Kovács I. (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 78. (Budapest 1986)
Debreczy, Zs.: In memoriam Dr. Vera Csapody (1890-1985)
6 Zs. DEBRECZY dents ever admitted to a university in Hungary. She graduated with remarkable success and was immediately offered the possibility of beginning her doctoral dissertation on electrophoresis at the department of physics. Dramatic changes happened in her life when her father unexpectedly died in 1912 and she had to shoulder all the burdens of raising her seven sisters and brothers. She gave up her scientific carrier and started a new profession, teaching. First she worked as an assistant teacher in a boys' school and from 1916 she was a teacher of the Sophianum, the educational establishment of the Sacré Coeur Institute. In 1938, in recognition of her pioneering teaching methods and educational achievements, she was promoted to head of the institution. In 1948 the Sophianum was secularized and VERA CSAPODY was dismissed, cousing a break in the continuity of her employee rights. We should add that VERA CSAPODY was not a passive member of society; all her botanical and educational publications reflected her philanthropy and love of work from a religious aspect, which in those days did not accord with the requirements of her job at the times. Looking for a solution, she turned to one of her earlier friends SÁNDOR JÁVORRA, the subsequent director of the Botanical Department of the Hungarian National Museum, applying for a job as a botanical illustrator. She was not only accepted, but treated as a highly respected colleague. How could a teacher of mathematics and physics become a successful botanical illustrator? The story goes back to 1912, when she spent a happy holiday with her grandfather in the country. There she discovered the beauty and variety of the plant world; an inspiring thought came into her mind: "how wonderful and useful it would be to paint all the plants native to Hungary, to capture them in shape and colour"! Turning to her former school teacher for advice on how to collect and identify plants, she received an identification book, practically the only relatively comprehensive and up to date work at that time, the "Short identification manual" of CSEREY. Being a teacher, during her long holiday she could take collecting trips all over the country to paint the flowers in their natural habitats. The First World War interrupted her activity as an illustrator. She cared for wounded soldiers as a volunteer nurse for some years. But she did not give up, and her collection grew to become more comprehensive. Thanks to the idea of then director of the Sophianum, she was able to show her works in an exhibition held in the building of the school. At the opening she met SÁNDOR JÁVORRA, scientific officer and future director of the Botanical Department of the Hungarian National Museum, the institute which was the predecessor of the present Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. He was looking for someone to illustrate his already completed identification manual (28, 29), which was to embrace all species of the Hungarian flora. The acquaintance turned into a co-operating friendship lasting for 40 years until the death of SÁNDOR JÁVORRA in 1961. Over 20 books have been published as a result of their co-operation, including their greatest work: "The Hungarian Flora in Pictures" (Iconographia Florae Hungaricae) (30). When the last fascicle was published in the 1934 after 5 years of work, it marked the conclusion of a treatise had been finished that was one of very few in Europe at that time, giving complete diagnostic illustrations of all the species included in JÁVORRA'S textbook (28) and which occurred within the large Central European area of the same geographical and natural boundaries. With a total of 4238 illustrations (3978 black ink drawings and 260 aquarelles), the Iconographia became the fulfilment of a scientific activity which started in the 18th Century with the "Description et Icônes. .." of WALDSTEIN-KITAIBEL. Following the success of the "Iconographia" she received numerous commissions for school textbooks and articles illustrations too and from experts of different special (2, 10, 15, 22,27, 31, 34, 37,41) and applied botanical fields (1,7, 19, 23, 36, 38, 42,44, 46, 47 etc.). After the long period of work on flora she also joined JÁVORRA'S efforts on popularizing botany. The most outstanding result in this field was the book "Erdő mező virágai" (The
