Lajos G. Balázs
Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences
In the seventh decade of the XIXth century changes occurred in
astronomy, amounting to a revolution. Gustav R. Kirchhoff
and Robert W. Bunsen discovered spectral analysis,
which is the method whereby it is possible to draw valid inferences
about the composition and physical properties of the emission
source from its spectrum. Until then astronomy was to do mainly
with measuring the time, the determination of the geographical
position of earthly locations, that is with cartography and
navigation or with mathematics through the study of celestial
mechanics (for example Karl Friedrich Gauss was nominally earning his emoluments
as the director of Göttingen Observatory).
The introduction of spectrum analysis into astronomy made it possible to study those physical processes, which produce the
electromagnetic radiation observed through the telescopes. The
epoch-making importance of this discovery was immediately
recognized by Miklós Konkoly Thege, who decided right from the
beginning to adopt observational astrophysics as the primary
objective of his private observatory at Ógyalla established in 1871. He made regular observations of
sunspots, organized a network for the observation of meteors,
studied the structural changes visible on the surface of
planets, and measured the spectra of some bright comets and
stars. He was not satisfied with simply observing the phenomena,
he also attempted to analyze them and find their explanation.
The 1860-1870s saw the beginning of the systematic study of stellar spectra.
The Ógyalla Institute took the study of the spectra of stars brighter than 7.5 magnitude, and
observable between -15o and 0o of declination
as its contribution to the programme. Between the years 1882-1885,
the lion's share of the work was done by Radó Kövesligethy,
who was working at the institute as a graduate trainee, on
secondment from the University of Vienna, where he was completing
his studies. Later he became a professor at the
University of Pest, acquiring a world-wide renown as an authority
on seismology.
With the passing of the years, Konkoly became increasingly worried
about the future of his institute. On the one hand, he was apprehensive - and
rightly so - that after his death his stellarium may share the
fate of similar initiatives in Hungary, that is falling standards
and general decrepitation. On the other hand, he also appreciated
the fact, that his financial resources were insufficient to
finance a modern observatory in competition with the outside
world, mainly America. Nationalisation appeared to be the only
solution. He has already mooted a plan to this effect in the
eighties, but it was not before 1899 that, using his parliamentary
influence (in the interim he also became an MP), he could realize
his intention. After the signing of the necessary papers on
16 May, 1899, the observatory became state property on
20 May, 1899. There were some people of the opinion, that
Konkoly's timing was intentional. 21 May, 1899 was the
fiftieth anniversary of Buda's liberation from the Austrians
during the Hungarian War of Independence, that set the final seal
on the sad fate of the observatory on St. Gellért's Hill.
The new National Observatory (full name: Royal Hungarian
Astrophysical Observatory of the Konkoly Foundation) selected
astronomical photometry as its principal field of exploration.
Konkoly chose photometry as the principal field of study for his observatory
because at the end of the XIXth century it became more and
more obvious that, in the field of spectroscopy, even the
state-financed establishment would be unable to keep pace with the
rapidly growing observatories operating in the wealthy Western
countries. To be able to employ the methods of photometry, it was
necessary to establish a system of reference, covering the whole
celestial sphere, which could serve as etalon for future
measurements. The direction of this program went to the
observatory of Potsdam, near Berlin. It was an international
effort, and Ógyalla undertook to collect data on more than two
thousand stars brighter than 7.5th magnitude, in the segment of
declination -10o to 0o.
Photometry was applied not only for creating the system of
reference, but also for the study of stars of variable brightness.
Konkoly realized that time passes equally fast for the rich and
the poor, so, in some fields of study, the advantage of rich, well
endowed observatories can be cancelled out, and more modestly
equipped observatories could remain competitive. For this reason,
the study of variable stars was chosen, in addition to
contributing to the photometric reference system, as the primary
task of the institute. This decision was to be the main
determining factor in the further operation of the observatory.
