William Westsik

* Modor, March 3, 1883 – † Nyíregyháza, January 29, 1976 / agricultural engineer, teacher ; ; He began his school studies in his hometown and between 1898 and 1902 he obtained a teaching certificate at the State Teacher Training Institute in Modor, and in 1905 he obtained a farmer's certificate at the Higher Agricultural College in Keszthely. From March 1, 1906, he taught as an intern at the agricultural school in Kecskemét and obtained a specialist teacher's qualification in 1907. In 1909 and 1910, he taught in Jászberény and met his future wife and colleague, Etelka Farkas, here. In 1910–1913 he taught at the Vocational Training Institute in Kecskemét, and between 1913–1919 at the Slovak (!) agricultural training school in Árvaváralja. In 1919 he moved with his family to Kiskunfélegyháza, where he worked as an economic specialist teacher at the State Teacher Training Institute until 1921, then became an economic specialist inspector in the Kiskunfélegyháza district. In 1924, due to his wounds sustained in World War I, he was retired, but in 1928 he returned to work and from 1929 to 1957 he headed the Sand Improvement Experimental Farm in Nyíregyháza. He was the scientific founder of the improvement and utilization of sandy areas in Hungary. His sandy soil experiments were also noticed abroad. He developed the principles of soil cultivation, crop rotation and organic matter replenishment in sandy areas. In recognition of his scientific work, he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1958. He successfully ; turned his motto: “The sand is the room!” into reality. ; ; His main works: ; Pig breeding and fattening, 1913, ; Reasonable agriculture of the Great Plain's quicksand soils, 1927, ; Reasonable crop production, 1928, ; Animal husbandry information, 1934, ; Sand farmer, 1936, ; 10-year operating results of sandy crop rotations, 1941, ; Economic operations and accounting, 1941, ; Reasonable cultivation of loose sandy soils, 1951, ; Reasonable results of experiments with sandy crop rotations, 1951 (in Czech: 1955), ; Reasonable crop production, 1958, ; Crop rotation experiments on sandy soil, 1968.