
31
and social
networks.
In Hungary,
twentyfive percent
of small
corporate
entities
and fifty
percent of
medium-sized
companies are
innovative,
while seventy
percent
of large
companies
are engaged
in innovative
activities.
32
More intensive
cooperation
between
science and
economy is a
key researchdevelopment
priority for
the European
Union and
Hungary.
33
Main start-up
innovation
bases:
34
35
Codie Synetiq
Gravity
Synetiq
Gravity
Codie
Synetiq
Piqniq
Codie
Crypt talk
36
Codie
LeonarDo
Codie Piqniq
Gravity
Codie
Piqniq
Gravity
Piqniq
LeonarDo
Synetiq
Codie
LeonarDo
Piqniq
Gravity
Crypt talk
Codie
a; H
ungarian IT companies achieving global success: Prezi,
UStream, LogMeln, Tresorit
The innovation of Prezi, which reformed the presentation industry, began in
2008 and approximately 20 million users benefit from the application these
days. The story of Prezi shows that apart from a good idea, persistence
and people with sufficient knowledge are all required to make a startup company successful. The basic idea came from dm Somlai-Fischer,
who intended to provide a more exciting experience than
that of the ordinary presentation software products. The
Prezi is a
required standard programming development was added by
presentation
Pter Halcsy, lecturer of Budapest University of Technology
and Economics who came across the idea accidentally and,
application
together with economist Pter rvai who worked in Sweden,
that breaks
the three individuals founded the enterprise. The development
away from the
of the product and sufficient financing required persistent
visits to presentations, a lot of effort and a financial sacrifice.
linear channel
As a result, these days the company behind the development
in thinking
and market launch of on-line presentation software is worth
and thereby
more than USD 100 million.
Prezis novel approach broke away from the traditional
presentation technique by providing a 3D non-linear
presentation interface. It offers a totally new experience to
users: scrolling, the former method, is replaced by dynamic
presentation. Thus, its use is closer to associative, multidimensional thinking and information handling, currently
used in our on-line world.
encourages
associative
approaches
that illustrate
correlations.
37
UStream
supports
live moving
picture
connections
and
broadcasts
on-line also
for individual
users, smaller
communities
and civil
initiatives,
thus making
video stream
a democratic
and mass tool.
LogMeIn is
promoting
mobile
working
culture by
offering
platform
independent
solutions for
remote work
to computer
users.
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Tresorit
offers new
algorithmbased
security
solutions
in cloud
applications.
is
the market
leading global
standard
IT solution
for the
construction
industry
which has
reformed both
the sector
and GIS
technology
with
innovative
solutions over
the last two
decades.
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giants, such as Microsoft or SAP AG. In the park, a statue was erected in
memory of Steve Jobs, who played an important role in the development
of Graphisoft and who died in 2011. Graphisoft Park is also referred to as
the Hungarian Silicon Valley.
Graphisoft is actively engaged not only in research and development,
but also in education. The Aquincum Institute of Technology (AIT) was
created in the Graphisoft Park to offer study opportunities in computer
technology, in Budapest for the best students from North America. The
AIT was founded by Gbor Bojr, and the members of the scientific board
include excellent scientists, such as Lszl Babai, Albert-Lszl Barabsi,
Pter Csermely, Andrs Falus, Norbert Kro, Lszl Lovsz, Charles
Simonyi and Ern Rubik, who also teaches in the institute. In 2006 Gbor
Bojr was granted the Businessman of the Year award by Ernst & Young,
while in 1994 ArchiCAD Eddy Prize, also known as the Academy Award in
information technology.
c; G
lobal success for Hungarian innovation in industry and services:
Ivanka, Aluinvent, IND
Ivanka is a start-up enterprise dedicated to design-concrete, which reinterpreted the concept of concrete and concrete production as an
industrial technology. Engineers, designers and researchers are engaged
in continuous product development. They won numerous start-up contests
and their customers include reputable multinational companies. The latest
research project focuses on the recycling of rainwater, for which a pilot
was established north of Lake Balaton. Their system will be one of the main
attractions of the 2015 World Expo in Milan.
Aluinvent is an enterprise launched in 2012 as a continuation of joint
research cooperation between the University of Miskolc and Bay Zoltn
Nonprofit Kft. The main product of the company is an extremely stable
but light recyleable metal foam or aluminium foam. The recycled product
is a solution for the challenges of numerous sectors from the automotive
industry to the space sector. The company won numerous tenders and has
strategic cooperation with the European Space Agency. The technology
director of the company was granted the Jedlik nyos award in 2014 for
his work in innovation with breakthroughs. ALUINVENT is one of the best
practical examples of using material science for industrial purposes.
IND, founded by a group of university students at the end of the 1990s as a
garage company, is another enterprise in Miskolc. The financial IT products
developed by the group based on their own ideas have already generated
several billion in revenues in HUF to the IND Group. In 2014, the Hungarian
company was acquired by Misys, a global financial technology giant, for
approximately HUF 20 billion. This made the company the most successful
Hungarian start-up enterprise and the leading provider of digital financial
interfaces in Europe. Within the framework of the IT Cluster, the Company
is a partner in economic and HR development projects that are based on
regional cooperation.
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3. C
ooperation between Hungarian universities and global
international companies
The establishment of dual vocational training and knowledge centres
focusing on the needs of industries coupled with capacity development
constitute one of the main directions in the reform of the system of
higher education. Higher education institutions also have a key role in
that process, because the development of joint training programmes is
the primary field of cooperation between higher education and industries.
Practice-oriented training and target-oriented training are fundamentally
associated with the main actors of the sectors of a region with the best
prospects. Successful examples have already developed earlier: the
development of the automotive industry centre in Gyr began thirty
years ago. Kecskemt and its region turned into a major project based on
industry and higher education, Miskolc and its region achieved the same
on the basis of their mechatronic, machinery and automotive supply and
manufacturing capacities, due to a Government Resolution and the West
Pannon Automoteive and Mechatronic Centre (also joined by Nagykanizsa)
established in the region of Szombathely-Szentgotthrd-Zalaegerszeg
also followed suit. Parallel with those development ideas, the cooperation
between higher education and industry also progressed in these centres.
Apart from improving the employment opportunities of well-trained
labour, the good practices of the previous years have also effectively
contributed to improving competitiveness and economic development in
the respective regions. Pharmapolis Innovative Pharmaceutical Cluster of
Debrecen stands out in the context of innovation. The Cluster consists of
26 members, including the University, small and medium-sized enterprises,
large pharmaceutical companies and Debrecen, a town with county
rights. Research focuses on innovative therapeutical products, functional
imaging and in vitro technology platforms. The 28 members of Pharmapolis
Innovative Food Industry Cluster includes the University, small and mediumsized enterprises, large companies and research institutes. Research there
focuses on functional dairy and bakery products. In information technology,
the Super Computer Centre operates as part of a national network of 4 units.
The 31-member Silicon Field Regional IT Cluster concentrates its activities
on mobile development, open source code based virtualised software
development and business and artificial intelligence. The 20 members of
LENERG Facility Energy, Engineering and Advisory Cluster (including the
university, small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies, research
institutes) concentrate on minimising energy consumption, more efficient
use of renewable energies, environmentally friendly construction materials
and new equipment developed to improve energy efficiency.
a; C
utting edge technology in the vehicle industry (Audi
Hungria, Knorr Bremse, Mercedes-Benz Manufactoring Hungary) and Hungarian higher education
Registered in Gyr, the automotive manufacturer, AUDI Hungria, has
established very close cooperation with Szchenyi Istvn University,
which is also situated in Gyr, by adopting the university Department of
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create a human body and how an illness changes several functions. This
differentiation of cells is certainly dominated by genome connections,
known as transcription factors. They regulate the fate of cells all the
way up to programmed cell death, which is a field professor Lszl Fss
researches with remarkable results. These days, medical biology cannot
exist without genomic tests, and the tests conducted on a single cell will
bring further dramatic breakthroughs in understanding diseases.
If the external and internal environment of a particular cell changes
when the cell is healthy and when an illness occurs, a mechanism known
as gene expression kicks in. Understanding how immune cells (such as
macrophages, dendritic cells) operate will help use that knowledge in
medicine.
Lszl Nagy was born in Debrecen in 1966. He graduated from the Faculty of
General Medicine of Debrecen University of Medical Sciences in 1991. Holding
a PhD title, he became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences in 2007 and an ordinary member in 2013. Since 2001 he has acted
as medical head of the Clinical Genome Centre of Debrecen and since 2006 he
has lecturedat the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research
Centre for Molecular Medicine Medical and Health Science Centre University of
Debrecen.
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technology and technical tools. The centre uses state of the art medical
and engineeringtechnologies to achieve bionic vision. Bionic glasses
are used externally to restore the common vision functions of visually
impaired people. At present experiments are conducted with glasses
of non-traditional shape, the experimental prototype is a mobile phone
enabled to visually recognise banknotes, colours, pedestrian crossings and
sources of light and to inform users with visual impairments about them.
The programme is conducted with the active involvement of Hungarian and
international organisations representing people with visual impairments.