At the First World War's end Hungary was also buried under the
ruins of the defunct Austro-Hungarian empire, and both Ógyalla
and the observatory found themselves under alien rule. By the
end of 1918 the relevant ministries began to discern the victors'
plans for the new Europe, so the Ministry of Education ordered the
dismantling and repatriation of all the instruments and equipment
in the state's possession. By January 1919 all the dismantled
material was safely back in Hungary.
In 1921 the Hungarian government, acting on the recommendation of
the Minister of Education, Dr. József Vass, accepted plans for a
far-reaching program for the promotion of education and science.
The observatory on the Svábhegy (Schwabian
Hills) was built under the aegis of this programme. Budapest's local
government voted to place twelve acres of land at the disposal of
the state government with the proviso, that it may only be used
for the building of the new observatory. Construction works started in the
autumn of 1921, and one year later observations already
started in the first dome. The order for the 24 inch reflector,
sent originally to Heyde, but cancelled because of the war,
was renewed. The installation of another dome was completed with
the financial support of the Budapest local government in 1928.
So, in the company of a 16 cm refractor from Ógyalla (in
another, smaller dome), and of a meridian instrument, which was
used among other things for providing accurate time-signals for
the railways, the reincarnated Konkoly institute could also start
its scientific work.
Next year, in 1929, László Detre joined the scientific
staff of the institute.
László Detre was born on April 19, 1906 in Szombathely
(Steinamanger). His father, Dr. János Dunst (Detre changed his
name in 1933) was a city councillor who died when Detre was
only 2 years old. His mother educated him on her very modest
widow pension. He studied in the secondary school of the
Premonstratensers of Szombathely and had taken his final examination in 1924.
Already in these years he showed a very keen interest in natural
sciences and in the age of 13 he founded a study
circle of natural sciences in his school. Above all, he was a skilled
mathematician and he won a Hungarian contest in mathematics. As
a consequence he was admitted to the Eötvös Collegium and
studied at the Pázmány Péter University of Budapest between
1924-29. After completing three years at this University, he
received a fellowship at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University in
Berlin.
At that time this University had excellent professors in
astronomy, mathematics and physics. According to Detre's
university record he studied astronomy from Paul Guthnick, Ernst
Kohlschütter and August Kopff. Albert Einstein and Max Planck were
his professors in theoretical physics.
The 1920s were famous for the birth
of quantum mechanics which made some kind of a revolution in
physics. At the same time astronomy also experienced a
revolutionary change. Following Hubble's discovery, the concept of
the large stellar islands in the Universe, like our Milky Way,
became widely accepted. These new results gave a new stimulus to
the statistical studies of the space distribution of the stars.
László Detre made acquaintance with these studies in Berlin and
prepared his PhD theses on stellar statistics under the leadership
of A. Kopff and E. Kohlschütter. He defended his Theses on July
25, 1929. His dissertation was published as the first issue of the
institute's communications series (Fig. 1).
Before starting the regular work in the institute at the Svábhegy,
he made six-month study trips in Vienna and Kiel.
The science of astrophysics, born in the last three decades of the
XIXth century continued its explosive growth all through the subsequent
decades. This rate of growth was almost compatible
with the growth of physics itself. In the 1920s it was proved by
observational astronomy that stars tend to agglomerate in
gigantic clusters (galaxies), and these galaxies are getting
further away from each other at a rate proportional to their
distance. This is a direct consequence of the relativistic models
of the universe. The dynamic exploration of galaxies - including
our own Milky Way system - also took place at an ever accelerating pace.
The list of these achievements would not be complete without
mentioning theoretical investigations on the internal structure of the
stars, and their confirmation by observations.
