Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 79. (Budapest 1987)

Rajczy, M.: In memoriam László Vajda (1890-1986)

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATION ALI S HUNGARICI Tomus 79. Budapest, 1987 p. 37-42. In memóriám László Vajda (1890—1986) by M. RAJCZY, Budapest Senior of the Hungarian bryologists and plant photographers, László Vajda departed in the ninety-seventh year of his life on 2nd November, 1986 in Budapest. He was born in Budapest on the 28th of June 1890. After secondary school he started to work as a clerk in a bank. In 1913 he moved to Sóvár, a little town of contemporary Hungary (recently Solivar in Czechoslovakia), acting on the advice of his physicians. Here, wandering in the woods of the Carpathians, he became a naturalist, collected insects and plants, and made drawings and took photographs. Some years later he adopted his special field of interest, though still collecting insects, he studied mainly plants. The young amateur botanist discovered the interesting world of the cryptogamic plants, collecting, among others, bryophytes and lichens. He made more and more photographs on plants. After World War I he had to return to Budapest, thus from 1920 on he organized his holiday field trips first in the surroundings of the capital. His herbarium and phototheca grew bigger and bigger. The famous Hungarian botanist, Sándor Jávorka advised him where to go, what to look for.