J. Pótó, M. Tolnai, P. Zilahy (eds.): Understanding the Hungarian Academy of Sciences : a guide

Sándor Kónya: A Brief History Of The Hungarian Academy Of Sciences (1825-2002)

UNDERS TANDING THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: A GUIDE rently with the assemblies. Young professionals who were not members of the Academy but were considered suitable for the job could also work on the committees as "assistant members" on the recommendation of sections. New corresponding members were elected mainly from among them. The Academy also resumed its publishing activity and, in late 1870s, launched the socalled Special Library series in the fields of history, law and political science, and literature. During these years an increasing number of scientific journals were published, financed wholly or in part by the Academy. Conservatism in the Academy leadership strengthened at the beginning of the 20th century. Albert Berzeviczy, who was elected president of the Academy in 1905 and filled this position for 30 years, was a steadfast representative of this science policy. The proletarian dictatorship established by the revolution of 1918-1919 wanted to dissolve the Academy and end its state support and "national status." Attacking the unquestionable conservatism of the institute, the new cultural policy wished to break with every tradition. But after the brief, four-month-long dictatorship, the Academy — though broke — was able to resume work. During the interwar period a peculiar situation set in at the Academy. The leadership represented the conservative ideals of the pre-World War One period, yet outstanding scientists, who made their mark in their respective fields, joined its ranks. A number of them gained international fame, including Albert SzentGyörgyi, Nobel-Prize-winning biochemist; Ottó Titusz Bláthy and Kálmán Kandó, mechanical engineers; Sándor Korányi, physician; Géza Zemplén and József Vargha, chemists; Bcla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály; Zoltán Gombocz and Miklós Zsirai, philologists; Gyula Szelcfű and István Hajnal, historians; János Horváth, literary historian; Farkas Heller, economist; István Györffy, ethnographer and Sándor Jávorka, botanist. The successive governments tried to use the Academy to extend their social-cultural influence and propagate their own conservative ideas and the national ideology of the time. The Academy's leaders did their best to comply. At the same time, politics also helped the Academy to recover. As a result of the wartime inflation, the Academy lost many of its assets. However, Count Kuno Klebeisberg, the minister of religion and public education, had an important role in mind for the Academy and, therefore, provided regular state assistance. State subsidies and again increasing donations, plus foundations — the posting and reward of competitions, the support of the publication of scientific books and journals - helped the Academy to gradually regain its leading role in science in traditional ways. At the end of the 1920s and the early 1930s, the work of the committees revived and expanded. The Ethnographic Subcommittee was organized: in its Folkmusic Subcommittee Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály worked. The Fine Arts Committee and the Jurisprudence Committee also began their work. Notwithstanding the worldwide surge ahead and differentiation in the natural sciences, the Academy's outdated organization kept the natural and engineering sciences in a minority position. The automatic distribution of funds for research and the higher costs of natural scientific research made its disadvantageous position even more conspicuous. In the democratic political atmosphere following World War Two, the question of the transformation of the Academy could no longer be evaded. The new bylaws, giving the natural sciences a greater scope, were adopted in 1946. The independent Academy of Natural Sciences, founded by the Nobel-Prize-winning Albert Szent-Györgyi, was merged with the Academy, and the number of natural sciences sections increased to two. The Governing Board's autonomy was terminated, and henceforth its members were elected from among the academicians. The process of democratic transformation came to a standstill in 1949. THE ACADEMY UNDER THE COMMUNIST SYSTEM (1949-1988) Act XXVII of 1949, modeled on the Soviet example, integrated the Academy into the newly developing political and institutional system, thus ending its autonomy and placing it under direct Communist Party and state control. According to the law, its duties included "the framing of a national scientific plan and the direction of the work of academic and non-academic research institutes with a scientific point of view." Its duties also included ensuring a succession of scientists, the operation of postgraduate training, developing a unified, centralized system of new academic degrees, 14