Dr. Éva Murai szerk.: Miscellanea Zoologica Hungarica 1. 1982 (Budapest, 1982)

Forró, L.: In memoriam Jenő Daday

In memóriám Jenő DADAY By L. FORRÓ (Received December 15, 1980) Species tot numeramus quot diversae formae a hominibus doctis selectae descriptaeque sunt. (DADAY) + A new branch of biological sciences, hydrobiology gained civil right just over a century ago, and one of the pioneers of this science in Hungary, and at the same time a world-renowned expert on aquatic invertebrates was Jenő (= Eugene) DADAY. The DADAY family has been one of the oldest families of intellectuals in Hungary. János DADAY lived between 1600 and 1668 and his name has been commemorated in the "Régi Magyar Könyvtár" (Ancient Hungarian Library) publication of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for his talents as a writer (ENTZ, 1925). His decendant, Jenő DADAY was born in 1855 at Búzamező, the County of Szolnok-Doboka (today Roumania). DADAY received his primary schooling, as well as his secondary school education at Kolozsvár, where he was graduated from the gymnasium in 1874. In the same year he enrolled in a course in natural history and education at the Mathematics and Natural History Faculty of the University of Kolozsvár. He received his Ph. D. in natural history in 1878. In the same year he was offered a post of an assistant in the Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at the University of Kolozsvár, which was headed at that time by Géza ENTZ, sen. In 1882 he was promoted to assistant professorship and he gave a course entitled "Invertebrates of inland waters". He spent the period from September 1885 to May 1886 on a scholarship at the famous Stazione Zoologica of Naples. After his return, he taught for a short period in a high school in Kecskemét and it is from this position that he applied for an assistant curatorship at the Department of Zoology of the National Museum which became vacant at that time. He filled this post for 15 years. In 1888 he was also offered to be assistant professor at the University of Budapest and was elected to become an associate member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in the following year. In 1902 he was offered the chair of Zoology at the Budapest Institute of Technology. On Géza HORVÁTH'

s and Géza ENTZ'

s recommendation, he was elected to become a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1910. Contemporaries of DADAY described him as a tall, black-haired reserved man with strict eyes, who placed any value only on hard work. His family life was marred by a number of tragedies. His mother's suicide in 1883 left deep marks on his mood. His first wife died in 1887 shortly after they moved to Budapest. The most sorrowful one of all his losses was the death of Cited from ENTZ (1925). +

Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetem. ++ József Nádor Műegyetem.