Technikatörténeti szemle 8. (1975-76)

KRÓNIKA - S. Gazda jr.: The science historian Jolan M. Zemplén (1911–1974)

THE SCIENCE HISTORIAN JOLÁN M. ZEMPLÉN (191 1-1974) The following was written in memory of Jolan M. Zemplén, the first woman-professor of physics in Hungary and the internationally known science-historian, who had been also member of the editorai board of our journal. She was the daughter of a well known physicist prof. Győző Zemplén and was born in Budapest on the 11.6. 1911. The late prof. Zemplén received membership of the Hungarian Academy of Science in the same year. He was who laid down the basis of modern research and teaching of physics in Hungary but couldn't finish his work because he died relatively young in his age of 38 on the Italian battlefield during the first world war. One of uncles of Jolan M.Zemplén, Géza Zemplén was —— a famous organic chemist, a professor on the Technical University is known as the founder todays scientific organic chemistry in Hungary; her other uncle Béla Mauritz headed the professorate of minerals and rocks at the University of Science. Jolan M.Zemplén graduated at the University of Science as physicist and mathematician in 1935, she started her 40 years work at the Technical University as an assistant, than became senior lecturer in 1953, and professor in 1967 and head of the professorate of Experimental Physics thereafter. She also undertook the leading of the first science-historical research group of country, took part in the work of IUHPS, further in the work of the comples science- and technical historian comunittee of the Hungarian Academy of Science. She had been a member of board of the Physical Society named Loránd Eötvös; the János Segner spec, comunittee and also of the Polish. Copernic-memorial comunittee. She held a great many lectures on the history of physics partly in Hungary, partly abroad e.g. on the Dalton memorial meeting at London (1967), on the Boskovich Symposium at Dubrovnik (1961), at a congress at Brno (1966), at several IUHPS meetings: Varsaw (1965), Paris (1968), Moscow (1971). She was not only of our journal's editorai board member but also of the Eötvös Society's Physical Review's. Her death was a great loss to the science-historian world. Sumary of her activity as science-historian In her early research Work in physics she worked on the Zeeman effect of atmospheric oxygenstreaks. She received her dr.phil. degree on this subject. Later she worked together with Rezső Schmid, Loránd Gerö and Ágoston Budó on the determination of the dissociation of cyanic molecules at a University Institute lead by Béla Pogány and than by Pál Gombás. One of her later works was together with Piroska Szabó on the viscosity of bitumen at the institute of Zoltán Gyulay. These of papers were published in Hungarian, English and German journals. Her first science-historical work was a general history of physics (1946) which may be used even today as a manual on this subjsot. This was followed by a remarkable book on Roger Bacon (1954).