Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 218-221. (Budapest, 2012)
KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Gosztonyi György: Környey István (1901-1988)
GOSZTONYI, Gy.: István Környey (1901-1988) 123 tives of sub-disciplines, furthermore, the close vicinity of related institutions may prevent the danger of isolation. Following his emeritation he moved immediately to Budapest. István Tariska, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, director general of the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, secured accommodation for him in a house in the premises of the Institute. Furthermore, Tariska asked him for a consultant professorship and secured for him a study and secretarial assistance. His collection of neuropathological preparations, representing an extraordinary scientific value, was transferred and preserved in the National Institute. In the following years Környey had an active share in the scientific life of this Institute. His former pupils, co-workers, and numerous representatives of the profession often visited him in his study or in his home for consultations and discussions. Between 1972 and 1976 Környey fulfilled the office of the president of the Hungarian Society for Neurology and Psychiatry. The 27lh Congress of the Society took place in 1972 and for its venue the representative building of the Old Parliament in the Castle District of Buda was chosen. The organizing committee planned a chamber music evening as the cultural program in the great hall of the Old Parliament, for which, as performers, the renowned Bartók String Quartet was invited. Környey, with the second violinist of the Quartet, Sándor Devich, had chosen himself the program, selecting compositions of Beethoven and Bartók. In the course of the concert the members of the Quartet admired the beauty and appreciated the excellent acoustics of the great hall, which, until that day, was not known to them, and, according to our knowledge, hadn’t been used as a concert hall. Sándor Devich said good-bye with the remark: This hall must become one of the chamber music centres of Budapest! At the Vlth. Congress of the International Society of Neuropathology in 1970 in Paris it was decided that the Vllth Congress in 1974 should be organized in Budapest. This decision was in appreciation of the outstanding international esteem and prestige of Professor Környey. At that time he had been one of the vice-presidents of the International Society of Neuropathology already since 1968, which task he fulfilled until 1972. In the years before the Congress the Executive Committee of the Society discussed the questions of the organization at preparatory meetings in Hungary. At the beginning of 1974 the well progressing organizational work was disturbed by an unexpected incident that severely endangered the success of the Congress. This incident was denoted as "The Israeli Affair" in the history of the International Society of Neuropathology.22 At the end of 1973 from Israeli sources such suspicions were spreading that entry visas to Hungary had not been granted to Israeli colleagues for scientific meetings in Budapest. Motivated by that, an Israeli neuropathologist, Professor Wolman, proposed to the board of the International Society of Neuropathology that the Vllth . International Congress of Neuropathology should either be cancelled, or moved from Budapest to another scene. Influenced by these news a number of colleagues in different countries cancelled their participation for the Congress. This boycott tendency formed a serious danger to the success of the Congress. The Secretary General of the Society, the kind, warm-hearted Marion Smith, in cooperation with Professor Környey, had done everything possible to alleviate these difficulties. Környey for22 Moore M.T.: Archives of the International Congresses and Society of Neuropathology 1952-1977. Philadelphia, Lea & Fcabiger, 1978. 309-322.
