Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 60. (Budapest 1968)

Mihályi, F.: In memoriam Dr. K. Kertész, on the centennary of his birth

However, his interest was aroused by other sciences and thus changed for the Faculty of Philosophy where he majored and received his doctorate in zoology in 1894. In the years 1890—1890, he became assistant to Professor T. MARGÓ, and wrote his first paper on the Ostraccda and his doctoral thesis on the Rotatoria. It was in 1894 that, instigated by R. KOHATJT, he began to work on flies. Two years later, he was given an assistant curatorship in the National Museum; the Hungarian Academy of Sciences elected him to the rank of correspondent member in 1910, then was nominated assistant director in the National Museum in 1912 and became the director of the Zoological Department in 1921. Soon afterwards, he got cancer of the tongue, and though fully aware of his fate, he concealed his sickness and continued to work. After a belated operation, he died in his 55th year of age, on 27 December, 1922. G. HORVÁTH, Academician, delivered a speaeh at his funeral, in the name of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Hungarian National Museum, and the Hungarian Entomological Society. K. KERTÉSZ dedicated his life to his scientific work. This was made possible by his happy family life and financial independence. He visited his wife's vineyard near Gyón in the Great Plains not only for relaxation, — the site soon became one of the dipterolcgically best known areas in Hungary. A host of famous foreign dipterologists also visited him there. KERTÉSZ was very active also in several learned societies ; he presented his papers in the Hungarian Zoological Society and was one of the founding members and main organisers of the Hungarian Entomological Society. As a museolcgist, K. KERTÉSZ founded also the dipterological collection of the National Museum. When he was appointed as curator, the fly collection comprised no more than 7 boxes. At the time of his death, the collection consisted of about 250,000 specimens and could vie with any of the contemporary collections of the greatest museums of the world. Alas, about four-fifths of the renowned collection was annihilated in the conflagration of 1956, with only the Acalyptrate families escaping their fate. Since merely a smaller part of the collection was published, the inherent scientific data had also perished. The greatest and irreplaceable loss, also for international science, is, however, the reduction to ashes of many thousands of type-specimens. As a research worker, K. KERTÉSZ became well-known all over the world by his 70 scientific publications. Aside of his first two papers, all deal with Diptera. He worked in many fields in dipterolcgy, describing new species from many families. He was a specialist in the families of the Notacantha-group, and his work on these taxa appeared in six parts in the years 1908—1923. All his works were characterizable by extreme thoroughness, exactness, clear style and concise diction. Every page is a true reflection of his splendid character. It was primarily his catalogues which won world-wide renown for his name. KERTÉSZ published his first catalogue, the list of the Tabanidae of the world, in 1900. In the introduction, he contends the necessity to compile "one list comprising the fly fauna of the entire world", and in this connexion the collecting "of the respective literature". He continued as follows: "It goes without saying that this demands unremitting work and diligent search, paired with immense patience and perseverance. I cannot think that one man alone, in these our circumstances, could execute this work save by dedicating his entire life to this purpose, since, according to an approximate estimation, he would have to register about 50,000—60,000 specific names." Thus KERTÉSZ was quite clear about this superhuman task. And still he soon avowed his life to this enterprise. In the next year his world-catalcgue of the family