Stars of variable brightness are important members of the family
of stars. One of their important sub-groups is formed by those stars, whose changes
of light emission are caused by oscillations propagating in the
body of the star itself. When the oscillations reach the stellar
surface, they cause a characteristic pattern of light changes,
which carry important information about the internal structure of the
stars. The first comprehensive treatment of this subject was the
book written by Sir Arthur Eddington. He showed that
the pulsation period of a star (P) and its average density
({rho}) are related by a simple formula: P sqrt({rho}) = C ,
where C is constant within the limits of the theory. Variable
stars of short (0.5-1 day) period undergo several tens of
thousands of periods during a generation. So their period can be
measured to the accuracy of 10-5 s. Consequently, the
processes, which would take several millions of years to complete,
can cause an observable difference in the star's period in only a
few decades. Research papers, devoted to the study of period
changes caused by the evolution of stars, started to appear in the 1930s.
The Astronomische Gesellschaft, which was dominated by the Germans,
held its 1930 General Meeting in Budapest, where some of the
leading lights of the Anglo-Saxon astronomical community were also
invited. Arthur Eddington was one of those invited, and he,
according to the testimony of contemporary photographs, also paid
a visit to the observatory in the Svábhegy. We do not know
whether they discussed Eddington's new theories about the
pulsation of variable stars and their observable consequences, but
we know that, with the work of László Detre and later Júlia
Balázs in the 1930s, the study of period and light curve variations of short period, RR Lyrae type pulsating variable stars, became one of the most important
research fields of the institute at the Svábhegy.
It soon became obvious that the problem was not as simple as it
first appeared, because there exist some period changes which cannot
be attributed to the passage of time and the ageing of the
star. The first task was to eliminate those from the changes
studied. The study of variable stars provided decades of work for
the institute, and it is still going strong.
I think it is not by chance that Detre changed his research field
from stellar statistics to the study of period changes of short
periodic pulsating variables. His first paper on this subject was
published on the RR Lyrae star RU Piscium in 1931 in the
Astronomische Nachrichten (Fig. 2). Detre used visual photometry in this
work obtained with a Graff photometer attached on the 24 cm Heyde
refractor (Fig. 3). In 1933 the visual technique was changed onto
photographic observations. The 16 cm Merz was replaced by a 19 cm
Cook refractor equipped with a 6 inch astrograph for photographic
observations (Fig. 4). This instrument became the main observing facility
for the further variable star research in the institute.
The photographic observation of globular clusters was another new
departure for the institute which was initiated by Detre, made
possible by the installation of the 24 inch telescope. In these
clusters, hundreds of thousands of stars, among which there are
many variable ones, are squeezed together in a relatively small
volume. This makes it possible to record quite a few hundred
variable stars on a single photographic plate. During the 1930s
the globular clusters became very important. From their
spatial distribution it became possible to deduce the location and
distance of the center of our Milky Way system. Subsequent studies
revealed that, according to our present knowledge, these clusters
are the oldest objects in the Universe, and their age is an
excellent clue as to the verification of modern models of
cosmological theories.
On December 31, 1943 László Detre was appointed
director of the institute.
The institute in the Svábhegy did not survive WWII without
serious consequences. From 1943 onwards conditions rapidly
deteriorated. Most of the periodicals and scientific publications
published abroad failed to arrive. From the summer of 1944 the
allied air offensive became more and more dangerous. On the top of
Csillebérc, in the close neighbourhood of the institute, an AA
battery was installed and, as it was a legitimate target, the
director was, not unreasonably, worried about suffering collateral
damage, should the allied flyers attempt a counterstroke. The
24 inch mirror was dismantled, but with the smaller telescopes
observations continued until the early days of December, 1944. On
the 25th of December, 1944 the institute was occupied by Soviet
troops, specifically by a battery of field artillery, with the
strength of about six hundred soldiers and one hundred horses. The
soldiers were billeted in the main building, the domes were used
as stables for the horses and as field kitchens.
Three days after the occupation Detre reached an agreement with
the Soviet command, to the effect that the library and some of the
laboratories were declared `off limits' and free from billeting.
When I was a young researcher, I heard some rumors about
one of the Soviet officers having been a fellow astronomer and
that the quick and favorable response to the institute's request
was due to his intervention. While we were preparing for the
centenary of the institute in 1999, I tried to verify this
story, but I could not find anybody either to confirm or to deny it.
