Alexander Vitalis

* Selmecbánya, April 13, 1900 – † Budapest, June 21, 1976 / geologist, university professor, Kossuth Prize winner (1951) ; ; Son of István Vitalis. He enrolled at the Budapest University of Science and Technology in 1917. In 1922 he received a diploma in natural history and geography, and in 1923 he obtained a doctoral degree with a thesis on mining geology. At the University of Science and Technology in Szeged he obtained a private teacher's qualification in the subject of the hydrogeology of Hungary (1942). From 1922 to 1946, as the company geologist of the Salgótarján Coal Mine Co., Ltd., he directed the company's coal explorations in the areas of Pécs, Komló, Kátász (1922–24), Szászvár (1925–27) and in Austria (1928). Later, he headed the geology department at the company's headquarters (1929–46) until nationalization. In 1946, he was entrusted with the organization and management of national coal exploration. In 1952, he was arrested on false charges, rehabilitated in 1954 and appointed as a professor at the Department of Applied Geology at the Budapest University of Science and Technology. He headed his department until his retirement (1971). In addition to his geological and hydrogeological research, he dealt with the drinking and industrial water supply of mining sites, cities, and industrial plants. ; In addition to the national coal exploration and coal resource survey, he also led the domestic research of radioactive materials, the research and exploration of bentonite deposits of the Recsk ore exploration. On his initiative, the geological remapping and hydrogeological mapping of the country began. He advocated the investigation of the previously relatively neglected area of the Great Plain. He also contributed to the training of skilled workers and specialists. His versatile literary work consists largely of unpublished expert opinions, and the number of his published works exceeds one hundred. His work entitled Hungary's Coal Reserve (1948) remained in manuscript. His more important studies were published in the Hydrological Journal (Hydrogeological conditions of Sikondafürdő and its surroundings, 1933, Water supply of the town of Salgótarján county, 1938, Hydrogeological conditions of Rózsaszentmárton and its surroundings, 1941).