George Marczell

* Bratislava, April 10, 1871 – † Budapest, February 1, 1943 / meteorologist ; ; He graduated from the secondary school in his hometown. He was a student of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Budapest, but did not obtain a diploma. In 1894 he joined the Meteorological Institute. He first worked at the Kiskartal observatory, but the director Miklós Konkoly Thege (Ógyalla) recognized him as a sharp-sighted specialist with great technical sense and in 1899 he was transferred to Ógyalla, where he had ample opportunity to design and construct instruments. According to Marczell's plans, the European-famous meteorological, geomagnetic, and later earthquake observatory was built in Ógyalla, of which he was also the first director until 1904. In 1904 he was transferred to the Meteorological Institute of Budapest. When the idea of establishing a mountain observatory in the Tatra Mountains arose, Marczell was entrusted with the design. In 1910, he set up an observation station in the Dobsina ice cave and studied the flow and temperature conditions of the ice cave. He designed and built an instrument verification cabinet in Munich. In 1912, he organized our country's participation in international aerological research. On January 1, 1913, the first pilot anemometer balloon took off in Budapest, and on January 3, the first instrument balloon took off. This marked the beginning of stratospheric research in our country. In World War I, he examined and verified the army's altimeters, and even made wind measurements on the Italian front, helping the pilots with their combat tasks. In 1927, he conducted temperature and flow tests in the Aggtelek cave. When the Laki-hegy radio tower was erected in 1933, he personally installed an anemometer on the top of the tower, at a height of 300 m. Marczell initiated research on terrestrial currents, atmospheric electricity, and solar radiation in our country. He organized geomagnetic measurements in Belgrade. On September 29, 1927, he became deputy director of the National Meteorological and Geomagnetic Institute. In 1933, the governor appointed him director of the institute. On April 30, 1934, he retired, but continued to visit the institute regularly and became an advisor to young people. He published a few independent publications. His articles were published in Az Időjárás from 1897 to 1942, one almost every year, thirty in total. Several of his papers were also published in the Geographical Bulletins. He was the first to develop the method of microclimatic observations and the mathematical processing of the results in Hungary, but he was also the founder of upper atmosphere research. The Pestlőrinc Observatory was named after him. In 1938, he returned to the Ógyalla Observatory, where he renovated the geomagnetic measurements. He repaired instruments and taught young people until 1942. However, due to his illness, he had to return to Budapest, where he soon died.