Press News

Budapest, January 24, 2005

The most successful initiative for scientific education in Hungary, the University of All Knowledge that received the Prima Primissima Award in 2004, was launched in 2002. The time since its launch proves that this series of programs is not losing its momentum, the public has been watching, listening to and reading the lectures of the University of All Knowledge for three years with unchanged enthusiasm at the venue, on various television and radio channels, in the printed press and on the www.mindentudas.hu website. The sixth semester will start on January 24, 2005 and end in mid-June.

The University of All Knowledge, perhaps the boldest initiative of scientific education in Hungary, jointly established by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Matáv and Axelero, has started its sixth semester. The lectures given on a weekly basis are followed by a rising number of club events, professional discussions and public meetings, as well as an internet-based training program. The series, as a brand name, has become a fundamental reference. The University of All Knowledge has become part of public thinking, it offers topics for private conversation and from time to time appears on the public scene too. By the end of 2004 92 lectures have been given and recorded in 120 hours of television film. Around 25,000 people attended the lectures given by the most prominent Hungarian scientists at the venue, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Its contents were downloaded from the Internet 5 million times.

In 2005 the University of All Knowledge launches its annual program under the aegis of the Year of Physics. On January 24 Gábor Szabó will hold the opening lecture of the semester entitled 'How far did Newton's apple fall? - Physical thinking and natural sciences' which addresses how physics impacted the development of society and culture. In this semester five additional lectures will deal with physics. Zoltán Kolláth will discuss the sounds of the interior of stars, Gyula Faigel the atomic structures, Zoltán Fodor the creation of the universe, Péter Závodszky the structure and function of proteins from the point of view of a physicist and Norbert Kroó's lecture ending the semester will examine the physics of light.

2005 is not only the Year of Physics, but also the 100th anniversary of the birth of Attila József. On this occasion Antal Bókay will hold a lecture on the birthday of the poet on April 11. The University of All Knowledge will commemorate in this way the most influential poet of the 20th century. This year democracy in Hungary will mark its 15th anniversary. It will be a good occasion to discuss constitutional issues (Mihály Bihari, László Sólyom) and the particularities of politics (György Bence). On March 7 the 100th lecture of the University of All Knowledge will be delivered by Szilveszter E. Vízi, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His lecture will address issues of high concern for the society: the cultural history and biological issues of hard drugs.

The University of All Knowledge gives high priority to making its lectures accessible also for Hungarian communities outside Hungary. An important milestone in the process was in May 2004, the first lecture given outside Hungary in Révkomárom. As a continuation of this process, on November 18 the University of All Knowledge visited Transylvania, a major center of Hungarian culture outside Hungary. One of the most excellent lectures in the fifth semester was delivered by linguist professor Sándor N. Szilágyi at Cluj-Napoca. In the sixth semester lectures given abroad will continue. Another visit in Transylvania will be to Tirgu Mures.

Of course efforts will be made to reach the highest number of people personally inside Hungary too, so the earlier successful lectures held in country towns (Pécs, Szeged, Miskolc and Veszprém) will be followed by others in Debrecen, Sopron and Gödöllõ.

Lectures in the sixth semester:

January 24 - Gábor Szabó: How far did Newton's apple fall? - Physical thinking and natural sciences
January 31 - Zoltán Kolláth: The sounds of the interior of stars - modern music of the spheres
February 7 - Gyula Faigel: What is the X-ray ruler used for? - Determination of the atomic structure by X-rays
February 14 - János Száz: Windfall - Options in everyday life and on the financial markets
February 21 - Imre Makovecz: Organic thinking, organic architecture
February 28 - László Palkovics: Intelligent vehicles
March 7 - Szilveszter E. Vizi: Hard drugs - myth of creativity and reality of destruction
March 21 - Zoltán Fodor: Origin of the universe and the physics of elementary particles
April 4 - Péter Tamás Sótonyi: From chickens hatching to the Spanish Riding School - Analysis of the movements of animals
April 11 - Antal Bókay: Self-structure, self-creation - Attila József's message
April 18 - Péter Závodszky: Proteins - from structure to function, from physics to biology
April 25 - Attila Horváth: Stealthy epidemic - Sexually transmitted infections
May 2 - István Karádi: Heart attack and cholesterol
May 9 - Mihály Bihari: Constitutional change of regime
May 23 - László Sólyom: Guardians of the constitution
May 30 - György Bence: The particularities of politics
June 6 - Norbert Kroó: The physics of light