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Minister Antal Rogán, Head of Cabinet of the Prime Minister, awarded the Elek Fényes Prize on the recommendation of Dr. Áron Kincses, director of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), in recognition of outstanding achievements in the cultivation, effective practical application and further development of statistics to one of the members of the Friends of Hungary Foundation, Dr. Károly Kocsis. The Friends of Hungary Foundation are the publishers of our two foreign language news portals, Hungary Today and Ungarn Heute.
Dr. Károly Kocsis, Széchenyi Prize-winning Director of the Geographical Institute of the Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (CSFK), had received the prize in recognition of his work in establishing close cooperation and excellent working relations between the KSH and the Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences.
Photo: MOBA
Photo: MOBA
In a statement to Hungary Today, Dr. Kocsis informed us that the multi-year cooperation came about during the creation of the so called National Atlas of Hungary. A national atlas, like the flag, coat of arms or the national anthem, has always been an important symbol for any country in the world. National atlases have been initiated by governments and scientists (often by national academies) and they have been published as the result of a broad national collaboration. This happened in Hungary in 1964–1967 and in 1983–1989, when the first two editions of the National Atlas of Hungary were published.
Photo: CSFK
The KSH had helped in finding and processing the enormous amount of data needed for the process, both in terms of national and international sources. This is important in view of the fact that millions of Hungarians live in neighboring countries, hence the research had to involve the entire Carpathian Basin and beyond. As Dr. Kocsis told us, for us the homeland is where as Hungarians we are not tourists. All in all, data from as many as 12 countries was processed. Both the current director of the KSH, Dr. Áron Kincses, as well as his predecessor, Dr. Gabriella Vukovich have contributed with a written preface and introduction for the atlases.
Dr. Kocsis had told us that that he regards the prize as a great honor and personal joy as he is a regular visitor at the KSH’s institutions since 1980. The statistical office’s data are invaluable for his work as a geographer, he emphasized, as he regards geography as a form of spatial history. In his interpretation, the prize is a recognition in precisely this field, the history of space. Furthermore, it is a great honor to have received a prize named after one of the most significant Hungarian statisticians and geogrpahhers, Elek Fényes, who was at the helm of the Hungarian statistical office during a brief but central period of our history, the revolution of 1848-49.
There were two other recipients of the prize, Dr. Gabriella Vukovich, former President of KSH, and Mónika Freid, the institute’s former Deputy President. The presentation of the Elek Fényes Awards took place at a ceremony at the Office’s headquarters in Budapest on 14 July 2023.
Elek Fényes. Photo: Wikipedia
Dr. Károly Kocsis is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Friends of Hungary Foundation. Geographer, research professor, university professor, full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). Focus of his activities in scientific (ethnic geographic, cartographic) research and policy are the Hungarians in the Carpathian basin and the Hungarian diaspora. Since 2010, director of the CSFK Geographical Institute, since 2012 professor of the MFK Institute of Geophysics and Geoinformatics of the University of Miskolc. He is the chair of the MTA national policy apparatus, the Hungarian Science Abroad Presidential Committee since 2011. Chief editor of the Hungarian National Atlas, head of the editorial committee. Owner of the Officer’s Cross of the Hungarian order of Merit (2014) and Széchenyi Prize (2023) .
Featured Photo: MTA, Szigeti Tamás