Today it is with pride that we show our library to our visitors,
and the exemption from billeting was a decisive factor in this. In
spite of the turbulent history of Central Europe, complete sets of
all the important astronomical publications (the Astronomische
Nachrichten from 1823, the Astronomical Journal from 1851,
etc.) can be found in our library. Publications not received during the
war were successfully replaced soon. Thanks to the
Rockefeller Foundation, the library received the missing volumes of the
Astrophysical Journal and Astronomical Journal of 1941-46 and
1941-47 years, respectively.
As an acknowledgement of his internationally respected scientific
results, László Detre was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences in 1947.
In 1946 a decision was made on establishing a department of solar
physics. For making heliophysical observations a photo-heliograph
and Konkoly's 25 cm telescope were installed. The regular
observations were started in March 1950. The whole solar disc and those
parts covered with spots and prominences were regularly observed
photographically. Based on their observations, the members of the department
informed the National Meteorological Service by phone, when it was necessary,
on the development of the solar activity. Beside the observations the statistical investigations made a significant part of the activity of the
department. In 1957 a decision was made on moving the
Department of Solar Physics into Debrecen where it started to
work on January 1, 1958 as an independent institute on a location
provided by the Kossuth Lajos University of Sciences.
At the foundation on the Svábhegy the institute belonged to the Ministry of
Cultural Affairs but after that it joined the ``Collection University'' and
in 1934 the Pázmány Péter University of Sciences. In 1948 the Ministry of Cultural Affairs received it back again. On the occasion of changing the political
system, in 1948 a decision was made on establishing a network of research institutes, independent of the universities and organized within the framework of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. On February 1, 1951 according to the 10/1951/I.6./M.T.
decree of the Council of Ministers the Academy took over the institute under the
name of Astronomical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (widely known
as the Konkoly Observatory abroad). Two departments were formed at the astronomical institute of the Academy: the astrophysical and the heliophysical.
After WWII the advance of astrophysics re-started at a very fast
pace indeed. One of the most decisive factors in its advance was
the appearance of radio astronomy. The discovery of the
theoretically predicted radiation of the neutral hydrogen at the wavelength of
21 cm was its first great achievement. The appearance of
computers also produced revolutionary changes. The traditional
field of astronomy, optical observations were also significantly
influenced by these changes. The giant 5 m reflector at Mt.
Palomar started its operations in 1949. There was another
reflector there with 180 cm mirror diameter. This telescope of the type
Schmidt has a wide field of view (6.5o). With this
instrument, the mapping of the whole firmament (up to about 21st
magnitude) was completed in a few years. The result of this work, the
Palomar Sky Atlas served as a starting point for many important
explorations.
This rapid advance resulted in a dilemma for Hungarian
astronomy. The problem was to find a compromise between the
challenges presented by these advances, and the impoverished state
of the Hungarian economy. One element of the solution was the
introduction of photoelectric photometry. In the field of
optical astronomy, the photoelectric multiplier played the leading
role. In comparison with the conventional photographic plate,
which had the disadvantages of a less than one per cent quantum
efficiency and the non-linear characteristics of its light
sensitivity, the new instrument had a high quantum efficiency,
linear characteristics and a much reduced level of noise.
After the war the institute and the firm `TUNGSRAM Ltd.' conducted
some joint experiments to develop a photomultiplier for
astronomical purposes, but these failed to yield the desired
results. In 1948 the then director of the institute, László
Detre, received a 1P21 type multiplier from
Harlow Shapley. This equipment made it
possible to build a new photometer, which, fitted to the 24 inch
telescope, enabled the institute to carry on with its work using
really state-of-the-art technology (Fig. 5.). The first results were
published on the photoelectric observations of the 1950 eclipse
of {zeta} Aurigae in the No. 29 issue of the communications of
the institute (Fig. 6.).
