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History of the Department

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At the end of 1950 István Miháltz became head of the Department of Geology – and because of the small number of the tutorial staff the research program concentrated around the interest of the head of the department that meant the geological and palaeontological research of Quaternary, especially the Holocene. During the direction of István Miháltz, analysis had been carried out such as the channeling of Szeged, the mapping and designing of the site of the Tiszalök barrage, the geological mapping of the Great Hungarian Plain (together with the Geological Institute of Hungary). These geological researches were appreciated after the exploration of the oil and gas fields in the south of the Hungarian Plain.

 

After the death of István Miháltz, Kálmán Balogh became the head of the department in 1966, who was an authority in the research of the northern Hungarian Palaeozoic and Triassic sediments, so this became the main profile of the research of the department. Out of the research tasks the mapping and exploration of the oil and gas fields emerged. Beyond the research results, after the analysis and evaluation of the data, the analyzed sedimentological cores became a unique collection at the Department of Geology in Hungary.

 

The name of the department changed to Department of Geology and Palaeontology in 1973 (showing the importance of palaeontology). After the retiring of Kálmán Balogh the follower of Miháltz, Professor Béla Molnár became the head of the department in 1977. In the next years the reference collection of the department extended with very important materials: the palaeontological material of the tertiary Pannonian sediments and the quaternary Mollusc fauna of the Carpathian Basin, and in 1995 the foraminifer material from Kálmán Méhes. In 2000 Pál Sümegi, the excellent researcher of geoarchaeology followed Béla Molnár.

István Miháltz

(9th May 1897, Árpástó – 16th March 1964, Szeged)
Geologist, university professor, candidate of Earth Sciences and Mineralogy (1952)

PROFESSIONAL CV

  • Studies at University of Debrecen and Kolozsvár
  • 1922 – research student at University of Szeged, Institute of Geology
  • 1924 – professor’s assistant
  • 1939 - associate professor
  • 1947 – departmental teacher
  • 1952 – head of the department, docent
  • 1956 – university professor

HIS WORK

  • The evolution and structure of the quaternary sediments of the Great Hungarian Plain
  • The first user of pollen analitical and sedimentological laboratory analysis in the research of the Quaternary
  • 1942 – 43 - Geological mapping of the Duna-Tisza interfluve, the geological analysis of the Duna-Tisza channel
  • 1948 – Geological excavation at the place of the water-power station of Tiszalök
  • 1950 – 51- Remapping of the Great Hungarian Plain
  • 1952 – Hydrogeological analyses of the river barrage of Szeged
  • Systemathic division of the Quaternary sediments of the Great Hungarian Plain (Bp., 1953);
  • Geological mapping of  the south part of  the Duna-Tisza interfluve (A Magyar Állami Földtani Intézet Évi jelentése, 1950, Bp., 1953);
  • Erosionszyklen- Anhöufungszyklen (Acta Min. Petrogr. VIII., Szeged, 1955); Geology of the near-surface layers of the Great Playns of Southern Hungary (Acta Geologica Hung. 1965);
  • Hydro geology of the southern Tisza valley (Hidrológiai Közl. 1965). – Irod. Kriván Pál: M. I. emlékezete (Földtani Közl. 1965).

Kálmán Balogh

(1915–1995)
Geologist at University of Szeged, university professor from 1966.

Professional appreciation, badge of honor

  • 1948 - MFT Centenary Commemorative Medal
  • 1966 - Miksa Hantken medal
  • 1975 - MFT- ring
  • 1993 - József Eötvös - wreath (MTA)
  • 1994 - József Szabó medal
  • 1995 – Széchenyi prize
  

Connections of Department