John Bokay

* Igló, 18 May 1822 – † Budapest, 20 October 1884 / physician, surgeon, ophthalmologist, pediatrician, university professor ; ; The family was originally called Bock, and János Bókay Hungarianized the name in 1849 – at the encouragement of Mór Jókai. He began his secondary school studies in his hometown, then continued in Rozsnyó, Levoca and Prešov. He only learned Hungarian when he was 16. He studied law in Sárospatak, but it was not to his liking, so in 1841 he enrolled in the medical faculty of the University of Pest, where he studied for four years, then continued his studies in Vienna, and finally obtained his medical degree in Pest in 1847. He became an assistant physician at the children's hospital run by Professor Ágost Schöpf-Merei (1804–1858) and began to work in orthopedics. He then became actively involved in the March Youth Movement and served as a national guard during the 1848/49 War of Independence. After the suppression of the War of Independence, his boss, Ágost Schöpf-Merei, emigrated together with Lajos Kossuth, so János Bókay temporarily took over the management of the children's hospital. This became the centre of paediatrics in Hungary, and later grew into the National Children's Hospital, where not only the number of beds increased, but it became possible for sick babies to stay with their mothers in the hospital. In 1861, he became a private lecturer in paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine in Pest, an extraordinary lecturer in 1867, and a regular lecturer in 1874. He considered it important that midwives, in addition to doctors, should also be prepared to apply modern knowledge. Bókay was a member of the group of medical scientists that became known as the “Pest Medical School”. He directed the National Central Smallpox Prevention Institute, which organized smallpox vaccinations in Hungary. He often published in contemporary journals (Orvosi Hetilap, Zeitschrift für Natur- und Heilkunde, etc.) and medical yearbooks. ; ; His main works: ; On the abscesses of the back of the throat. (Abscessus retropharyngealis) and the lymph nodes of the back of the throat (Lymphadenitis retropharyngealis) in children, 1876, ; Über Retropharyngeal-Abscesse bei Kindern, 1876, ; Krankheiten der männlichen Sexualorgane. Die Krankheiten der Harnblase and Die Krankheiten des Mastdarms und des Afters, 1878–79. ; ; Two sons, Jr. János Bókay (1858–1937) and Árpád Bókay (1856–1919) also chose the medical profession. The former became a pediatrician and in 1916, as a university professor, introduced pediatrics as a mandatory final exam subject. The latter dealt with internal medicine and pharmacology and was a leading representative of the Hungarian Freemasonry movement.