Another research project at the Hungarian Bionic Vision Centre focuses on
retina implants. These are normally very thin, photocell containingplatelets
placed under the retina. Light sensitive cells transform light into electricity,
which neurons can transmit and the brain can process, exactly as it would
with signals received from human eyes. Successful experiments have
been conducted with patients whose vision was impaired in an accident,
but no surgery has been performed in Hungary to date. So far, German
and US researchers have used retina implants mostly to cure people with
retinitis pigmentosa. The Vision Centre also studies the genetic causes of
blindness and other visual problems. Old age macula degeneration, which
is a common ailment, along with many other diseases of the eye, lead to
the degeneration of the light sensing cells of the retina. The mandate of
the research team is to identify the origin of the disease by using advanced
diagnostic procedures and to facilitate the treatment of such diseases.
f; The role of proteins in the development
of inflammatory diseases - Attila Mcsai
Attila Mcsai, an ERC supported physician and researcher and his colleagues
presented in 2014 that the members of the Src protein group, which are
the main factor causing tumours, are also fundamentally important in the
development of numerous inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid
arthritis and certain skin diseases.
Attila Mcsai graduated from the Faculty of General Medicine of Semmelweis
University of Medical Sciences. He gained his PhD degree in the Cellular and
Molecular Physiology programme of the university in 1999. He eearned his doctor
of sciences title at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2013. As an associate
professor of Semmelweis University, he is currently the director responsible for
courses offered in German at the university.
Scr type proteins, which are present in both tumor cells and ordinary white
blood cells, do not trigger inflammation themelves, but are key elements in
the chain of reactions that leads to inflammation, as they are indispensable
components in the environment of inflamed tissues. The results of several
years of research work conducted under the leadership of Attila Mcsai
mainly at Semmelweis University, Hungary, and also at Pcs University,
were reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, one of the
most reputable international journals of experimental immunology. The
researcher believes that they have found an important and key component
to inflammatory diseases.
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2013, as the only free online service in the world which collects the medical
sources of social media for physicians and patients alike about 180 topics
and in 18 languages.
Bertalan Mesk graduated from the University of Debrecen as a physician in
2009. In 2012 he was awarded PhD title in clinical genomics in English. He is the
author of dozens of international publications with an aggregated impact factor
of 35. His publications have been cited close to 200 times.
His book, The Guide to the Future of Medicine, published in the United
States in 2014, made it to the Amazon global top 100 list. In addition, he is
also the author of the first manual of the world written on the use of social
media for clinical purposes.
Since 2008 he has been a prominent speaker of world congresses with
more than 500 lectures delivered on the medicine of the future from Yale,
Stanford and Harvard Universities to the headquarters of the World Health
Organisation. He was also a lecturer in the exclusive Futuremed course,
organised at the NASA headquarters by Singularity University.
Mesk is the only Hungary included in the international Future Health 100
list of innovators who determine the health system of the future. He is also
known as a tweetting physician with one of the largest follower groups in
the world.
His Hungarian medical blog won a Hungarian price (http://mediq.blog.
hu/), while his medical blog in English won the global price of international
medical blogs four times (http://scienceroll.com/). His article on the
medicine of the future have already been published on the main page of
CNN, and have been mentioned by the New York Times, TIME magazine,
FORBES, BBC and Scientific American.
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Valr Jzsef Csernus teaches medical and dental students in three languages
(Hungarian, English and German) at the University of Pcs. He specialises
in researching neuro-endocrinology and the mechanism of biological
rhythms. Csernus already detected the correlation between depression
and osteoporosis in mice and is currently investigating the impact of
changes of the parts of day, night and daylight on the human body. He
believes that a bad biological rhythm may lead to a metabolic syndrome.
This illness disturbs metabolic processes, the symptoms of which include
the propensity for elevated blood sugar, hypertension, obesity, high
cholesterol level and can also lead to type 2 diabetes. Employees exposed
unusual biological rhythms (e.g., those working in evening shifts) have a
higher risk of developing the illness.
Dra Regldi is another research physician and anatomist of the University
of Pcs, who conducts research on the PACAP protein, which was isolated
from the hypothalamus in aUS research institute. PACAP has a key role
in preventing cell damage and in the fight against Parkinson disease
and stroke. This peptide is a general cell protecting factor, part of the
bodys protective mechanisms and appears when the body is exposed to a
threat. To date the research team analysed the neuropeptide in mice, and
demonstrated that the presence of PACAP in the human body after a stroke
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greatly reduced the size of the area affected by infarction. In addition, the
neuropeptidealso offers excellent protection against Parkinson disease.
The exact measurement of PACAP levels already delivered some results
because its presence was successfully detected in tears and in mothers
milk. Studying this peptide, which plays an important role in healing brain
damage, is still in the theoretical phase, but its application in medicine in the
future will be crucial. Its effect is not only limited to the brain though. The
research team currently analyses its presence in blood, heart muscles, in
the cells of the inner walls of vessels and in peripheral organs. The protein
also protects decayed cellsand therefore,administering it externally may
help reduce the consequences of cardiac infarction. The propagation of
PACAP in the human body may strengthen the internal defence system.
j; Patients at a loss for words - internationally
acclaimed veterinary medicine
Looking back on long traditions, Hungarian agricultural research boasts
both theoretical and practical results, known also the world over. The
scientific achievements of the University of Kaposvr and Szent Istvn
University are used in the medical activities of several clinics.
The Research Team of the Gdll Large Animals Clinic of Szent Istvn
University focuses on the role of stress in the last phase of the gestation of
cows, the characteristics of womb contractility and the impacts of certain
uterotonica. Moreover, the research team also studies metritis of bacterial
origin in cattle. The tasks of the research team also include the analysis of
increasing the training level and the potential physical workload of horses.
At the Budapest Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of Szent Istvn University,
Professor Pter Stonyi, an internationally recognised researcher of the
anatomy of horses, studies the synaptic correlations of the cells with
a vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) of the cerebral cortex using
immune histochemic methods. The extremely popular lecturer studies the
movements of foals relative to the maturity of limbic cingula. Professor
Lszl Zldg, head of the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics,
focuses on the genetics and illnesses of genetic origin of horses, domestic
animals, more specifically dogs, the reproduction of dogs, including canine
obstetrics. One of the research teams of the Department and Clinic of
Internal Medicine, led by Pter Vajdovich, studies breast cancer in dogs
and cats through membrane transporters as well as the role of free radicals
and antioxidants in inflammatory diseases. Professor Kroly Vrs, head of
the Department and Clinic of Internal Medicine, is trying to exploit the most
recent results of digital voice processing in cardiological diagnostics i.e., in
the detection of cardio and vascular diseases. He intends to replace classic
stethoscopes by electronic stethoscopes and digital phonocardiograms
in veterinary medicine, as the latter are already applied successfully in
human medicine. Thes instruments facilitate the simultaneous auditive
detection and visually display of heartbeat. In a joint research project with
the veterinary institutions of Hanover and Giessen, the instrument was
improved, specifically to analyse the cardiac murmurs of dogs.
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2. Hungarian
school of mathematics:
classicits and young talents
Pl Erds, Alfrd Rnyi, Bla Bollobs, Gyrgy Plya, Lszl Lovsz are just
a few names from the history of world famous Hungarian mathematics.
The Hungarian school of mathematics, mainly combinatorics, which
began to flourish in the 1920s, attracted a large number
Graph of mathematicians to the world of science. This school has
theory and become increasingly important recently. In recent years,
combinatorics and discrete mathematics, which are the
combinatorics, major research areas of Hungarian mathematics, have
two branches become increasingly significant for practical considerations,
of theoretical generating results to be used primarily in computer science.
mathematics
with true
Hungarian
dominance,
are becoming
increasingly
important in
information
technology.
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Lszl Lovsz was born in Budapest in 1948 and studied at one of the best
secondary grammar schools of the country, Fazekas Mihly Grammar and
Training School where he specialised in mathematics. He won gold medals at
the Student Olympics of Mathematics in three consecutive years and resolved
one of the universal algebraic problems of Alfred Tarski while studying at the
grammar school. He graduated from Etvs Lornd University with a degree
in mathematics. He was still at university when he resolved the perfect
graph conjecture and in his fourth year he earned his scientific degree with
a dissertation on the factors of graphs. In 1975 he was appointed professor
and head of department in Hungary, and then acted as Head of Department
of Computer Sciences at Yale University. He also teaches at Princeton, Cornell,
Waterloo, Bonn, Chicago and Vanderbilt Universities. He is a member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Academia Europaea, the Swedish Royal
Academy, the Dutch Royal Academy, the London Association of Mathematics, the
American National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 1999 he became senior researcher at Microsoft Research, between 2007 and
2010 he worked as the President of the International Mathematical Union (IMU)
and in 2014 was elected President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He
won numerous prizes and awards. He was granted the international Plya award
for his excellence in combinatorics and number theory and the mathematical
Wolf award in 1999 for the outstanding results achieved in combinatorics,
theoretical computer sciences and combinatoric optimisation. He was granted
the Jnos Neumann award of the Operations Research Society of America. In
2007 Lszl Lovsz won the first Bolyai award to be followed by the Szchenyi
Prize in 2008 and in 2010 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize, also known as the
Japanese Nobel Prize. In 1982 and 2012 he was awarded the Fulkerson Price in
discrete mathematics.
