szegedi egyetemi tudástár 2.

256 Pages·2016·8.51 MB·English

“To see what everybody sees and think what nobody
has thought of yet” claimed Albert Szent-Györgyi on
the essence of discovery. He was also a professor for
the popularization of science. This volume of the Com-
pendium of Knowledge by the University of Szeged
SZEGEDI EGYETEMI
exposes the little-known or the unknown dimensions
.
of Szent-Györgyi’s activities, which are far beyond his 2
narrow area of expertise: medical science and chemistry. R i TUDÁSTÁR 2.
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This volume is based on those free university lectures Á g
r
that were organized to celebrate the year of the 75th T ö
y The intellectual heritage of
anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to Szent- S G
Györgyi. The contemporary professors and teachers Á t- Albert Szent-Györgyi
at the University of Szeged illustrate the versatility of D en
Szent-Györgyi, focus on the beauty of research as a pro- z
U S
fession and put into the spotlight the exciting world t
T r
of science. Before us stands a biophysicist, a humanist, e
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a sportsman, a teacher, a diplomat, a science coordina- I Al
tor, a philosopher-poet and a scientist with influence M
f
on the economy and someone who also asks questions o
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e
to which the researchers may find answers in the fu- T g
a
ture and with the help of such equipment as the ELI-
E t
i
ALPS Laser Research Centre at Szeged. The books in r
Y e
the Compendium of Knowledge by the University of h
G
l
Szeged also answer the following question that may be a
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raised by the reader: why is a University by the river t
c
Tisza the only research centre in Hungary where a Nobel I e
D l
Prize worthy performance was accomplished and hope el
to be accomplished in the future. E nt
G i
e
E Th
Z

