Joseph Kovats

* Lakszakállas, 1807 – † Bátorkeszi, March 6, 1888 / Reformed priest, pomologist ; ; His father, Péter Kováts, was also a Reformed priest, church council judge and writer. He studied theology at the Papal Reformed College, after which he served as a chaplain for a few years and in 1834, at the age of 27, he became a Reformed preacher in Bátorkeszi, where he worked for 53 years. In addition to his pastoral duties, he began to deal with fruit growing with scientific thoroughness from 1840, and was considered one of the most significant Hungarian pomologists of his time. In the second half of the 1850s, he made a long tour of Western Europe to get acquainted with modern fruit growing methods. He spent time in Württemberg, the famous fruit-growing region along the Rhine, and visited Belgium, the Netherlands and Prussia. His fruit tree plantation of several acres in Bátorkesz eventually gained national fame, and Kováts' name was even known abroad. There was great interest in his fruit seedlings both at home and abroad, and a shipload of them even reached Africa. At various exhibitions, including the 1873 Vienna World Exhibition, the varieties he bred won prizes and certificates of recognition. He also received the Golden Cross of the Order of Francis Joseph. He continuously published in Hungarian professional journals of the time (Magyar Gazda, Falusi Gazda, Kertészgazda, Borászati Füzetek) and foreign journals. ; ; His independent publications could be called detailed product catalogs ; (Guide to fruit tree planting, pruning and the fruit species found in the Bátorkesz nursery and available for order in seedlings or grafts, 1861, ; List of names and prices of the fruit and grape plantations in Bátorkesz with educational publications for the 1868-69 and 1869-1870 seasons, 1868-69, ; Descriptive list of the fruit and grape school in Bátorkesz, 1875. ; The Hungarian school in Bátorkesz took the name of József Kováts on April 28, 2001.