The Academy of Bánya Selmec

The institution was founded on 22 June 1735 by the Vienna Court Chamber. As a result, a mining officer training institute (Bergschule) was established in Selmecbánya, whose task was to train mining and metallurgical technicians who could perform the tasks of mining, mining law, mine measurement, ore preparation and processing, chemical analysis, metallurgy, coinage, gold exchange, and administration. From 1735, the training lasted two years and was conducted in German. Its founding teacher was Sámuel Mikoviny (Ábelfalva), later other teachers joined him (Tobias Johann Brinn, Karl Jakob Turman, Christian Heuppel. In 1763, by decree of Maria Theresa, the Bergakadmie, Europe's first mining and metallurgical technical college, grew out of this institution, where initially two-year training was offered, and from 1770 three-year training was offered. Nikolaus Jacquin (Leiden, February 16, 1727 - Vienna, October 26, 1817) was appointed professor of the first department (Department of Practical Mining and Chemistry) (1764–1769), who was originally a physician, but also dealt with botany, mineralogy and chemistry. Later, between 1769 and 1797, he was professor of the Department of Chemistry and Botany at the University of Vienna. ; The second (mathematical) department was founded in August 1765 It was established on 13 October 1723, and under its leadership, Miklós Poda (Vienna, October 3, 1723 - Vienna, April 29, 1798) was appointed as a Jesuit teacher. He taught mechanics as well as mathematics, mine surveying, mechanics and physics, and organized the Academy's library. He was the institution's instructor until 1771. From the very beginning, there was a push to expand the two-year course at the Academy to a three-year course. This took place in 1770, and the name Academy appears for the first time in the document (Systema Academia Montanisticae) that stipulated this. Applicants usually had to take an entrance exam (except for those who had previously completed some kind of "philosophical course"). The sons of "professionals" enjoyed an advantage in admission. The three-year course started with three departments. The head of the Department of Mathematics, Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering was the aforementioned Miklós Poda was the head of the Department of Mineralogy, Chemistry and Theoretical Metallurgy, Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (Cavalese/Italy, June 13, 1723 – Pavia, May 8, 1788), a geologist, chemist, entomologist, botanist and physician, who described the fauna and flora of the Selmecbánya area in one of his works. He worked at the Academy until 1777. ; The head of the Department of Practical Mining was Christoph Traugott Delius (Wallhausen/Germany, 1728 – Florence, January 21, 1779), a mining councilor, who had previously studied mining and metallurgy in Selmecbánya. He only taught at the Academy until 1772, as he was called to Vienna to manage the affairs of the mint. By the way, all department heads were given the rank of mining councilor. ; The Empress's decree also specifically drew attention to the importance of forests and forestry, which was also included in the curriculum in later decades. Professors were required to write a printed textbook for their own taught subject. Scopoli published a mineralogical work, Delius published an internationally respected textbook on mining. Poda wrote the volume on mechanics and engineering. From the beginning, emphasis was placed on practical training, and the aforementioned teachers, as well as Antal Ruprecht (Szomolnok), who replaced Scopoli, developed the laboratory teaching method, which later spread throughout Europe (through the mediation of the École Polytechnique in Paris). Students took exams quarterly and education continued throughout the year. At this time, those student traditions and customs were also formed, which later survived after the institution was moved to Sopron and Miskolc. ; The first golden age of the Academy was the last third of the 18th century. It became famous Europe and America as well. Its students included not only Hungarians, but also those from many countries of the European continent who wanted to acquire in-depth mining and metallurgical expertise. Several renowned European scientists spent a few months in Selmecbánya (primarily Italians such as Alessandro Volta, Savaresi, Tondi, Lippi, etc.) to conduct research. From the first decade of the 19th century onwards, the importance of the Academy gradually declined, which was not due to the decline in the level of education, but rather to the decline of mining, and also to the fact that the main thrust of scientific and technical research was directed towards other areas. At the same time, new theoretical subjects were introduced (the teaching of descriptive geometry and architecture began in the late 1830s), and in the 1839/1840 academic year, education began at the Department of Mineralogy, Geology and Paleontology. At that time, the Royal Chamber was already engaged in a comprehensive with the reform plan, which included the modernization of education and the introduction of forestry engineering training. Since 1808, a two-year forestry institute had operated in the city as an institution of the High Chamber Count, which was elevated to academic status in 1838 and attached to the mining academy. Finally, on October 6, 1846, Ferdinand V approved the establishment of the Berg- und Forstakademie (Mining-Metallurgy and Forestry Academy). The study period of mining-metallurgy students was extended to four years, while forestry students studied for three years. The teaching staff consisted of six professors with the rank of mining councilor, one assistant professor and five assistant professors, and three honorary lecturers completed the teaching staff. In the late 1840s and early 1850s, Christian Doppler was a teacher at the Academy for a few years. (1803–1853) was a world-famous physicist and mathematician born in Salzburg, who discovered the Doppler effect (the frequency of a wave emitted by a moving wave source is