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curve. There are certain laws, about for instance the mechanism through
which a disease propagates, which may be captured by a mathematical
model. In the initial phase of an epidemic, we are aware of the beginning
of the curve and wish to predict the way it continues, when and how high
it will culminate, how many people it will infect and how various strategies
such as treatment, vaccination, quarantine, closing of schools will influence
the curve, he said.
In 2012, researchers at the Institute of Mathematics of the University
of Szeged (Attila Dnes, Pter Kevei, Gergely Rst) and a Japanese
epidemiology expert (Hiroshi Nishiura) examined the potential consequences
of a measles epidemic, which had erupted at one of the venues of the
European Football Championships in the Ukraine. As measles is one of
the most contagious diseases and the degree of vaccination in numerous
European countries is below what would be required to prevent an endemic,
the measles epidemic raging in the Ukraine threatened the supporters
of the European Football Championships in 2012. Hundreds of thousands
of visitors arrived in the Ukraine to attend the European Championships,
and therefore there was risk that the returning supporters will carry the
disease home from the championships,which will trigger an epidemic in
their own countries. To contain the phenomenon, a new mathematical
model was developed to describe the propagation of the disease during
the championships and to model the potential epidemic in the countries of
the football fans returning home. On the basis of that model, the estimated
number of people returning home with the disease and the outbreak of a
major epidemic could be projected with analytical tools.
Specialists can respond to numerous questions with a sophisticated model
based on exact parameters. They can predict the length of an epidemic, the
number of people affected by it, the time and height at which the epidemic
peaks, and models can also estimate the volume of vaccines and drugs
required for controlling an epidemic, the efficiency of other measures and
the direction and speed of the progression of the disease. It is forbidden to
experimentally toy with an epidemic, but if a good model exists, it can be
used to simulate various scenarios.
m; The secrets of prime numbers and their application Jnos Pintz
We asked Jnos Pintz, scientist and research professor of the Rnyi Alfrd
Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, who also
researches mathematical analysis under a European Research Council
Advanced Grant, about his professional work and achievements.
Isnt the branch of mathematics dedicated to prime numbers too
abstract or remote from practical applications?
My field of mathematics, number theory, was called by Gauss, the Princeps
Mathematicorum the queen of mathematics, but for most of the centuries
it seemed to be a part of pure mathematics without any application. Yet
it influenced applied mathematicsindirectly, since after a discovery of
Riemann about 150 years ago it turned out that the properties of primes
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the mathematical world knew only that there are infinitely many pairs of
close primes where the gap between the neighboring primes is less than
of the average distance in that range. (The average distance between
neighboring primes is the natural logarithm of the size of the primes. This
average gap is apart from a factor 2.3 precisely ln10, where lnx denotes
the natural logarithm of x the number of decimal digits of the relevant
primes.) Together with Goldston and Yildirim we showed ten years ago that
this gap will be infinitely often smaller than any constant portion, say one
billionth, of the average gap size. Somewhat later we proved that there are
infinitely many neighboring prime pairs whose distance from each other is
smaller than the square root of the average gap. (In case of large numbers
the square root of a number will be smaller than any constant portion
of the number if the starting number is sufficiently large.) On the other
hand we showed that if a very deep general result about the distribution
of primes can be improved somewhat then this distance will be infinitely
many times smaller than some given fixed bound (independently from the
size of the primes). This seemed to open the way to a still much better
approximation to one of the oldest and most famous unsolved problem of
mathematics.
Do your plans for the future cover any new potential achievements
with prime numbers?
My further main plans for the future belong naturally to the theory of
prime numbers as well. The first area of problems is related to the above
mentioned one. However instead of trying to get even closer numerically
to the twin prime conjecture I began recently and plan to continue to
use the recently developed new methods to investigate other conjectures
related to the difference of consecutive primes and raised mostly by the
world famous late Hungarian mathematician Paul Erds about 40 to 80
years ago. These seemed to be inaccessible until now but the mentioned
recent dramatic breakthroughs changed this situation. Another area of
research where I worked before considering problems related to the twin
prime conjecture are various approximations to the Goldbach conjecture.
This problem arose in correspondence between Goldbach, an amateur
mathematician, the secretary of the Saint Petersburg Academy and Euler,
the leading mathematician of the eighteens century. This conjecture states
that every even number greater than two can be written as the sum of two
primes. This conjecture has also several approximations which all yield
towards the truth of the original conjecture. (It is usual in mathematics
that if a problem is too difficult or even hopeless we try to solve some
weaker form of it, which does not imply the original conjecture but shows
the truth of some related phenomenon, whose proof although still often
very difficult is accessible at the present state of mathematics.) My goal
is to show a possibly good upper bound for the number of even integers
less than a given very large number X for which the Goldbach conjecture
might fail, that is to show that apart from a relatively thin set of exceptions
(which may be still infinite) most even numbers can really be written as the
sum of two primes. We do not look for counterexamples to the conjecture
because practically all mathematicians believe that there is no exceptional
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number to the conjecture apart from the single exception two (one is by
definition not prime neither composite so 2=1+1 is not a suitable way
to write 2 as the sum of two primes). The first results in this direction were
found 80 years ago and my plan is to reach a considerable improvement
in bounding the possible exceptional set (what we believe consists of the
single element 2, as mentioned above.) I believe that the methods are
applicable for other similar problems as well and in such a way they might
lead to approximations to other hopeless conjectures in the area of the so
called additive theory of primes.
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Over the past 35 years Tams Vicsek, professor of Ervs Lorand University,
has made a number of discoveries concerning the description and the
mechanisms behind an unusually wide range of phenomena, all related to
concepts of statistical physics. He has followed a unique path starting from
the simulation of fluids and recently leading to the quantitative interpretation
of collective human behaviour and robots. His main discovery is that there
are a few fundamental (universal) patterns of collective motion which are
manifested in almost all aspects of nature, from the scale of molecules
through the colonies of simple organisms up to society.
He has demonstrated the existence of such universal patterns of behavior
on examples involving in various ways collective motion and growth. The
simple models and experiments he proposed and studied in detail have
played an essential role in understanding how orderly motion and complex
geometries emerge in biological systems. His simulations of people trying to
leave a closed area (escape panic) are the most realistic so far and can be
used for civil engineering purposes to avoid disasters. His ideas concerning
the emergence of coordinated motion have also been deeply inspiring in the
research on collective robotics and various other multi-angent systems.
The activity and results of Tams Vicsek are highly interdisciplinary or
rather, multidisciplinary, proving that physics and, in particular, statistical
physics can trigger essential contributions to other fields of science. It
is expected that the latest results based on the models he proposed will
result in applications serving the benefit of mankind and, in this way, be in
accord with the best traditions of physics.
The area of complex system research which Tams Vicsek has made
seminal contributions to is a quickly developing new field of interdisciplinary
science. With the impressively growing performance of computers and
information technology devices and methods, a previously unprecedented
amount of data is becoming available about all sorts of systems vital to
research as well as to our everyday life. Complex systems are typically
made of many thousands or even millions of units each having its specific
features relevant from the point of the whole.
In 1989 he published the first comprehensive book on fractal growth which
became a bestseller and has been used as a textbook at universities. His
work on the dynamic scaling behaviour of fractal aggregates played a
pioneering role in the quantitative characterization of growth phenomena
and has been very extensively cited in the literature.
He has demonstrated experimentally that many of the self-similar and selfaffine growth patterns observed in non-living systems emerge in bacterial
colonies as well. In recent experiments he showed that migrating skin
cells go through a velocity ordering transition as a function of cell density
(thereby, enhancing, e,g., morphogenesis.)
The model he proposed in 1995 for describing ordered motion in the presence
of external fluctuations is now widely quoted as the Vicsek model (about
2000 independent citations: this number growing quickly these years).
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c; S
timulus transfer in the neural network, and knowledge
dissemination in society Szilveszter E. Vizi
Brain researcher Szilveszter E. Vizi, former president of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, is a prominent figure in Hungarys research sector,
and one of the most internationally reputed brain researchers. At the
beginning of his career, he worked with Sir William Paton in Oxfords Bellior
College. One of his discoveries was related to the presence of receptors
supporting message transfer in nerve endings. Vizi also discovered that
chemical matter could diffuse and exert an impact farther than previously
thought. He was encouraged by and received wise guidance from grand
old men about the anatomical aspects of his discoveries. Vizis first
publication about the above two topics became a citation classic, i.e. it
is one of the most frequently quoted studies in its field. The results are
pharmaceutically significant in therapy as they support the interpretation
of diseases such as schizophrenia, depression or mood swings.
Vizis research results are primarily related to the pre-synaptic regulation of
neuro-chemical stimulus transfer and the first description of non-synaptic
interactions between neurons. He found that gastrin and cholecystokinin
exerted their effects via acetylcholine released from cholinergic neurons.
He described the pre-synaptic inhibition of stimulus transfer via adenosine
and ATP. His study entitled Non-synaptic interactions between neurons,
describing an entirely new possibility of interaction between neurons, was
published in the USA. In cooperation with a team led byacademician Szntay
(Experimental Medical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences), he discovered a new, selective alpha-2-receptor inhibitor
patented by the pharmaceutical company Chinoin in 41 countries of the
world. They studied the role of non-synaptic receptors and transporters
in the central and peripheral nervous system as well as depression,
Parkinsons disease, and drug addiction. He described the sympathetic
nervous systems connecting role in the bodys immune responses to
cognitive and non-cognitive stimuli.
