George Barta

* Poprád, October 29, 1915 – † Budapest, October 21, 1992 / geophysicist, meteorologist, university professor, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1982) ; ; After his father's death (1918), the family moved to Kispest. He graduated from the local Deák Ferenc Gymnasium in 1933. He obtained a mathematics and physics teaching certificate from the Pázmány Péter University in Budapest in 1939 (he was inaugurated as a doctor of humanities in Debrecen in 1947). His first job was at the National Meteorological and Geomagnetic Institute (OMFI). As a colleague of the Institute, at the suggestion of Director Antal Réthly, the National Scholarship Council provided him with the opportunity to study geomagnetic observatories in Germany and Denmark in 1941–1942. After his return home, he worked on geomagnetic observations and the development of the service at the Ógyalla Observatory under the leadership of György Marczell. In 1943, he conducted magnetic field measurements in Northern Transylvania. In 1947, at the request of the Eötvös Loránd Geophysical Institute, he participated in the salt exploration work around Pálháza. In 1948, Director Antal Réthly commissioned him to reorganize the geomagnetic service, given that geomagnetic research had ceased in the country with the re-annexation of Ógyalla. At that time, Barta established a geomagnetic research station in Budakeszi, which operated there until 1955. In 1949, he prepared the country's geomagnetic base network and also conducted successful experimental measurements. On September 1, 1950, the OMI gave up on geomagnetic studies (the word geomagnetics was also removed from the name of the Institute at that time) and this area was transferred to the Hungarian State Eötvös Loránd Geophysical Institute. ; György Barta also left for the Geophysical Institute, where he was appointed head of department. For his geomagnetic research results, he was awarded the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences in 1952 and the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences in 1956. In 1970, he became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, then a full member in 1982. Between 1971 and 1985, he was the head of the Department of Geophysics at ELTE as a university professor. In 1953 and 1954, he was involved in the planning of the Tihany Geophysical Observatory. In 1960, he established the Baja and Nagycenk magnetic observatories. He did significant work in the international dissemination of Hungarian scientific results. The outstanding and lasting value of his scientific work is the 44-year period recognized in the secular change of the geomagnetic field, which he analyzed in a versatile way and developed several ideas for its physical explanation. Later, he also became involved in the investigation of secular changes in gravity, and initiated the continuation of measurements aimed at determining the gravitational constant more precisely – previously carried out by Eötvös and his students – with a new method. He also established that the magnetic century-long change has a so-called superposed wave with a period of about half a century. He produced the geoid as the sum of two rotationally symmetric shapes, and from this he deduced the asymmetric position of the Earth's inner core. He separated the effects of mass inhomogeneities originating from deep and surface in the Earth's shape. He participated in the work of numerous scientific societies and committees. He was a founding member of the Hungarian Geophysicists' Association. He has published two independent books, several textbooks, nearly 100 scientific papers and many popular articles. In 1966 he was awarded the Eötvös Memorial Medal. The Hungarian Meteorological Society awarded him the Steiner Lajos Memorial Medal (1975). In 1973 he received the State Prize. In 1977 he became the owner of the Gauss Medal, and in 1984 the Humboldt Medal. He is credited with organizing and conducting the 1980 COSPAR meeting. ; ; His main works:  ; The structure of a new balance-system barometer (The Weather), 1946, ; The change of the horizontal component and deflection of the geomagnetic force in Transylvania, 1947, ; On the 44-year period of the century-long change of the geomagnetic field (doctoral dissertation), 1954, ; Longitudinal and transverse effects of the centuries-long change of the Earth's magnetic field, 1958, ; On the centuries-long change and distortion of the Earth's force fields (academic chair holder), 1971, ; Cosmic physics (university notes), 1979, ; Some properties of the Earth's core based on the examination of the Earth's force fields (academic chair holder), 1983, ; Essays, memoirs, 1984.