Varga Benedek szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 149-157. (Budapest, 1996)

TANULMÁNYOK / ARTICLES - Huszár György: Balogh Károly professzor (1895—1973) életútja és iskolája. Születésének centenáriumára. Magyar és angol nyelven

PROFESSOR KÁROLY BALOGH (1895-1973) HIS LIFE AND HIS SCHOOL WRITTEN ON THE CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH* GYÖRGY HUSZÁR Károly Balogh, one of the most significant personalities of Hungarian dentistry, an outstanding educator and founder of the "Balogh School", was chairman of the Department of Stomatology at Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest. He also organized and established the University's School of Dental Sciences, and was its first Dean. He was born in the small village of Krasznacégény (today Teghea in Rumania), the former county of Szilágy, on February 13, 1895. His father, Károly Balogh senior, was a landowner of modest means; his mother, Piroska Kajdy, was likewise a descendant of Transylvanian petty nobility. Károly Balogh liked to refer to his native region and his Transylvanian origin. He attended grammar school in the town of Zilah, at the Wesselényi College. This old and famous boarding school was one of seven Calvinist colleges in Transylvania; it had high academic standards and educated its pupils to be independent, efficient, reliable and thorough in their work. Its excellent, dedicated professors maintained a respectful, affectionate and humane discipline. The spirit of this college was to serve Balogh as an inspiration throughout his entire life. He passed the so-called "maturity examination" (baccalaureate) in 1912 in Zilah, and in the autumn of the same year he enrolled as a medical student of the Péter Pázmány University of Sciences in Budapest. After four semesters his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He joined the Hungarian Army as a volunteer and in due course of time became a junior officer; in 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant. He served as a medical officer on the front line for a total of 2 1/2 years. The medical service of the Austro-Hungarian army often put medical students into the position of physicians, regardless of their level of medical training. Such was the case with Balogh, who was obliged to provide medical care before completion of his graduate studies. For a time he was the medical officer of a batallion of the 21st Infantry Regiment, then for six months he was inspector of malaria control in Albania. As Balogh recalled many years later, Albania had been suffering under a famine. When Balogh found out that starving people were eating nettle, he had the military kitchens cook food for the hungry population. (23) Early in 1918 he was transferred to the Klotild Military Hospital in Budapest; the commanding officer there was Géza Illyés, Professor of Urology, who later became Chairman of Uro* The Friends of Semmelweis Medical University sponsored a competition for an essay of the life of their outstanding teachers in this century and their influence today. This essay was awarded first prize. English translation by the pathologist Károly Balogh jun., M.D. (Boston).