István Halász (chemist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
István Halász

István Halász (born February 28, 1922 in Budapest , † August 18, 1988 in Saarbrücken ) was a Hungarian chemist who emigrated to Germany in 1956. He has made great contributions to researching the theoretical principles, the further development and the application of gas chromatography and fast liquid chromatography .

Life

István Halász received his doctorate from the University of Szeged in 1949 . He then worked at the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the Technical University of Budapest in Géza Schay's group . His habilitation took place in 1954 with a thesis on "Structural investigations of catalysts and adsorbents by steam adsorption". In the same year he took over the management of the gas adsorption and catalysis department at the Central Chemistry Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences .

After Halász came to Germany in 1956, he first worked in industry and then in 1957 became a lecturer with Hermann Hartmann at the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt . There he received the venia legendi in 1958 . In the following years he worked at the same time at the University of Frankfurt and as head of the gas laboratory of what was then Scholven Chemie AG in Gelsenkirchen-Buer. From 1961 he was a full-time private lecturer and from 1964 professor at the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the University of Frankfurt. In 1971, Halász moved to the Saarland University in Saarbrücken, where he held the chair for applied physical chemistry until his retirement in 1987.

Scientific importance

Halász was an internationally recognized specialist in the theory and practice of chromatographic separation methods - especially gas chromatography and high pressure liquid chromatography . The highlights he set in the history of the development of chromatographic separation processes became milestones and made him a scientific trendsetter. With the results achieved at the Institutes for Physical Chemistry at the University of Frankfurt and the University of Saarbrücken - from 1971 together with Heinz Engelhardt - he made a decisive contribution to the development of High Performance Liquid Chromatography as one of the most important chemical analysis and separation processes.

Professorships abroad in the USA (Boston) and France (Nice) gave him a wide network of scientist friends. These were:

Heinz Engelhardt , J. Calvin Giddings , Georges Guiochon , Csaba Horváth , JFK Huber, Barry L. Karger, JJ Kirkland, Klaus Unger and others.

Halász conveyed trend-setting scientific values ​​to many students as well as his more than 50 diploma and doctoral students with his professional authority and competence as a university lecturer and thus the basis for systematic and goal-oriented work:

  • Examination of feasibility, accuracy and reproducibility,
  • economic benefit for practice as well
  • Publication of results as a basis for scientific communication.

His groundbreaking lectures, publications and patents are still important and legendary today. His students not only appreciate this lifetime achievement, but also owe him as a guide and trailblazer the preparation for the professional demands.

After his death, the Halász Foundation with its seat at Saarland University was established by will. The foundation supports the scientific work of diploma and doctoral students in the field of analytical separation methods.

Awards

Since 1997 the Hungarian Society for Separation Science has been awarding the '' Halász Medal Award '' in honor of István Halász for outstanding achievements in chromatography.

Publications

  • with E. Heine: Optimum Conditions in Gas Chromatographic Analysis. In JH Purnell: Progress in Gas Chromatography. Wiley, New York 1968, pp. 153-208.
  • with R. Endele, J. Asshauer: Ultimate Limits in High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography. In: Journal of Chromatography. 112, 1975, pp. 37-60.
  • with Karl Karch, Imrich Sebestian: Preparation and properties of reversed phases. In: Journal of Chromatography. 122, 1976, pp. 3-16.
  • with G. Görlitz: Optimal Parameters in High Speed ​​Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). In: Angewandte Chemie. Int. Ed. 21, 1, 1982, pp. 50-61.

literature

  • Dr. István Halász sixty years old. In: Chromatographia. Vol. 15, No. February 2, 1982. doi : 10.1007 / BF02290433
  • Professor István Halász 1922–1988. In: Chromatographia. Vol. 25, No. October 10, 1988. doi : 10.1007 / BF02311416

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homepage of the Halász Foundation , accessed on November 17, 2017.
  2. ↑ Homepage of the Halász Medal Award , accessed on November 17, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Halász, István
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian chemist
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1988
Place of death Saarbrücken