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 Parallel with the change of the political system and under the leadership of the new president, Domokos Kosáry, reform of the Academy gained momentum. It ceased to exercise jurisdiction as a supreme authority and announced its intention to become a public body. At the president's initiative, the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Art, gathering the eminent representatives of literature and the arts, was established as a socalled associate yet autonomous institute. The law on the Academy promulgated in March 1994 and the new bylaws adopted on the basis of the law signalled the end of the reform process. According to Act XL of 1994, the Academy is a scholarly public body founded on the principle of self-government, whose main task is the study of science, the publicizing of scientific achievements, and the aid and promotion of research. Its members are the academicians. The number of Hungarian academicians under the age of 70 years cannot exceed 200. The Academy, as a public body, is composed of academicians and other representatives of the sciences with an academic degree, who work to solve the tasks of Hungarian science, express their intention to become members of the public body and accept the duties it involves. They exercise their rights through their representatives. The general assembly is the supreme organ of this public body, which is composed of academicians and delegates representing the non-academician members of the public body. The 200 delegates are elected by secret ballot. The general assembly frames its own bylaws, determines its order of procedure and budget, elects its officers (president, vice-presidents, secretary-general, vice-secretarygeneral), the committees of the general assembly, and the elected members of the presidium. As the bylaws stipulate, the Academy has eleven sections: I. Linguistics and Literary Studies Section, II. Philosophy and Historical Studies Section, III. Mathematical Sciences Section, IV Agricultural Sciences Section, V Medical Sciences Section, VI. Technical Sciences Section, VII. Chemical Sciences Section, VIII. Biological Sciences Section, IX. Economics and Law Section, X. Earth Sciences Section, XI. Physical Sciences Section. The sections operate committees corresponding to branches of scholarship and special fields of research. The Academy maintains research institutes and other institutions (libraries, archives, information systems, etc.) assisting their work, and extends aid to university research centers. The operation of research institutes is directed by the 30-member Council of Academic Research Centers with the assistance of three advisory boards. The Council of Doctors may confer the Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences title. The operation of the Academy is financed by the budget, income derived from its assets, and by foundations and donations. Although the development of the new organizational structure and the new principles of operation accompanying the democratic transition took longer than expected — not least of all because of the drawn-out process of framing the law on the Academy — it was accomplished by 1995. The election of officers in 1996 inaugurated a new phase in the Academy's history under the new president, historian Ferenc Glatz. THE ACADEMY IN A NEW DEMOCRACY (1996-2002) The year 1996 was marked by the start of a deep-going reform in Hungarian science policies. Instrumental to this reform was the newly elected leadership of the Academy. The reform proposed a very active science policy within the perimeters of a country recently freed from the Soviet regime, replacing that system with one that is as open to the world as it is democratic. Another objecive was the exploration of information society's novel requirements towards science as well as the formation of a new science and research organization that could stand up to the needs of a new era. As to the financing of science and research, the new role of Government as opposed to the corporate world was also to be found. Science policy priorities set in 1969 had to be re-set as were serious gaps in ecology, minority studies, water conservation, etc. opening during the Soviet regime to be quickly bridged. The research base, threatened by a steep drop in Government financing between 1990-1996, was also to be salvaged. This reform had started within the confines of the Academy but it aroused nationwide activism in science 16