Dr. Kubassek János szerk.: A Kárpát-medence természeti értékei (Érd, 2004)

Dr. János Kubassek: Mosaics from the natural heritage of the Carpathian Basin

VC O and its map supplement was printed in London in 1797, and these publications directed the interest of other natural scientists in the Carpathian region. Károly Brezsnyánszky holds the opinion that the map of Hungary in the book of Townson can be rightly considered as a forerunner of geological mapping in Hungary. The map shows the rocks and geology of those areas that Townson visited. The work of Francois Sulpice Beudant (1787-1850), a French geologist, is also among the highest achievements. He extensively travelled in Hungary. He received his commission from the French government and on the initiation of the Austrian chancery. He published the results of his study tour of 1818 in a monograph of four volumes in Paris in 1822, which gave a complex picture of the physical geography, minerals, rocks and geology of the Carpathian Basin. His work can be considered a milestone in the study of the Carpathian region. Those who deal with the study of the Carpathian Basin even today often refer to his observations. The Swedish naturalist, botanist and geographer, Göran Wahlenberg (1780-1851) was unfairly almost forgotten, although he was one of the first botanists who extensively explored the flora in the High Tatras. His book, Flora Carpal horum Prmcipalium, published in Göttingen in 1814, was among the most recognised European scientific works on the High Tatras. It is important to emphasize that these scientists who studied the Carpathian Basin were trained at the best western European universities. Their reports and descriptions of their observations brought Hungary into the international attention of science. THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC ORGANISATIONS <Cy/~ he 19th century was the age of the social, economic and political rising of ti' the middle-class. The economy grew and political reforms were introduced, and a general interest developed to establish the national science. When the above mentioned naturalists visited the Carpathian region, Hungary had no professional organisations that could have coordinated the study of the geology and geography of the Carpathian Basin.