S
Publishing Department – University of Szeged
2014
SZEGEDI EGYETEMI TUDÁSTÁR 2.
The intellectual heritage of Albert Szent-Györgyi
Edited by
Ilona Újszászi
University of Szeged – Compendium of Knowledge series
1. The intellectual heritage of Albert Szent-Györgyi (HUN)
2. The intellectual heritage of Albert Szent-Györgyi (ENG)
3. Albert Szent-Györgyi in the daily newspapers the Délmagyarország and the New York Times
4. Life sciences
5. Physical sciences
6. Humanities
7. Humanities and social sciences
8. The University’s historical photo album
Series editors:
László Dux, István Hannus, József Pál, Ilona Újszászi
Contributor to the series:
Klebelsberg University Library of the University of Szeged
Assembled:
as commissioned by the University of Szeged within the framework of the tender:
“TÁMOP 4.2.3.-12/1/KONV – 2012-0035 on the acknowledgement and dissemination of scientific
achievements at the University of Szeged”
SZEGEDI EGYETEMI
TUDÁSTÁR 2.
The intellectual heritage of
Albert Szent-Györgyi
Edited by
Ilona Újszászi
Publishing Department – University of Szeged
Szeged, 2014
Edited by
Ilona Újszászi
Contributors to the editing:
trainees at the Media Centre at the University of Szeged
Translated by: Eszter Asztalos-Zsembery, Éva Demeter, Éva Majos, Tamás Őszi,
dr. Csilla Rápoltiné Keresztes, Ágnes Sebők, Klára Szabó, Márton Sztriha,
Róbert Torkos, Vanda Varga, Gabriella Vecsei, Judit Zelena.
© University of Szeged
© Authors and editors
© Publishing Department
University of Szeged
All rights reserved
Responsible for publishing:
Head of the Publishing Department
University of Szeged
Cover design and technical editing:
László Losjak
Proofreading:
Balázs Sinkovics
Printing work:
Generál Nyomda Kft.
ISBN 978-963-306-347-7
Contents
Editorial introduction
Scientific life of Szeged in eight volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
László Dux
On the Basics of Biochemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
János Wölfling
Life through the eyes of a chemist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Gábor Tóth
From vitamins to peptides – Research topics in Szent-Györgyi’s departments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
István Hannus
The Analysis of Vitamin C in Szeged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Mária Homoki-Nagy
Protection of the creations of the mind in the history of Hungarian law.
Copyright and patent rights; primacy and ethics in science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Miklós Gábor
Albert Szent-Györgyi’s Studies on Flavones. Impact of the Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Tamás Vajda
Effects of the discovery of vitamin C on the paprika industry
and the economy of the southern part of the Hungarian Great Plain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Béla Pukánszky
The thoughts of Albert Szent-Györgyi on pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Csaba Jancsák
Albert Szent-Györgyi and the Student Union of the University of Szeged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
József Pál
From the unity of life to the equivalent status of the forms of consciousness.
Szent-Györgyi’s worries in war times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Ildikó Tasiné Csúcs
The master of science. The science-rescuing activity of Albert Szent-Györgyi
and its roots in Hungary after 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
József Pál
About Albert Szent-Györgyi’s Poems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Gábor Szabó
The passage of Szent-Györgyi to biophysics: a journey from the blur of the boundaries
of disciplines through the instruments used for research with a stopover at
the paprika centrifuge and arriving at the super lasers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
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Editorial introduction
Scientific life of Szeged in eight volumes
By launching the book series labelled Compendium of Knowledge by the Uni-
versity of Szeged, the editors embarked on a task with no historical antece-
dents and contemporary examples. In nearly two and a half thousand pages
the completed eight volumes recall the images of the past of the University of
Szeged, the intellectual heritage of its Nobel Prize laureate scientist: Albert
Szent-Györgyi, the richness of the University’s present, the quality of its cur-
rent research activities and the University’s international prospects. This
enterprise complements the topic of a second set of publications. These pub-
lications, issued by the Publishing Department at the University of Szeged,
look at the history of Szeged’s higher education institution and its predeces-
sors. The first volume, which explores the period between 1581 and 1872, was
published in 2011 while efforts are currently made, under the guidance of
the Committee on the History of the University, to issue the second volume
in the series regarding the subject of.
The eight volumes in the Compendium of Knowledge by the University of
Szeged follow the same editorial principles and have balanced length and simi-
lar typographical features. In line with the chronological order of the internal
content, the volume numbering does not follow this order, the illustrated book
is about historic space. It is about the buildings, and Szeged, the two towns
where the alma mater studiorum has been operating for the past four hundred
and thirty-three years linked with thousands of threads to the attributes of
the geographical place and other institutions operating there. This illustrated
book shows a lot of other things as well: famous professors, laboratories, libra-
ries and diverse life situations. The Hungarian and English captions attached
to the photos present only what is absolutely necessary.
In the 1920s and 1930s there was a real golden age in the life of the univer-
sity in Szeged. Due to the supportive political environment, thanks primarily
to Kunó Klebelsberg, and the level of work carried out here, all the scienti-
fic and artistic activities that took place on the banks of the river Tisza had
received international attention. All that culminated in the work of Albert
Szent-Györgyi. Three volumes are dedicated to him in the Compendium of
Knowledge by the University of Szeged series. These volumes are all about
Albert Szent-Györgyi. By publishing one by one those articles that are about
Szent-Györgyi and appeared in the daily newspapers the Délmagyarország
and the New York Times, we assume the role of a bridge that aims towards
7
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nificance in time and space that he achieved here is stressed by an all-round
analysis of Szent-Györgyi’s hardly known or unknown dimensions of opera-
tion that is far beyond biology and medical sciences. That is why, in the fall of
2012 at the 75th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Prize, we organized
our free university series, the material of which is now printed here in Hun-
garian and English. In this way, the diplomat, the sportsman and the philo-
sopher-poet all stand in front of us, a person who had contributed with his
research to the development of our knowledge in the field of laser physics as
well. So much so that as Gábor Szabó physicist, academician and the Rector of
the University of Szeged has demonstrated in his study: the research carried
out in this area by Szent-Györgyi should be rightly regarded as the scientific
foundation for the big construction investment that is currently under way:
the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) ELI-ALPS Laser Research Centre.
Four volumes, half of the whole enterprise that is the Compendium of Know-
ledge by the University of Szeged, describe the present: the ongoing scientific
activities at the University of Szeged. The common feature of these four volumes
is the promotional aim: the directions of research and results presented here
may well be understood without specific professional prior knowledge and
provide very useful information in a variety of areas. In addition to the will
of the editors and authors, the above-mentioned fact was a requirement for
the TÁMOP dissemination tender that provided the financial background for
this enterprise. In general, the international scientific world recognizes five
major disciplines. Out of these five, the University of Szeged runs PhD trai-
ning programmes in four in a total of nineteen schools. In order to give a more
authentic presentation of the scientific research and its results, we relied on
the heads of the doctoral schools and their most respected scientists. This is
how the content of the four discipline-focused volumes was assembled.
Apart from the basic similarities, the various parts of the discipline-fo-
cused volumes in the Compendium of Knowledge by the University of Sze-
ged were constructed using different editorial principles and methods. In
the book of life sciences, the professors themselves provide an overview of
the research topics available in their institutes and the main areas of their
work. In the books of physical sciences, humanities and social sciences, the aut-
hors have approached the presentation task from a different aspect. In these
sections, we can read studies that discuss, in a general way, timely issues that
represent the topics of the university and formulate, in a popular manner,
but satisfying the highest academic levels, those questions and answers that
are most interesting for today’s public. As editors, we do not think that via
8
the picture we present here on the work of the researchers at the University
of Szeged, we are able to provide space for every important endeavour and
achievement, nor do we think that there could not have been a more credible
image on their professional realities. We ask the reader to look at what is inc-
luded in the book and not what is missing due to reasons of size restrictions
and selection criteria. We wanted to present content on the verge of what is
no longer and what is to come with respect to the forerunners and looking
forward to the successors.
Editors of the Compendium of Knowledge
by the University of Szeged
9