Postai és Távközlési Múzeumi Alapítvány Évkönyve, 1996
Rövid tartalmi összefoglaló angol nyelven
was established. The decades that followed form a new chapter in Hungarian postal cartography. Piroska Farkas Krizsák: Meditation on the Centenary of János Molnár’s Birth János Molnár was bom on November 8, 1896. After completing his university studies, he worked at the Postal Experimental Station. Though barred from receiving a degree for political reasons, his work, studies and writings provided evidence of his profound knowledge. The History of Postal Research, a book that covers the history of the Postal Experimental Station, has this to say about him: ‘János Molnár, physicist and department head. From 1923 he worked on radio reception techniques, on which he became a pioneer and an authority. In the 1930s, he also dealt with aspects of eliminating radio interference. His books on radio engineering, written with a great sense of pedagogy, were very popular in the 1930s. He edited several radio-engineering periodicals. After the liberation, as head of the radio department, he was in charge of several important projects (the first television transmitter, interpretation equipment for Parliament etc.)’ Molnár, having played an important part in launching Hungarian radio broadcasting, was also prominent in the television experiments that began in 1953. He was the founder in 1936 of the periodical Rádiótechnika (Radio Engineering), which except for a short intermission between 1944 and 1946, has remained a popular journal with amateur radio enthusiasts ever since. After his retirement in 1962, he continued to teach radio courses to trainee merchant-navy officers. He was chairman of the Society for Optical and Cinematographic Technology, which is part of the Telecommunications Scientific Association. His eventful life, with its many successes and defeats, ended on December 10, 1979. His grave is in Pestszentlőrinc Cemetery. There is a memorial column to him outside the Radio and Television Museum in Diósd. Klára Pataki: ‘Belissimo imiseo, splendido cicerone’ - Comments in the Museum Visitors’ Books The expression visitors’ book itself conveys that those entering museums must be treated as guests, and all the staff, whatever their positions, act as their hosts. The right and duty of hospitality have been sacred since time out of mind. Homer too underlines how Zeus ‘will avenge the suppliant and the guest, guard his steps and invest him with his rights.’ Strangers and guests, in the eyes of the Greeks, were under the protection of the gods. We too must receive our guests cordially, show them our treasures, and ply them with the best information about, so that they enjoy themselves, and return home richer in experience and knowledge. Museum staff also have other obligations, besides those of a host. We are educationalists, which is an enormous responsibility in an age when a flood of new information is always falling upon us, even creating a new science, informatics. Let me quote the words of Baron József Eötvös, more than 120 years ago: ‘Nothing exercises a greater influence on a man’s disposition than his knowledge. As this expands, dispositional characteristics 314
