Magyar News, 2004. szeptember-2005. augusztus (15. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-06-01 / 10. szám
Pocketing the highest awards hÉÉÉÉÉfií The Hungarians could be proud of their scientists. A nation of 10 million produced 13 Nobel Prize Laureates. A few of these happened to be working in some other country. Here is the list of our Nobel Prize winners. Fülöp Lénárd 1904 physics, Róbert Bárány 1914 medical, Richárd Zsigmondy 1925 chemistry, Albert Szent-Györgyi 1937 medical, György Hevesy 1943 chemistry, György Békésy 1961 medical, Wigner Jenő 1963 physics, Dénes Gábor 1971 physics, János Polányi 1986chemistry, ElieWiesel 1986 peace, György Oláh 1994 chemistry, János Harsányi 1994 economy and Imre Kertész literature. George Olah , bom in Budapest in 1927, received the Nobel Prize in 1994 and recently he was awarded the prestigious Priestly Award on March 15th 2005! Naturally for all us common people these extreme out of the world scientific terminology and specific matters. But give it a try, you'll leam about the person. "For his contribution to carbonation chemistry: the study of hydrocarbons, the ingredients of oil and natural gas, and his discovery of new ways to use them." Discovered "super-acids." George Olah grew up between the two world wars and received a rather GEORGE A, 01 AN solid general education, the kind middle class children enjoyed in a country whose educational system had its roots dating back to the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy. He attended a Gymnasium (a combination of junior and senior high school) at one of the best schools in Budapest run by the Piarist Fathers, a Roman Catholic order [as did de Hevesy], A strict and demanding curriculum heavily emphasizing the humanities included 8 years of Latin, with German and French as other obligatory languages. Though his main interest was in the humanities, he started to study chemistry upon entering the Technical University of Budapest, attracted by the wide diversity it offered. Organic chemistry particularly intrigued him and he was fortunate later to become a research assistant to the great Professor Geza Zemplén. Dr. Oláh left Hungary in 1956 soon after the failed uprising against Communist rule and moved to Canada. He got a position at Dow. He would later move to the United States. He was offered a position to join a small exploratory research laboratory along with two of his original Hungarian Collaborators, includ-The 2005 Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society's highest honor. The 1994 Chemistry Nobel Prize, which is shown here being presented by King Carl Gustav XVI of Sweden. Dr. György Oláh ing Steven Kuhn. He was now positioned for greatness... He and his colleagues discovered that extremely strong acids, called superacids, could be used to modify hydrocarbons to make them easier to study. These discoveries helped give the world more effective oil refining, lead-free gasoline and has enabled scientists to make plastics and other petroleum-based products with less damage to the environment. In the summer of 1965 he was invited to join Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and returned to academic life as a professor with the added responsibility of becoming also Department Chairman. George Oláh has 85 patents from seven countries, including four for the transformation of natural gas into the type of hydrocarbons used in gasoline. In the words of Dr. Olah: "As rewarding as the Nobel Prize is personally to any scientist, I feel it is also recognition of all my past and present students and associates (by now numbering close to 200 [and includes the Webmaster's Dad!]), who contributed over the years so much through their dedicated hard work to our joint effort. It also recognizes fundamental contributions by many colleagues and friends from around the world to a field of chemistry, which is not frequently highlighted or recognized." Page 5
