Kaszab Zoltán (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 74. (Budapest 1982)

P. Komáromy, Zs.: In memoriam Dr. Erzsébet Kol (1897-1980)

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Tomus 74. Budapest, 1982 p. 5-10. In memóriám Dr. Erzsébet Kol (1897-1980) by Zs. P.-KOMÁROMY, Budapest The Hungarian botanists were saddened by the death of Professor ERZSÉBET KOL (C.Sc.). She was born 8 July 1897 at Kolozsvár. After leaving secondary school she was admitted to the "Ferenc József" University at the same town. Her studies were interrupted in consequence of the First World War so she graduated in Szeged in 1924 (The University had campuses at Kolozsvár—Buda—Szeged). Her scientific work started in 1921 at the Institute of General Botany of the „Ferenc József" University at Szeged. In 1925 she received the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in the subjects of general botany, systematic botany and organical chemistry, summa cum laude. In 1932 she became Private Docent, in the branch for "the lower classes of flowerless plants and their hydrobiology" and in 1937 she became a permanent civil servant with the title of Assistant Professor at the Botanical Institute of Szeged University. During this period of her life she worked in different scientific laboratories abroad: in 1930 in Genève, at the Institute of Prof. R. CHODAT and in Freiburg at the Institute of Prof. F. OLTMANS. During the same summer she worked in the Linnea Alpinetum at Burg St. Pierre (the alpine laboratory of Genève University). In 1931 she attended the algological courses of Prof. E. NEUMANN in Aneboda (Sweden) and ProL F OLTMANS in Helgoland (Germany). In 1933 she spent the year in the laboratory at Genève under Prof. R. CHODAT, studying the changes in the morphology of various algae which were being cultivated under anaerobic conditions. During the same summer she had the opportunity of studying the snow algae of Mts. Wallis, Mt. Blanc and Jungfrau Joch. In November 1935 she won the "Crusade" international scholarship of the American Assotiation of University Women so during the next year she worked at Ann Arbor (Columbia University, Michigan, USA) under Prof. W.R. TAYLOR and after returning to Europe, she worked at the British Museum, London. In 1936 she received a grant from the Smithsonian Institutions (Washington) for kryobiological researches in Alaska. From 1940 to 1948 she was Professor of Botany at „Ferenc József" University (subsequently Bolyai University) at Kolozsvár, where with Prof. I. GYŐRFFY they strived to make the botanical institute prosper in very hard conditions. In 1948 she came to Budapest and continued her scientific work in the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. She gained the scientific degree Candidate of Biological Sciences (C. Sc.) in 1952. In 1969 she retired without interrupting her scientific work. During the last years of her life until her death on 15 November 1980, she devoted most of her scientific efforts to preparing a monograph on the Hungarian Desmids for hydrobiologists. The monograph was not completed but Dr. L. FELFÖLDY finished and published it in 1981. She held memberships in the Hungarian Botanical Society ; the Hungarian Limnological Society and the International Phycological Society. She gained different prizes and medals for her activities in scientific researches: In 1930 the "Bugát Pál" medal of the Hungarian Associations of Naturalists, in 1961 the Annls hist.-nat. Mus. nain, hung., 74,1982