Szegedi Egyetemi Tudástár 2

“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 exposes the little-known or the unknown dimensions of Szent-Györgyi’s activities, which are far beyond his SZEGEDI EGYETEMI narrow area of expertise: medical science and chemistry. This volume is based on those free university lectures TUDÁSTÁR 2. that were organized to celebrate the year of the 75th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to Szent- The intellectual heritage of Györgyi. The contemporary professors and teachers at the University of Szeged illustrate the versatility of Albert Szent-Györgyi Szent-Györgyi, focus on the beauty of research as a pro- fession and put into the spotlight the exciting world of science. Before us stands a biophysicist, a humanist, a sportsman, a teacher, a diplomat, a science coordina- tor, a philosopher-poet and a scientist with influence on the economy and someone who also asks questions to which the researchers may find answers in the future and with the help of such equipment as the ELI- ALPS Laser Research Centre at Szeged. The books in the Compendium of Knowledge by the University of Szeged also answer the following question that may be raised by the reader: why is a University by the river Tisza the only research centre in Hungary where a Nobel Prize worthy performance was accomplished and hope to be accomplished in the future. The intellectual heritage of Szent-Györgyi The intellectualAlbert heritage SZEGEDI EGYETEMI TUDÁSTÁR 2. TUDÁSTÁR EGYETEMI SZEGEDI 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 5 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 publications, 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 university in Szeged. Due to the supportive political environment, thanks primarily to Kunó Klebelsberg, and the level of work carried out here, all the scientific 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 top professionals�� and the world. While Szent-Györgyi’s forward pointing sig- 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 philosopher-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

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