Laszlo Palotas (Prokopec)

* Érsekújvár, January 26, 1905 – † Budapest, September 13, 1993 / architectural engineer, university professor, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ; ; Originally he was László Prokopec, he only used the surname Palotás from 1934. He lost his father very early, the family lived in great poverty, so as a second-grade elementary school student he read newspaper articles aloud to his neighbors in exchange for a benefit in kind. He had students during his high school and university years, and he led preparatory courses in order to financially support his family. In 1928 he obtained an architectural engineering degree from the Budapest University of Technology, and in 1937 a technical doctorate. Between 1929 and 1936 he was a teaching assistant at the II. He worked at the Department of Bridge Engineering, as an official of the Ministry of Trade and Transport from 1936, then as its chief engineer and ministerial advisor from 1945 to 1948. In 1948, he founded the State Civil Engineering and Design Institute, of which he became its first director. From 1950 to 1954, he worked as the deputy general manager of the Underground Railway Investment Company. In the meantime, he taught as a professor at the departments of bridge engineering, mechanics and supporting structures at the Budapest University of Technology and the Szolnok University of Transport and Engineering. From 1963 to 1968, he was the head of the department of building materials at BME30, as well as the head of the concrete and reinforced concrete construction laboratory. He was retired in 1969, but he remained active as a scientific advisor to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Hungarian University of Technology for many years. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences elected him a corresponding member in 1990 and a full member in 1991. He was called a polyhistor of concrete technology, and he dealt with frame structures, reinforced concrete statics and reinforced concrete strength. He also designed the Bratislava Bridge. He published more than 115 scientific papers, and was the author, co-author and editor of two dozen books. He was the editor-in-chief and one of the authors of the five-volume Engineering Handbook (1955–1965). After his death, an architectural award was named after him. ; ; His main works: ; A beton, 1934, ; Eljárás keremeszterkek számkásárára, 1936, ; Keretskreveteks I-III., 1943–1947, ; Két őrőlángan térférbíró keremeszterlemez, 1944, ; Theory and calculation of frames, 1951, ; Quality concrete, 1952, ; Calculation of retaining lattices, 1953, ; Strength of reinforced concrete (with Győző Mihailich), 1964, ; Reinforced concrete architecture. I-II., 1964–1967, ; Fracture theory of reinforced concrete structures, 1966, ; Fundamentals of building materials, 1967, ; Theory of reinforced concrete, 1974, ; Materials science of engineering structures. I-III., 1979–1980.