Antal Pech

* June 14, 1822, Nagyvárad + September 18, 1895, Selmecbánya / mining engineer, ministerial advisor, retired mine director ; ; Antal Péch's father, Antal Péch, and his mother, Walter Francziska, lived their civilian life in Nagyvárad. He was born there on January 14, 1822. He initially attended school in Latin in Nagyvárad, later in Timisoara, and in German. He completed his liberal arts degree in Nagyvárad in 1838. That same year, he arrived at the Mining Academy in Selmecbánya, where he graduated from the mining department in 1842 with a diploma of excellence after diligent study, earning a scholarship. He then entered the treasury service. In 1848, as a mining officer in Körmöc, he was assigned to the mining department of Kossuth's Ministry of Finance. He spent the last week of the revolution as a volunteer in Alexander the Great's camp. However, since he was not a "real" soldier, he was not sentenced to prison. He was also promised a job during the absolutist government, but he refused the treasury assignment. He refused to sign a statement that he was disappointed in his previous political beliefs. He preferred to work for a pittance in order to support his large family. (Pauer J., 1896. p. 355) László Zsámboki writes about him: "He was a true Hungarian man, who wore his Hungarianness not on the lapel of his coat, but in his heart, whose Hungarianness was proclaimed by his actions: Hungarian vocational education, specialized language, specialized literature, specialized journals, professional associations and Hungarian miners' and metallurgists' greetings." (Zsámboki L. ed., 1993. p. 242) ; Antal Péch was again appointed to the Ministry of Finance in 1867, after the Compromise. Before that, he was a coal mine director in Bohemia, a daily wage earner at the Tisza regulation, a mine manager in Prussia and the Mátra, and a tenant at the Nógrád coal mines. As a departmental advisor to the ministry, he did a lot for the reorganization of state mining and metallurgy. ; The diverse oeuvre of our distinguished personality was characterized by a high level of professionalism, the “strive for strict accuracy” and the “depth of thought”. Social dedication and “solid human attitude” were also characteristics of his character. He modernized the health and insurance system of the Selmec mining district, thereby making the lives of the miners more humane. ; He always examined mining in its complexity. He perfected technology: in order to speed up the work of underground mines, he introduced the use of compressed air-powered drilling machines, improved the methods of mine mapping, and promoted the improvement of smelting plants. (Pauer J., 1896. p. 356) ; The excellent mining engineer was a pioneer in the study of earth crust movements, and he also has great merit in creating the Hungarian mining terminology. (Kenyeres Á. ed., 1966. p. 181) In 1868, he launched the first Hungarian-language journal, Mining and Metallurgy Papers. The aim of publishing the monthly journal was to provide space for the presentation of “interesting domestic phenomena, experiences and experiments”, the geological description of individual regions, and the presentation of foreign publications in Hungarian. ; In the editorial greeting of the first issue, he writes, among other things: “How we need such a medium, which would transform the knowledge, experiences and results of our individual colleagues into the common property of all of us in the shortest possible way, which would bring together the interesting and instructive from all corners of the wide world, so that we could enjoy it and through it spread our knowledge, which would give opportunity and space to everyone who feels called to leave a mark of their intellectual activity in the transformation process that resulted in the development of our mining industry – who could deny that we need such a medium?” (Péch A., 1868.); In 1879, the Hungarian and German Mining Dictionary was published in Selmecbánya (the German–Hungarian dictionary was published there in 1891). He rendered an invaluable service to the profession with his work and contributed greatly to the establishment of the Hungarian mining terminology. In his preface we can read the following: “…I am not at all satisfied with this work, because I know very well how incomplete it is, but I finally had to finish it and hand it over to the public as it is, because if I had wanted to wait for my dictionary to be complete and perfect, it would have had to remain in manuscript forever.” ; In the first volume of the Pallas Nagy Lexikona, published in Budapest in 1893, he wrote several headings from the field of mining. He also discussed the past of mining in many of his studies. He considered such research important, and “for him, history is not a hide-and-seek or a defensive escape, but part of a program that builds the future.” (Zsámboki L., 1993. p. 242) ; Antal Péch also published several books related to mining. His work entitled Principles and Practical Rules of Ore Preparation was published in Budapest in 1869. His book entitled History of the Selmec Mining Companies was published there in 1884. Also in 1884, the publication entitled History of Mining in Lower Hungary was published in Budapest. In 1885, he published another book in Selmec titled Description of the geological structure of the Selmec mining region and the mining conditions of the Upper Biebertárna mines. ; The most significant mining engineer of the second half of the 19th century was the director of the Selmec mining district from 1873 for a decade and a half. He did not turn his back on public life even after his retirement. From 1889 to 1892, he was a member of parliament. In 1892, he became an honorary member of the National Hungarian Mining and Metallurgical Association founded in Selmecbánya. ; The great figure of Hungarian economic and scientific life died in Selmecbánya on September 18, 1895. He was a man who “for him service, not office and position, was important”. He worked to promote mining and the prosperity of the homeland. ; In one of his late confessions, we can read these lines that are also worthy of ars poetica: “…and I am already old, whose days are numbered. But I would not be a miner if I gave up my company because of the distance of the goal. A miner rarely achieves the results of his larger companies, but he continues his work with unflagging diligence, because he knows that the company that has started in the right direction will be led to its goal by others, when he has already failed!” (Péch A., 1993. p. 243) ; ; Honors: ; - Order of the Iron Crown in 1870. ; - Honorary Citizen of Selmecbánya in 1878. ; - Knight's Cross of Lipótrend in 1879. ; - Grand Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1857. ; - Grand Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1863. ; ; Outstanding literary works: ; Theory of ore preparation. Selmec. 1869. ; Report on the condition of state mines and smelters in the districts of Selmec and Diósgyőr. Budapest. 1873 ; - Compilation of mine maps. Budapest. 1878 ; - Hungarian-German and German-Hungarian Mining Dictionary. Budapest. 1879, 1890 ; - Hungarian and German mining dictionary. Selmec. 1879 (MEK) ; - The influence of scientific progress on mining in the Selmec region. Budapest. 1881 (REAL-EOD) ; - History of mining in Lower Hungary. Selmecbánya-Budapest. 1884-1887 (MEK) ; - The past, present and future of mining in Selmec. Budapest. 1884, 1887 ; - Hungarian and German mining dictionary.. Selmecz. 1891 (REAL-EOD)