László Szalay

1920-1997

Director of the Institute of Biophysics of the BRC of the HAS („MTA”): 1971-1973

One of the most successful Hungarian scientists in the field of molecular luminescence and biophysical research, Prof. László Szalay played a determinant role in establishing the institutional basis of biophysical science in Hungary and significantly contributed to shaping the intellectual character of this young discipline. Prof. Szalay was born on 19 December, 1920 in Budapest. He spent his childhood at Kakucs, went to secondary school at Kunszentmiklós, and in 1940 he enrolled at the University of Szeged to study mathematics and physics. He obtained his University Doctor’s degree summa cum laude in 1947, his candidate’s degree in 1951 and his D.Sc. in 1964. He founded the Institute of Biophysics at the University of Szeged (the former József Attila University of Sciences) in 1969. He was founder and, for two years (1971-73), director of the Institute of Biophysics of the Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at Szeged. He took an active part in establishing the research profile of the Institute of Biophysics of BRC and initiated numerous photo-, neuro- and membrane biophysical studies that later significantly contributed to the international recognition of BRC. He was also one of the founding members of the European Society of Photobiology.

He invested much energy into the development of the molecular luminescence school started by academicians Fröhlich and Budó at Szeged, the determination of the true parameters of fluorescence and the establishment of photobiophysical research in Hungary. His main field of study was the experimental investigation of the extent (anisotropy) of fluorescence polarization. Decrease in the extent of fluorescence polarization (depolarization) of dyes is due to the fact that the dipole moments of the absorption of excitation light are not aligned with those of fluorescence. The main reasons for this are to be found in the electron structure of the dye molecule, in the rotation of the entire molecule in the course of excitation and in transfer of the energy of excitation to another molecule, the so-called acceptor. The latter is an especially important method for the determination of the three-dimensional localization of dye molecules (e.g. for visualization of receptor patterns on the cell surface).

He spent 1 year in the U.S.A. on a Ford fellowship, followed by numerous other study tours and lecture tours in a number of countries including England, Germany, Egypt and India. He used these opportunities to establish contact with leading photobiological and photosynthesis research laboratories. He organized several conferences and was an invited speaker at many scientific meetings. He was the initiator of a series of Luminescence Summer Schools in Hungary at the beginning of the nineteen-eighties; these events, set up at a variety of locations in Hungary and offering programs that captured the imagination of the younger generations were highly successful in disseminating and popularizing the results of Hungarian luminescence research.

His book entitled “Luminescence in biology and medical science”, co-authored with academician Sándor Damjanovich (1983) was a standard work in his field of research. A bibliography of his selected works is accessible in Acta Biol. Szeged. 43, pp. 141-146 (1998).