greater or lesser for an observer as the source approaches or moves away from him). Since the academy trained specialists for the entire Habsburg Empire, the students included members of all nationalities living in the country, and many foreign students also studied here. The individual nationalities established various national organizations, literary and language associations, etc., so the academy also became the base for individual national aspirations. The Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848/49 brought a significant change in the operation of the institution. Nearly half of the approximately 300 students were of German or Czech-Moravian nationality, and the vast majority decided to leave. They sought to find a place in Leoben, Austria, and Příbram, Czech Republic. hastily set up a similar institution. ; These later rose to academic status (Leoben – 1860, Příbram – 1865) and thus the Selmecbánya Academy was no longer the only higher education institute for mining officers in the Monarchy. On March 18, 1848, the Hungarian Royal Court Chamber issued a decree calling on the Academy to use Hungarian as the language of instruction from the autumn of 1848 in the new academic year. However, this Magyarization effort was hindered by the fact that many of the teachers did not speak Hungarian, but an even greater problem was the lack of Hungarian mining and forestry terminology, so this Hungarian terminology had to be created first. Due to the war conditions, this started with difficulty, and in addition, most of the students did not return to Selmecbánya, so teaching was also suspended. It was only in 1850 that education and training resumed. Its language remained German, and only after the Compromise of 1867 did it become a Hungarian state institution (until then it was under the control of the Austrian court chamber) under the name of the Royal Hungarian Mining and Forestry Academy. From 1868, Hungarian became the language of education and from then on we can count the second heyday of the Academy, lasting for half a century. Primarily, the training of specialists in Hungarian, the creation of the Hungarian mining and metallurgical and forestry technical language, and the development and application of modern, in many cases self-developed, innovative technologies can be considered the great achievements of the institution, but the scientific activity carried out by the teachers of the academy should not be underestimated either. In 1867, Antal Péch launched the journal Mining and Metallurgical Papers at his own expense, which was published by the Academy of Selmecbánya between 1871 and 1903. The articles published in this journal The Mining and Metallurgy Literature Support Association was founded in the same place. From this, the National Hungarian Mining and Metallurgy Association, which is still active today, was established in Selmecbánya in 1892. At its 1894 Selmec executive session, also based on Antal Péch's proposal, the greeting "Good luck" was born. The plan for the renewal of the Academy was approved by Franz Joseph I on August 15, 1872. Accordingly, the director of the institution was elected by the academic council from then on. New departments were established, so that a total of 12 departments operated in the mining and metallurgy department and 3 departments in the forestry department. An important change was that the previously unified "mining" training program became four majors: mining, metallurgy, ferrometallurgy and mechanical engineering-architecture. Forestry training also took place in two majors: general forestry and in forestry engineering. ; The basic education was almost the same in all majors in the first year, specialization gradually began from the second year. The curriculum remained essentially unchanged until 1895 (at which time the mechanical engineering-architecture major was abolished in Selmecbánya) and until the college reform of 1904, with only minor modifications. In connection with the reform, the institution of a state examination after obtaining the absolutórium and two years of industrial practice was introduced in 1876, upon completion of which graduates received a diploma. The registration of diplomas did not include the term engineer until 1895, and only then did entries referring to engineering qualifications officially appear (for example, mining engineer, metallurgical engineer, iron smelting engineer). With the development of industry and technical knowledge, the need for further reforms became increasingly strong. As a result, in 1904 the Academy was transformed into the Academy of Mining and Forestry It was renamed a college, and its head was called the rector from then on. The number of departments increased to twenty, the duration of education became uniformly four years, and specialization was retained. It is important to highlight that the basic education in natural sciences was given great importance, and the number of hours in mathematics and natural sciences was 10–30% more than in similar colleges in Europe, but even than the number of hours in the Budapest University of Technology. This promising development was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. In the 1913/14 academic year, the college still had 580 students, and between 1914 and 1918 the number of students did not reach a hundred, some of the students were conscripted (many of them died or were taken prisoner of war), and as a result of the change of empire in 1918, the teachers and students of the college took possession of the institution's movable property (with the exception of the laboratory and educational equipment, most of which remained in place), and the library were packed in crates and evacuated first to Budapest, and then to Sopron in the spring of 1919. Most of the teachers from Selmecbánya also moved here, so education could continue, albeit under unfavorable circumstances, from the fall of 1919. Later, after 1945, the training of mining and metallurgical specialists was transferred to Miskolc, while the training of forestry specialists remained in Sopron.