Seventeen years under the wing of Lajos Felföldy; personal memories

Abstract

At the start of my hidrobiologist career, I spent almost two decades under the patronage of Lajos Felföldy, the outstanding hidrobiologist and botanist. As both of us were staff members of the onetime Water Resources Research Centre (VITUKI, Budapest, Hungary), we were involved in several research projects. Felföldy had recognized that the lack of identification keys and monographs of the aquatic biota written in Hungarian is a serious impediment for the progress of hydrobiological science in Hungary. Thus, he edited and partly authored the 25-volume series of Vízügyi hidrobiológia (Hydrobiology for water resources research). Another outstanding contribution of him was a comprehensive monograph on aquatic ecology (A vizek környezettana) published in 1981, which is an excellent reference work even today. His hydrobiological research mainly focused on the water quality and biota of water reservoirs. He had a clear knowledge and expertise on these and applied innovative techniques to improve or maintain the water quality of reservoirs. Personally, I learned from him a lot, both in hydrobiology and humanity. When he retired at the age of 60, he gave me the following advice. “Sir, you should continue to work as a researcher until you can do it with due humility. As soon as you feel this is not the case, you shoud give it up immediately.“ I keep his advice and his good memories.