In 1954 they obtained a further 1P21 tube enabling them to
observe down to 13th magnitude. Following the suggestion of the
Dutch astronomer Theodor Walraven they rebuilt the amplifier of the
photometer in 1955. Two further 1P21 tubes arrived in 1956 and
László Detre received a further amplifier as a gift on the
occasion of his visit in Leiden which made it possible to establish
another photometric observing site based on a 25 cm reflector, so
photoelectric photometry became one of the routine methods of
observation.
Putting on orbit the first artificial
satellite of the Earth in 1957, a new era started in the technical
civilization which naturally had an impact on astronomical research.
The Astrosoviet (Astronomical Council) of Moscow asked our
institute to participate in the observations necessary for
computing the orbits and donated 40 telescopes for visual
observations well suited for installing a satellite tracking
station. Besides Budapest such stations were installed in Baja,
Miskolc and Szombathely which did not belong to the Academy, the
professional coordination, however, was carried out by the
institute. Following Detre's initiative, the station of Baja joined
the institute but the others kept their independence.
In the field of artificial satellites the cooperations were
realized within the framework of the INTERCOSMOS. In 1965 COSPAR
had already two Hungarian members. The first computer program made
in the institute in 1961 was related to the motion of the artificial
satellites.
In 1970 László Detre received a State Award.
The building of the observation station on Piszkéstetö was a
decisive impact of Detre's activity on the institute's life.
The story of the Piszkéstetö station had its commencement in the 1950s.
After the change of regime in 1948, a decision was made to set up
of a network of research institutes under the general guidance of
the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. One of the spectacular
steps in this programme was the establishment of the Central Research
Institute for Physics. Following a decision made by the Council of
Ministers, the Observatory in the Svábhegy also became part of
this scientific network. In the context of the programme of
extensive investment in science, it also became feasible for the
institute to make a substantial capital investment.
At the beginning of the 1950s the improvements made to
Budapest's public lighting and its increasing pollution made any
further development of the observational facilities in the
Svábhegy observatory pointless. In the early
1950s the Academy approved the acquisition of a wide
angle telescope of the Sonnenfeld type, and the order was placed
with Zeiss of Jena. Shortly afterwards the order was cancelled and
a new order was placed for another wide angle telescope of the
Schmidt type. This Schmidt telescope has a 900 mm mirror
and a 600 mm correction plate, which makes her exactly
half the size of the Mount Palomar Telescope, its sister,
commissioned a few years earlier. The telescope was supplemented
by the planned purchase of a 600 mm objective-prism, which was only marginally smaller than her biggest, 800 mm companion, the instrument installed at Hamburg.
With the Schmidt telescope, Hungarian astronomy came again to possess a
world-class instrument.
The Council of Ministers allocated nine million Hungarian Forints
to astronomy. The construction of the new observatory started in 1958,
at Piszkéstetö, which is the third highest peak in the
Mátra Mountains, 100 km NE from Budapest. The telescope itself
became operational in 1962.
The development of astrophysics, that started after WWII, gained
considerable momentum by the 1960s. In this, one of the
decisive factors was the infusion of the revolutionary new
microelectronics into the realms of astrophysics. With the
appearance of electronic computers, numerical
simulations (or modelling) became feasible. This enabled the
scientists to replace their analytical approximations with more
exact quantitative models, whose results could be directly
compared to observational results. The turn of the 1950s
saw the birth of models describing the evolution of
stars. One of the interesting achievements of modelling techniques
was, that with their help it was possible to verify the
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which was discovered early in the
century and relates the surface temperature of the stars to their
absolute luminosity. Curve-fitting using these models can also
yield the age of the cluster and its distance from Earth. The
number of open, or galactic, clusters in our Milky Way system is
estimated as several thousand. The examination of the HRD of these clusters
is one of the important investigations carried out with the
new telescope at Piszkéstetö.
