Ferenc Pavai Vajna

* Csongva, March 6, 1886 – † Szekszárd, January 12, 1964 / geologist ; ; He was a student of the Nagyenyed dormitory. After completing his university studies in Budapest, he received a doctorate in geology in 1910, and in 1911 he became an assistant professor at the Department of Mineralogy, Geology and Colony at the Selmecbánya Academy alongside Hugó Böckh – together with István Vitalis and Simon Papp. He played a significant role in hydrocarbon exploration in Transylvania in 1912–1914, in Croatia between 1915–1918, and then in Transdanubia from 1918. At the end of 1920, he was assigned to the Mining Department of the Ministry of Finance as a geological expert and head of the explorations. In 1930, he was the chief geologist of the Geological Institute until his retirement in 1944. His work primarily covered the fields of tectonics, petroleum geology and hydrogeology, and he was one of the pioneers of domestic petroleum and natural gas exploration. He also dealt with speleology and ethnography. He is credited with the exploration of several significant medicinal and thermal waters (Szeged, Hajdúszoboszló, Karcag, Debrecen, Szolnok). At the end of his life, he was mainly concerned with the issues of utilizing geothermal energy obtained from thermal waters.