Hungary past and present

Abstract

Browsing through the February issue of Physics World, I was immediately attracted by the article “How to work with Hungarian scientists – and why” by Paul Csonka (p17). I read it thoroughly so that I could compare his experiences with those of my own department in co-operating with Hungarian physicists. For three years we have been involved in a very successful TEMPUS programme in which Kossuth L University and the University of Miskolc also participated. We have also collaborated with the Central Research Institute for Physics (KFKI) in Budapest for a quarter of a century. But Csonka has something else in mind – how and why should western scientists, above all those in the US and the UK, work with their Hungarian colleagues.