Although those who occasionally proudly mention how many Nobel laureates we have are, there are certainly not many who could list the seventeen Nobel laureates who had some kind of Hungarian affiliation. However, three names are probably known to most of the Hungarians with secondary education. The first one is definitely Albert Szent-Györgyi , probably the second who as a Hungarian citizen was awarded the Nobel Prize is Imre Kertész, and the third would be the that time non-Hungarian citizen, Dénes/Dennis Gábor, for his invention and development in holography.
Even fewer people know what bears the name of Dénes Gábor in Hungary, even though there is a college and also a prize to recognithe excellence of researchers, developers, engineers and inventors.
According to the description readable on the Novofer Foundation website, the goal of the founders of the Gábor Dénes Prize were also to raise the public awareness and to strengthen the recognition of technological innovation, technical/engineering research, man-made machines and material constructions.
This year, two of our members, László Barna and Zoltán Kónya were among the awardees!
Congratulations on the award and especially the work you deserve!
László Barna, an engineer-physicist, head of the Light Microscope Imaging Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), has been recognized for his use of super-resolution microscopy for medical research.
Zoltan Kónya, Vice-Rector of the University of Szeged, received the recognition for making nanostructured materials and nanocomposites – primarily for his work in the field of manufacture and their industrial application.