Besides creating a new school of thinking, Vizi offered a world-class
scientific environment to prominent figures of Hungarian and international
brain research for 15 years as director of the Experimental Medical
Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The institute
targets its work mainly at understanding the operation of the nervous
system; specific topics include learning and memory processes, behaviour,
various cerebral damages, as well as the regulation of hormone secretion
by the central and peripheral nervous system. The Institute has a tradition
of maintaining good relations with the pharmaceutical industry. Having
spent years in leading European and American laboratories, the staff
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Besides his profession, he has been involved in music since his youth as a
clarinet player and choir singer. As an actively religious man, he says the
following about his ideology: Science certainly played a major role in the
formation of my faith as an adult; if you dig deep enough in knowledge
about living matter in my case the brain , you start thinking that
someone must have designed all that.
e; Information coding in the central neural system Zoltn Nusser
Zoltn Nusser is an internationally renowned expert belonging to the third
generation of Hungarian brain research. As a professor of neuro-biological
research at the Experimental Medical Research Institute of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, he researches information coding, processing and
storage in the central nervous system. His team primarily aims to find out
what happens when a specific piece of information, an activity pattern,
arrives in a part of the brain; how the neuron network handles the
information, and what intra-cellular processes are involved in transforming
the stimulus pattern. Besides in vitro physiological tests, Nusser and his
team perform structural examinations using light and electron microscopy
in the Cellular Neuro-Physiology Laboratory, conduct high-level immunehistochemical experiments, and use neuron and mathematical models to
describe the system at the level of cells and small networks. The goal is to
predict the role of certain cells, connections and synapses in higher-level
neural activities.
Zoltn Nusser, born in Bonyhd in 1968, graduated from the Budapest Veterinary
University in 1992. He started his studies for a PhD degree in Hertford College,
a part of Oxford University in the same year. His supervisor was Pter Somogyi.
He defended his PhD thesis in 1995, which earned him the British Brain Research
Associations Glaxo-Wellcome Award for the best PhD thesis. Between 1995 and
1998, he worked as researcher of the universitys anatomical neuro-pharmacology
institution. For two years starting 1998, he was researcher at the neurology
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(Etvs Lornd University). They have found that the intelligence of dogs
is very unique in the animal kingdom. Primates capabilities have emerged
over several million years by adaptation to the environment. But the
domestication of wolves, which led to the appearance of todays dog breeds,
could only have started some 3,000 years ago. Evolutionally speaking,
this is a very short time. During domestication, man essentially created
an environment for artificial evolution that favoured the development
of outstanding social skills. Dogs can cooperate with humans in a very
complex manner. For example, if we hide food in one of two boxes, bring
in a chimpanzee and point a finger at the box containing the food, the ape
will not take that into consideration when making a choice. A dog, however,
can follow which object we are looking or pointing at.
The effect of drugs on the brain is a biological and socio-cultural matter; in
fact, the results published by Zsolt Demetrovics, Anna Sasvri-Szkely et
al. (Etvs Lornd University) indicate that genetics may also be involved.
Some results show that people with an innately underactive dopamine
system are more susceptible to addiction. And certain genetic variations
also increase that susceptibility. On the other hand, the researchers
found that other genetic variations rarely occur in addicts. As to alcohol
consumption, however, the main motivations are social motivation, followed
by a yearning for stupor, and coping with problems. The Problematic
Internet Usage Questionnaire, developed by Zsolt Demetrovics and his
colleagues, is used around the world to test for the latest addiction of our
age, dependence on online content.
Cognitive sciences are also present in research performed in the leading
psychology workshop in Hungarys higher education system, the Institute
of Psychology of the Pedagogy and Psychology Department of the Etvs
Lornd University. Many foreign students can attest to that because hundreds
of them have studied psychology in the ELUP program in the past years,
relying on internationally recognised research. The Hypnosis Research
Laboratory at the Affective Psychology Department is a global leader in
its field, applying a multi-layered approach to hypnotic interaction. Applied
research confirming the effectiveness of hypnosis and suggestive methods
is conducted in several fields of medicine such as oncology, critical conditions,
surgery, and ophthalmology. The Department of Clinical Psychology
and Addictology conducts extended research into the epidemiological
characteristics and personality psychology background of chemical and
behavioural addictions. The departments Memory and Language Research
Team primarily focuses on neuropsychology, while the Criminal Psychology
Research Team examines the psychological and behavioural characteristics
of psychopathological phenomena. The staff of the Personality and Health
Psychology Department are internationally reputed researchers of positive
psychology, clinical health psychology, chrono-psychology, and health
behaviour. The department is home to Hungarys only Positive Psychology
Laboratory where electroencephalographic research is conducted in order
to identify electro-physiological markers of the flow experience; further
topics include the personality determinants of the flow experience, and
the effect of social flow on performance and learning. The Brczi Gusztv
Medical Pedagogy Department runs a training program focused on autism
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Paul Scherer Institute, and the latter also supports part of the research at
the Szeged laser centre.
The depths and perspectives of materials are equally present in university
research in Hungary. As regards one of the directions, Hungarian science
has managed to remain at par with international scientific trends by
launching nanotechnology research conducted in a miniature world of
formerly inconceivable sizes: each Hungarian research university placed
heavy emphasis on nano research, which intensified at the turn of the
millennium. On the other hand, astrophysics, which explores the secrets
of the universe,has a more pronounced presence in Hungarian higher
education albeit with international results.
Professor Imre Mojzes played a key role in promoting nanotechnology
research in Hungary, who, among others, established the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences Nano Table and took part in developing nanotechnology
courses at numerous universities. Professor Mojzes specialises in the field
of compound semiconductors, microwaves and naturally nanotechnology
and continues to do research at three leading technology universities in
Hungary.
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics accommodates the
Nanotechnology Laboratory Network used jointly by several departments,
including the colloidal chemistry team, and assists biological applications,
as well as the research activities of sensorics faculties. The laboratory
researches numerous branches of nanotechnology, such as nanoelectronics,
surface nanostructures and structural and functional materials.
The electrochemical method is applied for carbon nanotube syntheses
at the University of Miskolc where research is also conducted on metal
emulsion and aluminium composites reinforced by carbon nanofibres, as
well as metal foams and nanoparticles. Modine, which focuses on heat
regulation, Admatis, which, among others, produces materials needed for
space research and ISD DUNAFERR are the key partners of the BAY-LOGI
Nanomaterials Unit. Professor Gyrgy Kaptay is the head researcher in
these fields, while Sytchez Jaroslav is the researcher in charge of studies
into producing carbon nanotubes by applying the electrochemical method,
aluminium composites reinforced by carbon nanofibres and coating nonconductive particles and surfaces with metal.
The Veszprm departments of the University of Pannonia engage in the
industrial production of nanotubes in collaboration with government bodies
and take part in numerous joint projects with the pharmaceutical company
Richter Gedeon, such as processing di-cyclopropyl-lactol-methyl-ether
mother liquor, the production of the diuretic and antihypersensitive
spironolactone drug and class of drugs, researching high MgO filtration
from raw lagnotrigine solution (drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar
disorders).
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a; T
he Physics of Light and the Relevance of Scientific Diplomacy
Norbert Kro
Professor Norber Kro is an internationally acknowledged physicist and one
the leading figures of European science diplomacy. He has been actively
researching solid state dynamics, laser physics, optics and neutron physics
for decades, his publications are frequently cited and he also has registered
forty patents. Most of his research focuses on the various physical aspects of
light, exploring the structure, dynamics and optical properties of structured
condensed matter systems. His theoretical research undertaken in the field
of solid state lasers has paved the way to several practical developments
and applications in the field of physics. As regards the physics of metals,
Professor Kro has also been interested in the light imitating properties
(i.e. light emission) of various metal layers and metal-metal oxide-metal
structures, while in the world of laser, hestudied the interaction between
light and matter, as well as the cooperation between and the combination
of lasers and tunnelling microscopy. During his work, he also explored nonlinear optics, surface plasmons and nanophysics.
Norbert Kro (Budapest, 19 September 1934) is a Hungarian physicist and
permanent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Professor Kro was
the secretary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1999 to 2005 and was
appointed vice president in 2005. Professor Kro is a leading researcher of solid
state, who acted as director of the Institute for Solid StatePhysics at the Central
Research Centre for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1981
to 1998, and as a member of the European Research Council and shaped the
EUs research and development policies later on as a consultant to various EU
science policy bodies and officials. Professor Kro was one of the initiators that
launched the University of All Knowledge (also known as Encompass).
According to his latest research, the intense femtosecond laser impulse ratio
measured in gold films in a given domain causes anomalies suggesting the
formation of an electron pair, known as the Meissner effect. According to
the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect, supraconductors expel all magnetic fields,
not only the changing field, if cooled under a critical temperature. His final
conclusion is that the phenomena observed points to supraconductivity
induced at room temperature by surface plasmons. This property of
supraconductors opens up new horizons for numerous applications.
Beyond many foreign scientific awards of excellence, Professor Norbert Kro
received the Prima Primissima Award in 2011. Backing young researchers
is his most important mission. He gave all the technical equipment he
received as a gift from the German laboratory of the Max Planck Society
to the young researchers in his institute. He is convinced that the field of
quantum optics research has extremely important innovations in stall for
the world.
