Legendary times. The founding of the Hungarian Geological Society and ideology-controlled science history

Abstract

This article describes how the “official founding year” of the Hungarian Geological Society was changed from 1850 to 1848 at the beginning of the Rákosi era in accordance with the ideological requirements of the time and the personal beliefs of Elemér Vadász, the leading figure in contemporary Hungarian geology. Contemporary texts are analyzed in detail to illustrate the manipulative argumentation methods of ideology-controlled science history and the obvious and presumed reasons for the choice of year are outlined. While respecting the symbolic founding date of 1848, the author draws attention to the dangers of an ideology-driven approach to the history of science.