Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2017 (29. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)

2017-03-17 / 11. szám

Hungarian-American Nobel Prize Winner George A. Oláh Dies Aged 89

George Oláh, a USC chemist and Nobel laureate who found new ways to study previously imperceptible stages in hydrocarbon-related chemical reactions, has died at his Beverly Hills home at age 89.

The Hungarian-born scientist’s research, which earned USC its first Nobel in 1994, fueled the advancement of cleaner-burning gasoline, improved oil refining and even led to the creation of new drugs.

“George Olah is one of the greatest chemists of the last century and this century,” said Surya Prakash, a USC organic chemist and Olah’s former graduate student who became his collaborator for about 43 years.

Olah, remembered as a giant in his field, studied carbocations: positively charged hydrocarbons that form during the intermediate steps of some chemical reactions but are so fleeting (lasting only nanoseconds, in some cases) that it was thought to be virtually impossible to study them.

The chemist realized he could use extremely harsh acids, called superacids, to stabilize the carbocations long enough to use spectroscopic methods to study their properties. The discovery led to a boom in the exploration of these elusive molecules. His work also led to new methods to convert “straight-chain” hydrocarbons into molecules with branched structures — which resulted in higher George Olah at the Nobel Prize Ceremony octane numbers and-cleaner-burning fuel.

Later, Olah developed the idea of a methanol economy as an alternative to one based on fossil fuels. The plan: to draw down carbon dioxide (a single-carbon gas) and turn it into methanol (a single-carbon alcohol), thus creating a renewable fuel and reducing greenhouse gas in the atmosphere at the same time.

His research paved the way for a new kind of methanol-based fuel cell that produced electricity with high efficiency. A renewable methanol plant in Iceland that converts carbon dioxide into the fuel is also named after him.

More recently, he became interested in methanol found in space, exploring in papers with Prakash whether the molecule could have been one of the key molecules involved in the origin of life.

Olah, who was born in Budapest on May 22, 1927, showed little interest in science in his youth: His studies were heavy on the humanities, including German, French and Latin.

“I was (and still am) an avid reader and believe that getting attached too early to a specific field frequently shortchanges a balanced broad education,” Olah wrote in an autobiographical article for the Nobel Prize website.

“He was a renaissance man,” Prakash said. “He knew history, he knew philosophy, he was widely read. He would read books — thick books — in one sitting.” That sensibility for the arts seemed to rub off on his science, he added.

“Organic chemistry is a very artistic science,” Prakash explained. “You can take all these atoms and create new types of molecules by just putting it together in different permutations and combinations — and he was fantastic at that.”

Olah, as the scientist himself put it, “grew up between two world wars” and was 18 when World War II ended in 1945. As the Russians moved in to “liberate” the country, he would pull bodies out of the wreckage of bombed homes to ensure that the victims received a proper burial, his son George John Olah said.

Witness to the devastation in war-ravaged Hungary and cognizant of the opportunities that chemistry had to offer, Olah enrolled in the Technical University of Budapest. He quickly dove into organic chemistry — and, soon after marrying Judith Lengyel in 1949, enrolled her in chemistry courses as well (to her surprise). She went on to earn her bachelor’s and master’s in chemistry and worked with Olah until her retirement.

“From my point of view, for husband and wife to closely understand each other’s work and [perhaps] even work together was most desirable,” he wrote.

Forced to flee after the Soviet military crackdown during the Hungarian uprising of 1956, the family ended up in England and then Canada before finally landing in the United States. He worked at Dow Chemical Co. before moving in 1965 to what would become Case Western Reserve University. Prakash joined him as a doctoral candidate at the Cleveland university in 1974, and moved with him to USC three years later to help him establish the university’s Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute.

“He trained almost 300 coworkers and our institute was a mini- United Nations,” said Prakash, who now heads the institute. “He fervently believed that science has to be global — that’s how science was done. He was basically a global citizen in many ways. He believed in collaboration.”

Olah’s son George remembered his father as exceedingly honest and upright, with 6-foot-5 frame that only seemed to heighten “a towering personality.”

“He was a great father,” Olah said. “I’m a product of the ’60s and I was sort of a rebellious kid and even though he was this intellectual, he was somehow able to relate to me.”

Olah was remembered as a benevolent mentor, one always willing to share credit. “He was a great mentor, very supportive of his students, very generous, and he always shared the credit, even the Nobel Prize,” Prakash said.

Olah, who died Wednesday, is survived by his wife, Judith; sons George and Ronald and three grandchildren, Peter, Justin and Kaitlyn. latimes.com

UNICEF Alarmed By Effect On Children Of Hungary’s Asylum Law

UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, said it was alarmed by a new Hungarian law allowing the detention of all asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children older than 14, in border camps made of shipping containers.