As a European science policy maker, Professor Kro has been a member of
the European Research Council ever since it was established and presided
over its work in the early phases. He was involved in the development
of the Starting Grant and Advanced Grant systems and consistently
represents the European science grant system based on excellence. He
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This is what he said about his profession in an interview: For me, physics
is the joy of problem-solving, which inspires me and it means that I use my
brain. I am not dissatisfied, I like what I do, but also had to work hard to
achieve what I have managed to. I was never a spoilt child. My father was
a blue-collar worker and my mother was an accountant, so I dont come
from a middle class background where I had everything at my fingertips,
like learning foreign languages. This is why I encourage my students to
work with perseverance and success will come.
c; Mapping the Universe and the Science of Big Data
Sndor A. Szalay
Sndor Alex Szalay is a Szchenyi Award-winning astrophysicist and
astronomer who has been researching in America for a long time. He
graduated from and lectured at Etvs Lornd University, is currently a
professor at John Hopkins University and corresponding member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
He has actively participated in numerous astronomy projects, of which
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is the most significant. The Sloan
Digital Sky Survey Programme created the biggest ever astrophysics
database with the explicit aim of surveying the sky, gaining insight into and
describing the universe that surrounds us. SDSS is essentially the biggest
and most detailed map of space.
A telescope is needed to draw this map, which in the case of SDSS is located
in the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, the area that has one of
the darkest skies in the United States. The 2.5 metre diameter panoramic
telescope with mirrors set up at this site operates at -80 degrees Celsius
and has high resolution CCD sensors capable of taking up to 120 megapixel
images of the sky. The telescope not only senses colours visible to the
human eye, but also sees the ultraviolet and infrared domain of shorter
and longer wavelengths. Beyond broad images, it is capable of focusing on
selected celestial bodies and gathering detailed information from these,
for example, about their composition, mass or age and even studies the
space between the celestial body and Earth.
Making and sorting five-colour images require a great deal of effort. The
database continually developed by SDSS also needs to be interpreted and
the relevant information needs to be extracted. This leads to the problem
of managing very large data sets, which Sndor A. Szalay managed to
resolve. Googly Sky, the Microsoft World Wide Telescope was developed on
underlying SDSS data, similarly to GalaxyZoo developed by Szalay.
The task of GalaxyZoo was to identify certain field objects on the map
of space, i.e., identify astronomical objects like stars, planets, galaxies,
quasars, etc. In the case of GalaxyZoo, instead of applying conventional
research tools, Szalay opted to take an entirely different approach to the
detailed analysis of the SDSS map by asking for help from the general
public. He made his database accessible to the public, offering anyone
the opportunity to have fun and search for astronomical objects. Over
300,000 volunteers from around the world, including high school and
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university students and even kindergarten pupils joined in the game in the
first few days. A total of 50,000 classes were dedicated to the Sky Survey
Programme in various schools and there are over one million active users
today. Both students and teachers have made several discoveries with the
help of Szalay and have discovered galaxies that not even professional
astronomers noticed before, as an outcome of which astronomical research
evolved into a global project. Free access to the SkyServer has reached
Internet scientists who take part in scientific research as ordinary
citizens. In 2009 the article on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey was the most
widely cited publication in the field of astronomy.
SDSS collects over 40 terabytes of raw data on over 300 million different
objects and has distance information about 1 million of these objects. After
the Human Genome Project, this is how the SkyServer given the nickname
Cosmic Genome Project came about. Beyond Internet scientists, new data
management trends and a global research scene is needed to process the
data, which the Big Data and virtual research platforms will presumably
resolve. Sndor A. Szalay and Jim Gray from Microsoft jointly worked on
unravelling and sorting very large databases, like the data collected by
SDSS. They were pioneers in the research trend espousing that discoveries
are no longer made on the grounds of new data, but by analysing available
large data sets in an alternative, new way. Another Hungarian researcher,
namely Tams Budavri played a major role in reading the SDSS database
by developing MyDB. Sndor A. Szalay and Jim Gray developed the first
public version of SDSS in 2001 within a period of barely two weeks (by
working 20 hours a day).
Sndor A. Szalay was the first to receive the Jim Gray Award in 2007 for his
research on very large databases, which proves that Szalay moved beyond
his physicists role and made astronomy accessible to the general public
with the help of IT.
The National Virtual Observatory was launched under the direction of
Szalay and his colleague Paul Messina in an attempt to consolidate most of
the astronomy databases in the world, including SDSS, hence establishing
a virtual research platform where discoveries can be made without having
to use telescopes. NASA and the National Science Fund also support this
project. The virtual observatory now present in 15 countries emerging
from the National Virtual Observatory lead to the Virtual Astronomical
Observatory (VAO).
He jointly established the data sharing service SciDrive with Dmitry Mishin
and Dmitry Medvedev, which provides an online platform for researchers
where they can share their data strings and collaborate, hence accelerating
research and uniting researchers that may happen to be working in various
areas around the world.
Sndor A. Szalay not only made major discoveries in astronomy, but also
in scientific methods by connecting different fields of science, distant
researchers and laboratories, hence supporting new research trends
where discoveries are not only made through observations, but ensue
from existing data.
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research. This was the first group in Hungary to evolve into a key CUDA
Research Centre in 2011 when the technology company Nvidia also began
to finance the research. Extremely high computational capacities are
required for modelling and calculating QCD models, which is what the
CUDA compatible Nvidia system comprised of video accelerators is able to
guarantee, on which Monte Carlo simulations can be run faster. At Etvs
Lornd University, the Lattice Gauge Theory Group, among others, studies
chiral symmetry, finite chemical potential, the QCD hadron spectrum and
overlaps of own values of Dirac operators.
Sndor Katz was born in Bonyhd in 1975 where he graduated from secondary
schoolto continue his studies at the Department of Physics of Etvs Lornd
University in 1993 and later on at its doctoral school. He got his PhD in 2001
and embarked on his post-doctoral studies at the Electrosincotron Institute of
DESY in Hamburg where he researched high energy physics, the formation of
protons and physics of astro-particles. He was a post-doctorate scholarship
student at Bergische Universitt Wuppertal from 2003, received the Talentum
(Talent) Award in 2008 and the Junior Prima Award in 2008 in the Hungarian
science category. He has published numerous articles in Natureand Science. His
publications have been cited over 8,500 times.
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7. L
ife and Matter at a Molecular Level - Molecular Biology,
Chemistry and Environmental Impacts
Classical natural science disciplines have changed everywhere around
the world thanks to research methods enabling deeper insight into the
structure of matter. Biology and chemistry research often intersect at the
molecular level, and even lead to interdisciplinary results that, for example,
computer science can use.
The research units of Molecular Medicine at the University of Debrecen
study the regulation and anomalies of human gene expression, the
process of cellular differentiation and cell death, transmission paths
with a role in certain immune processes and mechanisms facilitating
vascular integration. This research may bring us closer to understanding,
diagnosing and treating cardiovascular and tumorous disorders, chronic
inflammation and diabetes. Researching the interaction between biological
macromolecules and micro-molecules, molecular design with a selected
effect, exploring carbohydrate-protein structures, protein crystallography
and studying the active state of proteins are the main fields of research
for these research units. Research into bio-coordination chemistry
(e.g.exploring the interaction between prion proteins and metal ions and its
role in the development of Alzheimers disease) and the basic coordination
chemistry research into the development of contrast materialsfor magnetic
resonance molecular imaging earned the team international recognition.
Their research into homogenous catalysis, which covers the catalytic
modification of biological systems is particularly effective.
The discovery of complex redox reactionsin environmental chemistry
contributes to developing techniques for removing pollutants from the
soil, groundwater and sources of drinking water with chemical substances.
Debrecen is the only university outside Budapest that operates a crystal
X-ray diffraction laboratory, which offers invaluable assistance to mapping
the structure of molecules.
Research conducted at the four institutes (Biophysics, Biochemistry,
Genetics and Plant Biology) of the Szeged Research Centre for Biology
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in close cooperation with the
University of Szeged focuses on the biological research of flora and
fauna. The Regional Neurobiological University Knowledge Centre of the
Southern Great Plain (RNUK) was established as a collaborative effort by
the University of Szeged, the Research Centre for Biology of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, EGIS pharmaceutical company and ten other
companies. By establishing the RNUK, a research and development network
was set up for developing new, effective molecules and diagnostics for
treating neurological diseases (Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease,
depression, anxiety).Its activities encompass numerous segments of drug
research and development. The Neuroproteomics Centre established by
RNUK is a major hub for researching human diseases with an excellent
team of experts and state-of-the-art equipment.
Biological interventions affect fundamental life processes, which raises
more and more social questions. Bioethics is becoming an increasingly
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He was the founding president of the latter. Professor Perczelis also involved in
the work of international organisations, such as COST, the EuCheMS Chemistry
for Life Sciences division and European Peptide Symposium.
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his associates and wheat breeder Jnos Pauk, Professor Dudits developed
drought-tolerant genetically modified wheat breeding stock by embedding
analfalfagene coding a detoxifying enzyme into the wheat genome. The
first Hungarian automatic phenotyping device designed in collaboration
with Imre Vass and associates and initiated by Professor Dudits was
also used to describe the characteristics of genetically modified wheat,
enabling the group to join the European programme of the European Plant
Phenotyping Network.