Perhaps the most spectacular touchstone of the stellar evolution
theories was the theoretical clarification of the background to
the explosion of supernovae. One of the most important problems
concerning this subject is the determination of the stellar mass
necessary to end up as a supernova. As the last supernova observed
in our galaxy was observed by Kepler, our up-to-date knowledge
must be based on observations of extragalactic supernovae. With the
systematic survey of extragalactic events we might get a
reasonable picture of the frequency of such events. With its
5o field of view, the Schmidt telescope at Piszkéstetö
is capable of regularly surveying areas rich in galaxies. It was
in 1964 that the first supernova was observed. This was followed
by the finding of 48 more, so it was at Piszkéstetö,
where almost ten per cent of the known supernovae were discovered
in the era of photographic supernova patrols.
The Schmidt telescope also made the observation of
special stars possible, such as the flare stars, showing sudden
increases of light emission occasionally, or young stars at the
beginning of their existence, showing a significant emission in the
H{alpha} line. The distribution of stars showing H{alpha} emission
yields important supporting data for the investigation of physical
processes, occurring in molecular clouds active in the formation
of new stars. In 1966 the Mátra station's instrument park was
enriched by a Cassegrain-type telescope of 50 cm mirror diameter.
The attachment of a photometer, developed within the institute,
made it possible to utilize the favorable conditions prevailing
around the Mátra station also in the field of photoelectric
photometry.
At Piszkéstetö the last and largest capital investment was
the acquisition of an RCC telescope of 1 m diameter. In the beginning, the telescope
was operated using CAMAC modules and a TPAi minicomputer, which
were developed by the Central Research Institute for Physics. They
were used for digitally positioning the telescope and collecting
and storing the observed data. The telescope, augmented by the
photoelectric photometer - developed by the institute - was in all
respects up to contemporary world standards.
Unfortunately, László Detre did not live to see the
inauguration of the RCC telescope at the end of 1974 since he died
weeks before, on October 15.
The institute had traditionally good relationship with German
astronomy. Until 1942 it issued a summary report on the
annual work to the Vierteljahrsschrift published by the
Astronomische Gesellschaft.
Following the World War I to compensate the international reputation of the AG,
the Anglo-Saxon powers established the International
Astronomical Union (IAU). Since Hungary was fighting on the
defeated side, its researchers were excluded, along with the
Germans. Our relationship to the IAU was normalized only after the
World War II. Although there were some efforts to establish American
relationships (e.g. on the occasion of a longer study visit of
Károly Lassovszky, later director of the institute), the
young researchers typically had fellowships at German
institutes. Of course, there were some efforts on the part of the scientists
to remove this discrimination. The AG had its general assembly on August 8-12, 1930
in Budapest with the participation of several distinguished scientists from
Anglo-Saxon countries (e.g. Arthur Eddington, Otto Struve).
The international relations of the institute were changed
drastically after the war. As an opening of the new era, László Detre
was admitted to the IAU, as the first Hungarian astronomer. After the change
of the political system in 1948 international relations started preferring the
Soviet Union. Until this time Hungarian astronomers had little contact
with their Soviet colleagues, but then it changed drastically.
Short and longer study trips to the Soviet Union became regular.
In 1950 Boris V. Kukarkin, having an international reputation in the
field of variable star research, suggested to start
a cooperation in the main research field of the institute.
In 1952 the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy of Leningrad
requested us to cooperate in the precise determination of
positions of minor planets having uncertain ephemerides.
Even in this year a third scientific department of the institute
was founded under the leadership of István Földes. The Department of Positional Astronomy and Stellar Statistics, however, stopped its operation after
two years, since due to the recession of the economy, the
reduction of the staff was ordered in the institute. This was solved by
putting an end to the young department in 1954 (by dismissing the head and two
coworkers).
Due to the bilateral cooperation agreements between
the Academies of the socialist countries,
personal contacts also became possible in astronomy.
As a natural consequence, not only our researchers
travelled to these countries but a high number of colleagues
visited our institute from there.
In 1959 an opportunity was presented to establish contacts with
Chinese astronomers. In the framework of this, the
institute donated a photoelectric equipment to the Observatory
of Nanjing. In order to strengthen the cooperation with Romanian
astronomers, an 1P21 photoelectric multiplier was donated.
