J. Pótó, M. Tolnai, P. Zilahy (eds.): Understanding the Hungarian Academy of Sciences : a guide

Sándor Kónya: A Brief History Of The Hungarian Academy Of Sciences (1825-2002)

Sándor Kónya: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (1825-2002) The need for establishing a scholarly society was first mentioned by Act VIII of 1808. During the last decade of the 18th and the first decade of the 19th century, various plans were conceived for the establishment of an academy for developing and propagating the Hungarian language and for promoting the development of science, but funds for establishing such a society were not available. This question was often raised until, at the November 3, 1825, district session of the Diet in Bratislava (the seat of the Hungarian Parliament), the county delegates started a debate on the matter of a Hungarian Learned Society, criticizing the magnates for not making sacrifices for a national cause. It was there that Count István Széchenyi offered one year's income of his estate for the purposes of a learned society. Széchenyi's example was followed by Ábrahám Vay, Count György Andrássy, and Count György Károlyi, who also made significant contributions to the founding of the society. FIRST DECADES (1825-1867) The task of the society was specified as the development of the Hungarian language and the study and propagation of the sciences and the arts in Hungarian. Act XI of 1827 stated: "The voluntarily and freely donated capital in money shall be used to establish the Learned Society, that is, the Hungarian Academy." The foundation of the Learned Society in Hungary, then on the threshold of bourgeois transformation, meant the realization of earlier aspirations that held that developing the Hungarian language and the flourishing of science were one of the important means of national progress. A committee of the four founders and eleven writers and scholars worked out the bylaws of association, which the monarch endorsed in 1831, and the first "general assembly" of the Hungarian Learned Society convened on February 14, 1831. The foundation itself pointed in the direction of bourgeois development, while the bylaws and the organization reflected the feudal conditions of the time of their conception. The Learned Society was directed by a 25-member Governing Board confirmed by the king. The Governing Board of mostly aristocrats and Church dignitaries selected the first members, elected the president and vice-president from among themselves and managed the Society's assets. The president and the vice-president were confirmed by the king. The bylaws stipulated that the Society was obligated to submit its publications to censorship, and its members were obliged to abstain from politics. Society members gathered in six sections: I. Linguistics, II. Philosophy, III. Historiography, IV Mathematics, V Jurisprudence, VI. Natural Science. In accordance with the bylaws, the Society had 24 honorary, 42 full, and an unspecified number of corresponding members. The first full members included the poets Dániel Berzsenyi and Sándor Kisfaludy, the writer and language reformer Ferenc Kazinczy, the poets and dramatists Károly Kisfaludy and Mihály Vörösmarty. The first president of the Learned Society was Count lózsefTeleki, its vice-president Count István Széchenyi, and its first secretary Gábor Döbrentei, who was replaced by Ferenc Toldy, a physician and literary historian, in 1835. Its work was regulated by weekly meetings and annual assemblies. Members reported on their research results, students of the arts read their poems and literary works the themes of competitions were worked out and subsequently judged at the weekly meetings. Commemorative lectures were also read there. Attendance was compulsory for full members residing in Budapest. 10