Ervin Barlai

* Korompa, June 19, 1899 – † Budapest, July 3, 1967 / forestry engineer, economist ; ; In 1901, his family moved to Selmecbánya, where his father, Béla Barlai (Selmecbánya), was a professor at the Ferrous Metallurgy Department of the Academy of Mining and Forestry. He graduated from high school in Selmecbánya in 1916, but due to the war situation he could not begin his university studies, but instead took a job at the Skoda factory in Pilsen, and then went to the Italian front, where he was seriously wounded, the scars of which he bore for the rest of his life. After the war, he moved to Sopron, where he began his forestry engineering studies at the Academy of Mining and Forestry, which had been relocated there from Selmecbánya. He received his diploma in 1923. In Bánokszentgyörgy, Zala County, he gained practical experience in various areas in the forestry of the Esterházy Faith Commission. From 1929 he was the manager of the sawmill below. Already at that time his modern economic approach and organizational skills were evident. The raw material for the lumber was transported on a 22 km narrow-gauge forest railway initiated by him, and by modernizing the equipment he developed the sawmill below into a high-capacity model plant. He was the first to apply plant statistical methods. Between 1941 and 1944, he was the manager of the sawmills of the Hungarian-Italian Latorca Industrial and Economic Co. Ltd. in Munkács and the company's technical director. After 1945 he became one of the innovators of Hungarian forestry and wood industry production. In 1946 he published his work entitled Forestry Policy Guidelines, in which he formulated the most important tasks of modern forestry. One of his famous slogans was: “Without forests, there is no Hungary!”. Between 1946 and 1949, he was the executive director of the Hungarian State Forestry Enterprises (MÁLLERD). After the communist takeover, he had several conflicts with the country’s political leadership, which advocated intensive logging. For this reason, he came under political attack and was even arrested by the ÁVH82. The proceedings were eventually terminated and he was entrusted with organizing the research base of the Wood Industry Research Institute, established in 1950. Examining the physical and technical properties of various types of wood, he realized that the characteristics of acacia wood could be influenced by pressurized steam, so that the wood could be made carvable and suitable for pencil production. This realization was patented in 1957. As a university and college lecturer, he trained many excellent specialists. He edited the journal Faipar and the publication Faipari Kutatások, which published the publications of the Wood Industry Research Institute, and was a collaborator of the Forestry, Hunting and Wood Industry Lexicon, as well as the Wood Industry Handbook. He also wrote several university notes and textbooks. ; ; His main works: ; Modern sawmill and sawing (with Gyula Simonkay), 1943, ; Macroscopic determination of our most important wood species, 1952, ; Special sawmill and glued panel technology (with Marián Salamon), 1952, ; Wood industry machine worker (with László Lázár and László Samu), 1964, ; Technology of veneer and plywood production (with Armand Lugosi and Imre Gönczöl), 1965.