To increase the accuracy of gene technology interventions, the team
used short synthetic DNA molecules (oligonucleotides) to select genespecific targeted mutations, and proved that itwas possible to increase
the efficiency of genome sequencing with these molecules by loosening
the chromatine structure of the plant. Tree species with short cutting
cycles, such as the energy willow, play an increasing role in renewable
green energy. Dnes Dudits and his associates developed several teraploid
energy willow variations with a duplicate chromosome structure, capturing
more carbon dioxide from photosynthesis and with a higher biomass yield.
These energy willow genotypes may help reduce the negative impacts of
climate change.
Professor Dudits established and is the president of the Zoltn Barabs
Bioltechnology Association,an organisation that integrates Hungarian green
technology and presents the role of genetically modified plants developed
by gene technology in agriculture and environmental protection.
The citation of his publications in 4,000 articles and a Hirsch Index of
39 demonstrates vividly the international response to research led by
Professor Dudits.
c; From Motor Enzymes toward Molecular Bio-IT
Andrs Mlnsi-Csizmadia
Andrs Mlnsi-Csizmadia is a bio-chemist, professor at Etvs Lornd
University and director of the Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics
Research Group. His group specialises in studying the molecular
mechanisms triggered by enzymes, as well as molecular modelling and
molecular bioinformatics. His research efforts are focussed first of all on
the effect on intramolecular forces arising in motor enzymes on enzyme
reactions. His research group has been awarded numerous national and
international grants. His FORCEMAP project was implemented between
2008 and 2013 from funding granted by the European Research Area.
Understanding how enzymes function is essential for designing the active
ingredients of drugs. This research project aimed at mapping mechanical
lines of force inside enzyme molecules. The research group developed
active ingredients which are activated by light and can be used in live cells
and studying live animals.
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The research team intends to develop new methods to explore how specific
functional areas of enzymes communicate with each other inside a molecule.
The bioinformatics sub-group set up by Delta Informatics Ltd. provides a
wide in silico background for molecular biology projects. Andrs MlnsiCsizmadia founded Drugmotif, a for-profit company in 2012 where he is
in charge of the research and development division. Drugmotif has been
studying new approaches to drug design and is involved in the development
of numerous innovations. The company set up a joint research division
with the Department of Biochemistry of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of
Etvs Lrnd University at the beginning of 2014.
Andrs Mlnsi-Csizmadia was born in Szkesfehrvr, got his PhD at Etvs
Lornd University in 1999, and gathered international experience at Brandeis
University in Boston from 1997 to 1999 and at the University of Leicester in the
United Kingdom from 2000 to 2003.
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out in connection with the LHC accelerator of the European Laboratory for
Particle Physicsand with exploring and modelling the process of fracturing in
rigid bodies. Breakthroughs were achieved in material sciences by producing
polymer nanocomposites suitable for medical and pharmaceutical uses and
developing materialsfor use in dentistry. By building on these results, as well
as results achieved in six other fields of research, state-of-the-art, pioneering
research is carried out in the Northern Great Plain region.
Research associates at the Experimental Nuclear Physics Unit study
nuclei, whichmake up the largest mass in atoms,nuclear structure and
the interactions between nuclei. This is essential for understanding the
behaviour of objects that make up the universe, since 99% of the mass of
an atom comprises protons and neutrons. Research on exotic nuclei is the
teams successful field of research carried out jointly with researchers from
RIKEN in Tokyo, GANIL in Caen and the Darmstadt research laboratories.
Research is also in progress about superdeformed and hyperdeformed
nuclei. These nuclei are not spherical, but form an ellipsoid. Elliptic nuclei
have special spin properties and the unit is equipped with a split-pole
magnetic spectrograph and avalanche detectors developed by the unit.
Applied research is carried in the Ion Beam Applications Laboratory in
the field of environmental protection, medicine, biology, geology, material
and surface physics and even archaeology. Surfaces are bombarded with
charged ion beams and are subsequently analysed. The project led to the
creation for the first time in the world of a moving part integrated into
silicon, a microturbine created by proton beam writing and porous silicon
milling at the Institute for Nuclear Research.
The Nuclear Astrophysics Group researches the process of the formation of
elements and the structure of these nuclei. The astrophysical p-process is
the groups main field of research, which explores the process of formation
of rare proton-rich nuclei in, among others, the CIRCE particle accelerator
in Naples, as well as the new tandem accelerator at the Institute for Nuclear
Research. The Institute for Nuclear Research hosted the biggest scientific
nuclear astrophysics conference Nuclei in the Cosmos in 2014.
The Theoretical Physics Unit focuses on theoretical questions of quantum
physics, particle physics and the theory of nucleus, such as nucleus
symmetries, problems with exact solutions, theory of diffusion, resonances,
binding energy, nuclear shape and the science of quantum correlations.
Zoltn Trcsnyi and Dezs Horvth, who also research particle physics in
the CERN, also work at the unit under the management of Andrs Kruppa.
This unit studies quantum colour dynamics, engages in antimatter research
and researches new physics in the CERN hadron collider.
Set up in 2009, the Particle Accelerator Centre is the youngest unit of
the Institute for Nuclear Research and consolidates all of the particle
accelerators of the institute, sets beam-time schedules and undertakes
the maintenance of the expanding fleet of accelerators. Measurement
devices extend to include a cyclotron, VdG-5 and VdG-1 accelerators, ECR
ion source, isotope separator and tandetron. The Centre was classified
Strategic Research Infrastructure one year after it was established.
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Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) is the next phase of building panEuropean research facilities within the framework of European Strategy
Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). Just like the LHC particle
accelerator set up earlier in the CERN, ELI facilities open up new horizons
in physics, as well as other sciences by providing research facilities for
the whole of Europe that are capable of launching new scientific trends
never seen before by uniting individual, isolated European researches on a
single platform. Contrary to the particle accelerator, the facility in Szeged
will engage in both basic research and applied science. ELI is constructed
for the purpose of multi-disciplinary research covering material science,
medical science and environmental research.
ELI emerged from the European laser community, more specifically
the LASERLAB-EUROPE European laser research infrastructure. This
community integrates thirty research centres (including two Hungarian
research centres, the University of Szeged and the Wigner Research Centre
for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) and twenty laboratories
on the continent involving 16 countries. The European Union gives high
priority to laser research and research conducted with lasers in its science
programme. Setting up competitive, interdisciplinary, international
laboratories and developing European laser research is the key objective
of LASERLAB-EUROPE.
The University of Szeged is the key partner of the Hungarian ELI-ALPS
investment and played a pivotal role in planning the project. The decision
to construct one of the three pillars of ELI (Attosecond Light Pulse
Source) in Szeged was made in 2009. The University of Szeged ensures
the professional scientific background for the laser research centre and
endeavours to link up various scientific fields. Active research may begin
in 2015; however, all three ELI sites are only expected to operate at full
capacity in 2018.
Generating ultra-short light impulses in, among others, the extreme
ultraviolet (XUV) and Xrays frequency domain is the main task of the
Szeged based Attosecond Light Pulse Source. Impulses may range from a
repetition frequency of 10Hz up to 100 kHz. A peak intensity, the facility is
capable of generating 200 PW impulses. Energy peaks of that height have
never before been generated in the world, which is why this centre will be a
unique research facility. The observation of valence and core electrons, 4D
imaging, relativistic interactions and biological, medical applications are
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pointing to the surface, i.e., a point where the object theoretically at rest,
but even the slightest disturbance will make it fall.
The invention owes its name to a popular Hungarian folk tale about Gmbc
(Hog Maw), the stuffed abdomen of a hog, which swallows everyone as it
rolls by down the road.
The first Gmbc was made in 2006 with the help of computer controlled.
Gbor Domokos and Pter Vrkonyi gave the first Gmbc to Professor Vladimir
Igorevich Arnold, the person who raised the mathematical question. The object
has since been made of several materials and in various sizes, among others
from Herend china. The Gmbc is currently a registered trademark and brand
name solely manufactured by the company of Gbor Domokos.
This invention/discovery triggered substantial global response, not only in
thefield. News about the Gmbc was disseminated in 28 languages and
it also featured on the cover page of a 2006 issue ofThe Mathematical
Intelligencer. It was the key attraction of the Hungarian pavilion at the
Shanghai Expo and its two inventors received the Order of Merit of the
Hungarian Republic.
Various cultures and fields attach different types of significance to the
Gmbc. For example, the hosts of the Shanghai Expo interpreted it as a
gesture toward the Chinese that the Hungarians chose an object that refers
to the duality of yin and yang with its single stable and unstable point as
the key attraction in the countrys pavilion. The practical use of the Gmbc
spans several areas from biology to space research. Its shape drew the
attention to, for example, tortoise species whose shell highly resembles
the surface of the Gmbc. Several prestigious journals, like Nature or
Science, have mentioned the discovery, and suggested that high-domed
turtle species must have developed this shell shape so as to be able to
recover their balance. The Gmbc also helps interpret certain processes of
wear and tear and promotes the understanding of the shape of asteroids.
Opportunities for use are still open today, with interest shown from a wide
variety of fields, such as the defence sector or flight technology.
