Previous Fora / 2011
PÁLINKÁS, József
President of World Science Forum
President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS)
Professor of physics, University of Debrecen (UD)
József Pálinkás was born on 18 September 1952 at Galvács, Hungary. He studied physics at, and in 1977 graduated from, Attila József University at Szeged. He started to work at the Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI) of HAS in Debrecen. His area of research was the experimental examination of atomic collisions. In 1981, he earned a top-level (“summa cum laude”) university doctorate with Lajos Kossuth University of the Sciences in Debrecen.
Working on high-energy heavy ion collisions, from 1983 through 1985 he was guest scientist of Texas A & M University at College Station. He also worked on ion-atomic collisions at the Manne Siegbahn Institute in Sweden in 1988. In 1989, he earned a Doctor of Physics title with HAS.
From 1990 at ATOMKI he was exploring electron emission arising from ion-atomic collision processes, and served as Vice-Director (in 1990), and from 1991 as Director of ATOMKI through 1996. In 1994, he became involved in particle physics research carried out at CERN’s LEP joining the OPAL experiment.
In 1995, József Pálinkás was elected Corresponding Member of HAS and became full professor of physics at Lajos Kossuth University of the Sciences, later re-named University of Debrecen (UD). From 1995, he serves as Department Chair of Experimental Physics, since 2005, he has been Director of its Physics Institute of UD, and from 2007 to 2008 he served as Vice-Rector of UD.
From 1998 through 2002, József Pálinkás served first as Secretary of State, then as Cabinet Minister of Education in the Hungarian Government. In 2002, he left government for his university and research commitments. In 2004, he was elected a Full Member of HAS.
In 2006, he was elected an MP of the Young Democrats´ Party (FIDESZ). In Parliament, he took part in the work of the Education and Science Committee while co-chairing an ad-hoc Research and Innovation Committee. He resigned from his mandate in 2008 when he was elected as president of HAS. In 2009 he was elected member of Academia Europaea and since 2010 he serves as vice president of European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC).
For more on József Pálinkás’s scientific publications and achievements, visit the ATOMKI server.