Kovacs, G

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Photograph[edit]

G Kovacs


Dates[edit]

György Kovacs 1925 (Budapest, Hungary) - 1988 (Budapest, Hungary)

Biography[edit]

György Kovacs was born in Budapest, Hungary, and graduated from the Budapest University of Technology in 1947. His theoretical and applied research work in hydrology and hydrogeology, practised in the Hungarian water management services's institutions for consulting and for hydraulic research (VIZITERV, VITUKI) earned him successively higher academic degrees from the Hungarian Academy of Science (the highest in 1979 as corresponding member of the Academy). He also contributed considerably to organizing scientific research and to developing water management in his country from the leading posts he attained in the water management service. As professor at various training institutions and international courses he contributed significantly to the education of new generations of hydrologists.

From 1969 to 1970 he worked for UNESCO in Nairobi, Kenya, coordinating scientific and training activities in hydrology and hydrogeology in 34 African countries. He subsequently became increasingly involved in international hydrological activities. Between 1970 and 1975 he was Secretary General of IAHS, subsequently Vice-President, and in 1983 he was elected President of the Association, his term having ended in 1987. Further, he was active in commissions, working groups, editorial boards, etc., of numerous Hungarian and international associations and organizations (IUGG, ICOLD, IAHR, ICID, ICSU, COWAR etc.).

He fulfilled his multi-facetted professional work in Hungary and abroad with great energy and perfection. In Hungary he retired as Director General of VITUKI (Research Centre for Water Resources Development) in 1985 and subsequently accepted a post with IIASA at Laxenburg, Austria. There he was responsible for the project on the development of great river basins, on which he had been working with the same vigorous spirit which characterized him, almost up to his final days, not paying attention to the signs and effects of his rapidly progressing illness.

Gyôrgy Kovâcs was honoured throughout his career by many organizations and associations, in his home country and abroad, by awards acknowledging his valuable scientific and professional service. I

Hydrological Achievements[edit]

The 270 publications of Gyôrgy Kovâcs (books, studies, articles) written in Hungarian, English and French, produced by publishers in many countries of the world, show both his ramified interests in the sciences of hydrology and hydrogeology and his originality, high level of knowledge and scientific exactness. At the centre of his field of interests were the resistance dynamics of granulous formations and fissured rocks, the elaboration of unified calculation methods for characterizing steady and unsteady forms of the seepage of water, and the hydrology of subsurface waters, with special emphasis on the analysis of hydrological processes taking place in the unsaturated zone.

Reference Material[edit]

G. Kienitz (1988) György Kovacs 1925–1988, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 33:5, 539-540, DOI: 10.1080/02626668809491283

Major Publications[edit]

Kovacs, G, 1981, Developments in Water Science. 10. Seepage Hydraulics, Elsevier

Links[edit]

Hydrological Sciences Journal Obituary