The rules are part of legislation adopted by Hungarian lawmakers, further strengthening the anti-migration policies of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

“Detaining refugee and migrant children fleeing violence and persecution and seeking a better life is traumatic,” said Afshan Khan, UNICEF’s regional director in Europe. “It effectively criminalizes children and robs them of their rights such as education. The impact of this on any child, no matter their age, can last a lifetime.”

Khan appealed to Hungarian President Janos Ader “to treat all children as children first and foremost” before signing the law. Ader’s press office said reaction to the UNICEF statement could be expected later. A member of Orban’s governing Fidesz party, Ader is expected to be re-elected on Monday by lawmakers for a five-year term.

UNICEF also said it hoped Hungary would uphold its commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Hungary ratified in 1991, and its adherence to EU and international laws.

Numerous international agencies and human rights advocates have been very critical of Hungary’s new asylum rules. They can be applied in a state of emergency due to migration, currently extended until Sept. 7. ap.org

Report Shows Democratic Backsliding in Hungary

Democracy Reporting International, a Berlin-based independent NGO, has just released a scathing report on democratic backsliding in Hungary, detailing a breakdown in democratic norms in numerous fields including courts, media, campaign finance, and public spending. According to the NGO, the data reveals that controversial reforms implemented by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz government have significantly undermined Hungary’s democratic checks and balances since his election in 2010.

DRI’s data shows that since 2010:

The Hungarian government’s wins in politically sensitive court cases have jumped from 20% to 70% after the Constitutional Court was stacked with pro-government judges.

Applications to have cases heard by the European Court of Human Rights spiked 1,117% as Hungarians have sought justice for their grievances. Hungary now has the highest number of pending cases per capita in the Strasbourg court.

Four oligarchs and personal friends of Prime Minister Orbán have won €1.88 billion in public contracts in the past six years. In 2013 alone, these individuals were awarded 11% of the total value of public contracts awarded (EUR 880m).

The government’s anti-immigration campaign in the run-up to the October 2nd referendum on EU refugee quotas cost four times more per capita than Brexit campaigns - a massive EUR 31.4 million.

During the anti-refugee referendum campaign, state television station Ml led with the refugee issue in 93% of news programs and promoted the government’s position in 95% of news airtime. budapestbeacon. com

Hungarian Americans Urge Trump to Make George Pataki Ambassador

A group of Hungarian Americans is pushing President Trump to name former Gov. George Pataki as ambassador to their home country. The Hungarian newspaper, MNO, and The Daily News Hungary recently reported that a lobby group they did not identify actually first approached Pataki’s daughter, Allison, who turned them down, but recommended her father. The reports said that Hungarian Americans have been inundating the White House with letters urging Trump to appoint the former New York governor.

A Pataki spokesman did not immediately respond to a New York Daily News request for comment. But MNO reported Pataki is supposedly open to the idea. Pataki, whose grandfather was born in Eastern Hungary, traveled to the country when he was governor.

Pataki, who entered the presidential race last year but gained little traction, was highly critical of Trump during the campaign and predicted multiple times he would severely damage the Republican party.

After an old Access Hollywood tape of Trump making vulgar comments about women surfaced last year, Pataki, who by then was out of the race, called on the GOP nominee to quit the campaign. Trump and Pataki got into a Twitter war during the presidential campaign.

“I’m horrified by #TrumpTape news. @realDonaldTrump campaign is a poisonous mix of bigotry & ignorance. Enough! He needs to step down,” he tweeted on Oct. 8.

Even before that, Pataki tweeted he would not support Trump’s election, which resulted in an attack tweet from Trump against his fellow Republican on Sept. 13, 2015, three days before a GOP presidential debate.

“Why is someone like George Pataki, who did a terrible job as Governor of N.Y. and registers ZERO in the polls, allowed on the debate stage?” Trump tweeted.

Pataki shot back in a tweet that same day: “Why is a serially bankrupt @RealDonaldTrump who insults Mexicans, Women, Blacks, Jews & POW’s on #2016 debate stage? #TajMahal #TrumpCastle.”

Pataki has softened in recent months. He recently attended an event celebrating Trump’s election at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington and spoke warmly of the new President, according to the Hungarian Free Press. Last week, after Trump delivered his speech before Congress, Pataki tweeted out: “Tremendous speech tonight from @POTUS - for the first time in 8 years we have a strong positive vision for America.” nydailynews. com

Március 17, 2017