Professor Gbor Domokos and associates have not finished researching
equilibrium points and are in search for a solution where the body is
bordered with planes unlike the curved surfaces the Gmbc. Looking
for a solution with the fewest possible number of planes, theyhave also
offered a reward and the person who comes up with an idea will get of USD
100,000 divided by the number of planes.
Gbor Domokos is currently Head of the Department of Mechanics, Materials
and Structures at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics,
university professor, academician since 2004 and adjunct professor at
Cornell University. He has been collaborating with Philip Holmes in discrete
and continuous dynamical systems research projects and focuses on chaos
and population dynamics.
Pter Vrkonyi is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of Mechanics,
Materials and Structures of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
researching structural symmetry, bio-mechanics and modelling evolution.
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c; W
orld Famous Logical Game and Technical Innovation
Rubiks Cube
Ern Rubik, professor at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design,
Budapest invented the worlds most famous logical game. Rubiks Cube,
which appeared in 1974 almost instantaneously conquered the world,
becoming the game of choice of hundreds of millions of people and also
functions as an instrument for developing logics. The Rubiks Cube has also
become the symbol for Hungarian creativity.
Professor Rubik invented the Rubiks Cube, originally called the Magic Cube
in 1974 as a teaching tool to help students understand 3D objects. Working
out how the cube can be rotated around all three of its axes was a real
problem during the development phase. After testing a variety of axis
options (rubber ring, magnet), Professor Rubikeventually consolidated the
engineering and industrial design approach by focusing on the structural
problem of moving the parts independently without the entire mechanism
falling apart. Besides stability, enabling the pieces to easily slide over each
other is the secret to this. The points of connection of the cubelets forming
the cube permanently keep each other in a sort of flexible mechanical grip.
That lends mobility to modules and allows groups of modules to move.
When he designed the internal mechanism of the cube Rubik was inspired
by alluvial pebbles in the Danube with edges washed perfectly smooth by
the river,collecting in aggregates allowing the viewer observe that duality.
That is how the cube was created of six planes with different colours, each
containing cubelets arranged 3x3x3, with twenty-six pivoting around a
centrepiece branching into six axes. That is how an object consisting of
geometric shapes that anyone can easily manipulate carries the complexity
of infinite logic and clever solutions to the complex problems of mathematics
and design that one may experience when playing with the cube.
The product was patented in 1977 and became increasingly popular up to
1980. Up to that point in time, one million cubes had been sold in Hungary
and it received the Game of the Year award in several countries. The New
York Modern Art Museum included in its collection of architecture and
design in 1981.
The number of variations of the cube is (8! 381) (12! 2121)/2 = 43
252 003 274 489 856 000 or: 4,31019 (forty-three trillion seven hundred
and fifty billion four hundred and eighty-two million eight hundred and fiftysix thousand). This represents over 43 quintillion possible combinations,
which expressed in time units is more than the number of seconds since
the Big Bang, i.e., equivalent to 14 billion years worth of seconds.
According to Ern Rubik, the secret of its success lies in it being so
controversial, since it is concurrently simple and complex, whereby one
can simultaneously establish a connection with order and chaos.
The Rubiks Cube was such a huge success that it even surfaced in pop
culture. Its patterns have been copied onto numerous objects and gifts,
making it a part of the day-to-day life of people. Such an iconic and
easily recognised phenomenon has evolved from this simple structure
that it is featured in numerous movies, books, magazines, posters and
113
advertisements. The cube sold itself and became popular in many countries
around the world because of its simple idea and spectacular design. 7
million cubes are still currently sold each year.
d; Interdisciplinary Use of IT
114
115
VI. T
he Role of High School and Academic Science
in Supporting Higher Education Research
1. C
ommunity of Scientists and Professional Research
Centre: the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is a society of scientists with one of
oldest traditions in Europe. Count Istvn Szchnyi, who launched many
nation-building initiatives, proposed its foundation at a session of the
Diet convened in Pozsony (Bratislava) in 1827 and the representatives of
the citizens passed the act on the Hungarian academy or the society of
scientists to be established to cultivate the national language. Consequently,
contrary to European science academies (Royal Society, Leopoldiana)
founded by rulers, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was established
as a civil society initiative.That explains the deep social integration of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences: Hungarians feel that they own and highly
respect the Academy and sciences. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is
special in that it has two functions,a status that has evolvedhistorically. The
society of scientists that originally set the goal of fostering the Hungarian
language and engaging in science in Hungarian functioned in the usual
learning society manner, to which a few research institutes were added.
It was restructured after the Second World War under Soviet influence and
a network of research institutes was set up around the Academy, which
also received competences to engage in the administration of science.
After the collapse of Communism,it became an autonomous body, but it
retained its research network.
Public Science Body
In accordance with its statues, the Academy is a scientific public body
organised with reference to the principle of local government to provide a
professional framework for the life of individuals with academic degrees. It
issues positions in connection with scientific matters at its scientific sections
and committees and represents these before the government and public
opinion. Members of the 11 autonomous scientific sections of the Academy
are representatives of a given field of science or several closely connected
fields of science (academicians and non-academician representatives in
the General Assembly). The sections of the Academy formed 84 scientific
committees and 4 cross-sectional scientific committees and together with
the cross-sectional standing committee set up 15 standing committees
during the 2011-2014 academic cycle. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences
has its own qualifications system that universities accept in the professional
career. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences publishes a journal and
organises events to promote its popularity, maintains one of the most
extensive academic libraries in the country and launches scholarships
supporting young researchers.3
116
The General Assembly is the supreme body that operates the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences as a public body. Besides permanent and
corresponding members, it also comprises 200 elected representatives.
The General Assembly also elects the Presidium of the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences. In Hungary, membership in the Academy is the most
prestigious title in Hungarian science. There are altogether 365 members,
including permanent body of 200 academicians below 70 years of age,
who receive a monthly honorarium, which guarantees their independence.
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences awards doctoral titles to scientists
who hold a PhD and who apply for the title on the grounds of exceptional
scientific achievements. There are around 2,000 individuals with an
academic doctoral title. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences awards the
title of honorary and external member to foreign scientists or Hungarian
scientists in neighbouring countries.4
The Academic Research Network
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences operates a professional research
network that encompasses every field of science. A total of 5,200
individuals work in this network, including 2,700 researchers, integrated
into 10 research centres and 5 autonomous research institutes, namely: the
Centre for Agricultural Research, the Research Centre for the Humanities,
the Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, the Centre for
Energy Research, the Research Centre of Economic and Regional Studies,
the Centre for Ecological Research, the Centre for Social Sciences, the
Research Centre for Natural Sciences, the Wigner Research Centre for
Physics, alongside the Debrecen Institute for Nuclear Research, the Institute
for Experimental Medicine, the Research Institute for Linguistics, the Alfrd
Rnyi Institute for Mathematics, the Institute for Computer Science and
Control and the Szeged Research Centre for Biology. This researcher
capacity represents one-sixth of the potential of Hungarian science.5
The research centres, which have a wide range of contacts with both
economic and social players conduct both basicresearch and applied
research and development. The majority of employees at every one of
these academic research institutes take part in international projects
and are present in prominent international scientific programmes (of
the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, the International
Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor, etc.). The Institute for Computer
Source: Report on the Work of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the
General Status of Hungarian Science Presented to the National Assembly, 20112012, HAS Budapest, page 47 http://mta.hu/data/cikk/13/34/81/cikk_133481/ogy_
beszamolo_2011-2012/book.swf#p=1, 12 March 2015
117
Source: Report on the 2012 Budget and Financial Status of the Hungarian Academy
118
2015
119
10
11
cikk/13/54/36/cikk_135436/posztdoktori_kutatoi_program_kiiras_2015_HU.pdf, 12
March 2015
120
12
121
Secondary school students may join so as to get in touch with the mentors
of the movement, take part in research and other scientific activities.
Researching students may associate with several mentors, whose main task
is to help and support their work. In 1996, students could choose mentors
from 300 research centres, but they now have the opportunity to select
a mentor from over one thousand Hungarian and international research
institutes. Mentors include Nobel Laureates, as well as several members
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Students have the opportunity to
choose from a wide range of scientific fields and research topics.
Secondary school students have the opportunity to gather experiences in
a real research environment and learn how to become good, successful
researchers, how to deliver a good lecture, how to construct a poster orto
engage actively in the work of a scientific community.
The movement finds it important for its students to present results,
experiences at various events, such as scientific conferences and academic
competitions. The National Conference of Scientific Students Associations
(TUDOK) has been organised each year since 1997, which gives students
the opportunity to meet famous, acclaimed scientists holding presentations
and gain insight into their work. In addition, an essay competition has been
organised since 2003 and the Scientific Poster Competition was launched
in 2008. Beyond these, students may also take part in events organised
by other organisations, such as the Scientific and Innovation Competition
of the Hungarian Innovation Association. The Student Research Movement
Science Weekend has been organised since 2012 at the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences. Winners and runners up of the poster and essay competition
of the event receive prizes. The movement launched KutMagazine, its own
scientific journal in 2007 with the fundamental aim to bring scientific life
and researcher lifestyle closer to secondary school students.
