Tamas Nemeth, Széchenyi Prize-winning agricultural chemist, full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), former Secretary General of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and renowned researcher of the effects of soil nitrogen, has died at the age of 71, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences MTI reported on Tuesday.
Tamas Nemeth was born in Zumbathely in 1952. In 1976, he obtained a degree in agricultural engineering from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at Keszthely University of Agricultural Sciences.
After graduating from the university, he became a scientific assistant at the Research Institute of Heavy Chemicals, then in 1977 he was transferred to the Plant Protection and Agrochemical Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, where he worked as a senior employee until 1979. That’s when he asked to be transferred to the Zala District Plant and Chemical Protection Station Agricultural, where he worked as the head of the agrochemicals group. This period coincided with the establishment of a mandatory soil testing system, the training of plant specialists, and the development of a standardized specialist advisory system.
From February 1981, Tamas Nemeth spent a year on a farm in Oregon, USA. Managed and partially carried out plant protection and agrochemical works for a mulberry farm of over 100 hectares.
In 1982 he defended his doctoral dissertation with distinction.
From January 1983, he worked at the Research Institute of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1989, he defended his candidate thesis “The Role of Nitrogen Supply in Autumn Cultivation of Cabbage Turnip” and was awarded the title of Candidate of Agricultural Sciences.
In 1997, he was awarded the scientific title of Doctor of Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences with his thesis “Organic Matter Content and Nitrogen Circulation in Our Soils”. He was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2001 and an ordinary member in 2007.
Since May 1991, he has been Deputy Scientific Director of the Research Institute of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Head of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Plant Nutrition. Subsequently, he was appointed Director of TAKI of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as of January 1, 1997.
Tamas Nemeth was elected Secretary General of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2008, and his position was confirmed in 2011, a position he held until 2014. In 1998, he became an external member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, the announcement says.
The featured image is illustrative.
