Press Releases

Budapest, January 14, 2011 14:00

The most popular Hungarian science lecture series is continued with Albert-László Barabási's lecture on January 15. Mindentudás Egyeteme ("University of All Knowledge"), founded by Magyar Telekom and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, returns to lecture rooms and TV screens after four years of silence - with the support of the Norwegian Fund - with a new programme structure and news from the world of science. The 16 new lectures will be delivered in Budapest and in 6 countryside university cities and the related 48 television programs will be broadcasted by Magyar Televízió and Duna Televízió. The new lectures will also be available on the mindentudas.hu website.

"Use your brains!" Mindentudás Egyeteme 2.0 is re-launched under this slogan and starts with the January 15 lecture of Albert-László Barabási, after four years' pause. The professor, living in the US, visits Hungary only for this occasion and delivers a lecture on the predictability of the dynamics of human behavior. All other lecturers of Mindentudás Egyeteme 2.0 are delivered by internationally acknowledged scientists who will educate us in coming weeks on mental health, the latest developments of sleep research and genomics and the challenges of astrobiology, nano-technology and stem cell research.

Along with conducting research of international significance, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences also counts among its public duties the authentic and easy-to-grasp mediation of new research results to all members of the Hungarian national community. There can be no successful societies, states, or nations without knowledge, and an appreciation of knowledge. In earlier years, a successful Mindentudás Egyeteme had addressed this mediating mission rather well. Renewed and re-launched, it should now operate with the same measure of success and authenticity.  Presenters and researchers invited by Has will no doubt seek authentic and responsible answers to all the issues emerging from new fields of science and new problem-areas. As President of Has I have full confidence in leading researchers of outstanding  scientific workshops attracting even more young people including even teenagers to make their future careers in cultivating the natural or the social sciences.

Christopher Mattheisen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Magyar Telekom, said on the occasion of the re-launch of the program: " We regard Magyar Telekom's corporate responsibility efforts as investment in the future therefore we maintain it, even in the current economic environment, what's more, we enrich it with further innovative programs like Mindentudás Egyeteme 2.0. This unique and freely available program is a good example that within the frame of our corporate responsibility efforts we use our best endeavors to work in the interest of the country. We wish to contribute to closing the digital gap, to enhance equal opportunities and sustainable growth and thus improve Hungary's competitiveness, with the support and popularization of sciences. We have the ability to do so, since as the leading Hungarian info-communication company, we can ensure that knowledge and experience can be shared anytime, anywhere."


The new ME 2.0 program is different from the former and very popular Mindentudás Egyeteme series in the sense that besides presenting the latest scientific results and developments this series also draws the attention to scientific public awareness, research/development efforts and their social acceptance. The program is comprised of 4 thematic blocks - Life, Environment, Society, Future and he 16 lectures are aligned to these blocks.

The TV broadcasts of auditorium lectures will be followed by films on various research/development aspects and practical use of the given scientific result as well as roundtable discussions on the social, moral or ideological implications of the topic. A total of 48 TV programs will be prepared on 16 topics that will be broadcasted by Magyar Televízió and Duna Televízió. During the roundtable discussions experts and representatives of civil organizations will analyze the social, moral, ideological and personal aspects of the topic of the lecture.

The audience may follow the lectures and the entire program on the new mindentudas.hu website where further information will also be available on all events. Besides the new lectures the website will also include more than 170 lectures from the former series. The new design and website structure is accompanied by new and user friendly search options. Visitors may search and browse information by names, titles, topics and key words in the written material whereas thousands of tables, animations and videos can also be downloaded from mindentudas.hu. The new portal enables the audience to contribute to discussions, to ask questions and to debate issues. The acquired new knowledge can be further developed and tested by e-learning material, prepared on the basis of the lectures. Mindentudás Egyeteme 2.0 can also be followed on its Facebook page.

Out of the 16 lectures of Mindentudás Egyeteme 2.0 ten will be delivered in the Tűzoltó street building of Semmelweis University, Budapest, whereas the others will be organized in six university cities: Debrecen, Miskolc, Pécs, Sopron, Szeged and Veszprém. The lectures can be attended free of charge, however, participation is subject to preliminary registration. You may register on mindentudas.hu. All detailed information regarding the exact time, place of the lectures will also be disclosed on the website.