Starting in the second half of the fifties, the cold war started
to turn milder and in the life of the institute an apparent sign for it
was Detre's participation at the general
assembly of the IAU in Dublin in 1955. The 27th Commission
of the IAU (Variable Stars) supported the widening of the international
cooperations in a special resolution.
A very high reputation of the Hungarian variable star research
and the work of László Detre, was an international conference
held in 1956 August 23-28 in Budapest dealing predominantly with period
and light curve variations of RR Lyrae and {delta} Cephei stars.
The revolution in 1956 shocked the institute dramatically.
The migration wave following the revolution resulted in the leave of
three excellent researchers (Tibor Herczeg, Imre Izsák, and
István Ozsváth)
who started their career with great promise. Although, they were
soon replaced by young people starting out on a career but the
loss of their expertise had a long lasting effect on the
institute.
It was an important milestone of the international appreciation
when the IAU commissioned our institute to edit and publish the
Information Bulletin on Variable Stars, on the occasion of the
participation of László Detre at the IAU General Assembly in Berkeley
in 1961 (Fig. 7.).
There were two further events of international importance in the
life of the institute in the last years of Detre's directorship in
which he played a leading role. In 1968 the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences hosted an IAU colloquium on non-periodic
phenomena in variable stars in Budapest. Following the initiative of Soviet
astronomers, the scientific academies of the socialist countries
signed a cooperation agreement on the physics and
evolution of stars in 1974.
One has to pay special
attention to the agreement with the Armenian Academy of
Sciences. It was quite uncommon that a member republic of the
Soviet Union established international relationships getting
round Moscow. This agreement obviously was a tribute of Victor
Ambartsumian, the president of the Armenian Academy of Sciences
and an astronomer of very high international reputation. He
visited our institute many times and also had a good personal
relationship with László Detre and our researchers. Following
this cooperation agreement, signed in 1968, the Armenian and Hungarian
astronomers had a very tight contact until the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
On the occasion of Detre's centenary, the drawing of conclusions
and the recapitulation of the lessons learned is almost
inevitable. Many of us are having our minds exercised by the
problem of trying to find the source of strength that kept our
institute in existence, in spite of the trials and tribulations it
was exposed to. How typical was this of the intellectual and
scientific life in Hungary? An important element of the success
was the finding of a `window of opportunity' between the
international scientific challenges and the material resources of
Hungary, but this is not the whole secret.
There is also an independent factor behind the success, which may
be called the human factor. It is a loose concept and may include
everything that happens inside us and influences our decisions,
but remains invisible to the contemporary onlookers and even to
history. I have been struck by an idea, found in the writings of
István Bibó,*
During the years of Detre's activity, the institute was faced with
many crises, but managed to survive them successfully. Does this
fact have a special meaning for the intellectual life of Hungary?
It is my firm belief that the answer is an unqualified `yes'. The
other important question, which may be even more important than
the first one is: Where to go and how to get there. Science will
be one of the most important defining factors of any future society.
The Hungarian society must develop the inner strength to answer this challenge.
What this answer will be, and how effective it will be, is also going to be a
determining factor for the future of the Konkoly Observatory, but the heritage
of László Detre's work has a significant impact on it.
P.O. Box 67, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
balazs
konkoly . hu
Cover page of the first issue of the institute's communications
series containing Detre's PhD Theses on the space distribution of stars.
Light curve of RU Piscium as published in the
Astronomische Nachrichten in 1931.
The 20 cm Heyde refractor of the institute (left) and the
Graff visual photometer attached to the telescope (right).
The first published result based on photoelectric
measurements carried out in the Konkoly Observatory
The first issue of the IBVS in 1961
* István Bibó, Hungarian social
scientist, one of the spiritual fathers of the Hungarian
revolution in 1956
that there is no natural law which could
guarantee success in the development of human societies. The
evolution of any social structure is a possibility, which can be
achieved by making the right decisions, but the other outcome is
also possible.