Numerous professional and scientific opportunities may open up for
students entering the movement. Students that win or are runners up in
competitions have the opportunity to take part in talent management camps
and international competitions each year, as well as academic contests
organised for students in higher education. They have the opportunity to
present their work on the movements website, which also provides them
assistance in publishing their studies in scientific journals. Since 2002, the
best student of the movement has had the opportunity to attend the Nobel
Prize Awards Ceremony. Beyond scientific work, the movement also offers
community space for participating students.
The movement is based on the organisation of scientific programmes,
which were fundamentally set up with the aim to organise and consolidate
the work of students researching the same scientific field. The movement
is currently organised into three programmes, the Humanities and
Social Sciences Programme, which is the oldest of the three, the Life
and Environment Sciences Programme, whichis the most populous and
the Technological and Science Programme which was launched in 2012
as the youngest. These programmes engage in highly active scientific
and professional work. The coordinators of these programmes and their
deputies are selected from the students that have demonstrated leadership
122
123
124
125
Right answers
EU
Hungary
86%
87.7%
66%
69.3%
The continents, on which we live, have been moving for millions of year and will continue to
move in the future too.
87%
88.0%
47%
51.2%
66%
83.9%
75%
73.8%
46%
56.0%
The mother's genes decide whether the child will be a boy or a girl.
64%
57.9%
46%
59.3%
70%
81.3%
82%
83.7%
59%
61.8%
variance
Culture
2.85
0.85
Medical discoveries
2.77
0.91
2.69
0.93
Technical innovation
2,66
0.95
Sports
2.55
1.09
Economics, finances
2.37
0.91
Politics
2.15
0.91
126
34.4%
65.6%
natural sciences
64.5%
36.4%
35.5%
65%
technical sciences
71.8%
35%
informatics
28.2%
76.7%
80.5%
63.6%
19.5%
philology
23.3%
social sciences
81.8%
18.2%
law
interested
not interested
127
128
2006
NA
NA
3.13
HungarianAcademy of Sciences
3.43
3.09
3.09
Constitutional Court
3.08
2.97
2.74
NA
2.86
NA
2.98
2.82
2.67
universities
European Commission
President of the Republic
2013
public prosecutors
NA
2.79
NA
NA
2.79
NA
local governments
2.81
2.76
2.71
2.82
2.67
2.38
courts
2.78
2.66
2.65
2.89
2.64
2.38
2.63
police
2.67
2.6
army
2.58
2.53
2.6
churches
2.49
2.4
2.51
daily papers
2.59
2.39
2.22
NA
NA
2.24
Parliament
2.34
2.21
2.21
Government
2.32
2.07
2.18
trade union
2.01
2.06
2.06
commercial banks
commercial media
2.44
2.34
2.03
insurance companies
2.1
2.11
2.04
political parties
1.9
2.02
1.9
129
2002
physician
78.5
75.1
change
3.4
scientist
49.6
59.1
-9.5
engineer
33.3
27.8
5.5
teacher
31.9
25.8
6.1
university professor
23.4
n.a.
n.a.
sportsman
19.5
12.5
artist
17.5
18.6
-1.1
-0.2
attorney at law
14.9
15.1
judge
10.4
15.6
-5.2
priest
9.5
26
-16.5
businessman
7.9
3.5
4.4
politician
2.4
3.2
-0.8
journalist
1.1
4.3
-3.2
2002 total
journalist
priest
teacher
politician
businessman
lawyer
university
professor
artist
sportsman
judge
engineer
scientist
physician
2013 total
130
5 (I fully agree)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
3
1 (I fully disagree)
I do not know
131
132
We asked Zsolt Batr-Cserna, alumni leader and officer responsible for scientific
communication in the National Excellence Program in the convergence region,
about the results achieved in the past three years.
The National Excellence Program has been established to support
the domestic activities of outstanding researchers working in
Hungary and abroad. The focus is specifically on excellence and
thus on Hungarys increased competitiveness. Do you think that
goal has been achieved?
Yes, we think that we have reached that goal because 1,915 persons have
received support from the program since May 2012 when the availability of
the first specific grant was announced.
According to feedback from recipients, the program has given them an
opportunity to gather experience abroad, to participate in international
conferences, and to present their research results to a wider audience via
popular scientific activities aimed at disseminating knowledge.
What results are you the proudest of in the scheme? How would
you express the programs success in numbers?
We are proud that over HUF 5.2 billion of the programs HUF 6.75 billion
budget has been paid out in grants.
We are also proud that, as mentioned above, 1,915 people have received
grants in the two projects. Of these, 452 persons were studying for their
masters degrees, 452 were Ph.D. students, and 348 had completed their
Ph.D. studies but were still before dissertation. In addition, 494 were
young lecturers and researchers, 132 were experienced lecturers and
researchers, while four were guest lecturers.
Furthermore, we are also proud that the applicants belonged to as many
as 32 nationalities. Of the 5,360 total applications, 4,846 were valid. The
high number of applicants indicates that those pursuing a research career
consider our grant program as a good opportunity.
Could you list a few projects or cooperation initiatives that have been
realised with support from the National Excellence Program?
Promoting science is a key objective of the Program. We have tried
to introduce science to everyday life in order to prove that it is not an
abstraction but an interesting field that permeates our lives even if we
are unaware of it. Our main goal was to attract young people to a career
of science by disseminating information about it. This has given us many
opportunities for fascinating cooperation.
The largest series of events within the National Excellence Program was
held at the national festival of university students in Miskolctapolca.
Another goal besides presenting the results achieved since 2012 was to
create an informal yet professional relationship with the prime target group
(higher education students) so that more young people should open their
133
134
135
IX. Sources
The information included in this volume is mostly based on information
presented on the websites of universities, research institutes and
workshops (departments, research groups, etc.) mentioned, as well as
omnibus scientific portals (www.mta.hu, doktori.hu, mindentudas.hu, wsf.
org, tudaspresszo.hu, www.agykutatas.com, Wikipedia etc.). In addition,
we received information and feedback from most prominent scientists.
Moreover, we used media articlesabout the given topic to support our
presentation of the themes.
University of Szeged: www.u-szeged.hu/
Faculty of Medicine: www.med.u-szeged.hu/
Faculty of Engineering: www.mk.u-szeged.hu/
University of Pcs: http://pte.hu/
University of Debrecen: www.unideb.hu/
Faculty of Medicine: aok.unideb.hu
Faculty of Engineering: www.eng.unideb.hu/
Pzmny Pter Catholic University: https://ppke.hu/
Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics:
https://itk.ppke.hu/
Corvinus University Budapest: http://www.uni-corvinus.hu/
Faculty of Horticultural Science:
kerteszettudomany.uni-corvinus.hu/
Budapest University of Technology and Economics:
http://www.bme.hu/
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering: www.gtk.bme.hu/
Faculty of Natural Sciences: www.ttk.bme.hu/
Hungarian Academy of Sciences: http://mta.hu/
Semmelweis University: http://semmelweis.hu/
University of West Hungary: http://www.nyme.hu/
University of Kaposvr: www.ke.hu/
University of Miskolc: www.uni-miskolc.hu
Faculty of Earth Science and Engineering: mfk.uni-miskolc.hu
Kecskemt College: kefoportal.kefo.hu/
Eszterhzy Kroly Teacher Training College: uni-eger.hu/
136
Gergely
Csibra,
http://people.ceu.edu/gergely_csibra,
GERGELY,
Gyrgy;
CSIBRA,
Gergely,
Teleologikus
gondolkods
csecsemkorban. Az egyvesek naiv racionlis cselekvselmlete
(Theological Thinking in Infants. The Naive Rational Theory of Action of
One Year-Olds), Magyar Tudomny (Hungarian Science), 2005/11, p. 1347
Hugo HOLLANDERS, Nordine ES-SADKI, Maastricht Economic and Social
Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT): Innovation
Union Scoreboard, Unit B3, Innovation Policy for Growth, European
Commission., 2014., 4277.
[NO AUTHOR] Kutatsi infrastruktrk Magyarorszgon (Research
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[NO AUTHOR] National Smart Specialisation Strategy, National
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Endre matematikussal (The Master of Comibinatorics and Walk) Magyar
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NAGY, EMESE, Lendlet-nyertesek: Dr. Mcsai Attila a gyulladsos
betegsgek kialakulsnak folyamatait vizsglja (Momentum grantees:
Dr Attila Mcsais Research on the Formation of Inflammatory Diseases),
http://semmelweis.hu/hirek/2013/09/06/lendulet-nyertesek-dr-mocsaiattila-a-gyulladasos-betegsegek-kialakulasanak-folyamatait-vizsgalja/
[20.03.2013]
[NO AUTHOR], Azonostottk a gyulladsos betegsgek kialakulsnak
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http://dept.phy.bme.hu/staff/csonka/
Apache
Point
Observatory,
http://www.apo.nmsu.edu/,
Gravitational Waves
and Extra-galactic Astrophysics Zsolt Frei
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FREI, Zsolt, PATKS, Andrs, Perfect Wetting: An Alternative for Hadronic
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[19.03.2013]
Etvs
Gravity
Research
Group,
http://egrg.elte.hu/,
141
Lattice
Gauge
Theory
Group,
http://bodri.elte.hu/,
142
143
144
Cube
Facts,
http://www.rubiks.com/about/cube-facts,
Lab,
http://biomicrofluidics.itk.ppke.hu/
145
146
147