AASP Primary Records Program

AASP Newsletter 37(2): p. 8-9, 2004.

On the 6th of November, 2004, Prof. Kedves Miklós, a widely known Hungarian palynologist, passed away unexpectedly in his home in Szeged, Hungary.

He was born on the 21st of March, 1933 in Szeged and was also educated there. He graduated in biology and chemistry at the University of Szeged in 1955. In the beginning he had taught in a grammar school and after three years in 1958 he took his doctorate with „summa cum laude” qualifications and returned to the university in Szeged as an assistant lecturer. He was appointed to be senior lecturer in 1963 and after two years when he obtained candidate’s degree in Biological Science he became reader till 1975. Meanwhile, in 1974 he took the degree of „Doctor of Biological Science”, the highest academic degree of the Hungarian Academy of Science. That time onward he did research and was a lecturer at the university as a full-time ministerial researcher and consultant. Due to the compulsory staff reduction at the university he was retired on the 1st of May, 1986. However, it was perceived by professional circles neither at home nor abroad, since he continued work, did research, taught at the university, organized field trips and travelled to Spain, India, etc. with undiminished energy. He established a laboratory at the Botanical Department of the university under the name of "Cell Biological and Evolutionary Micropalaeontological Laboratory”, which became widely known among experts. Supported financially by applications he published a brochure regularly under the name of "Plant Cell Biology and Development”. Meanwhile, he gave lectures in palynology at the Department of Palaeontology of the Eötvös Lóránd University and was pronounced habilitated doctor by the Habilitation Committee and the Rector of the university on the 7th of March, 1996.

His scientific public activity was quite far-reaching. He was a member of the Hungarian Biological Society, the Hungarian Geological Society, the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists, the Association des Palynologues de Langue Francaise, the Association Internationale de Palynologie Africaine, the New York Academy of Science, the Research Fellow of the American Biographical Institute USA and the National Committee of the ICSU International Geosphere – Biosphere Programme in which he was responsible for the following themes: Techniques for Extracting Environmental Data of the Past; Evolutions of the biopolymer system of the cell walls; Adaption mechanisms of plants and the palaeophytogeographical changes based on micro- and macro-remains.

Appointments held by him in various organizations were always coupled with active work and participation. He was a member of three, the Microbiological, Palaeontological, and the Geonomical Scientific Committees of the Hungarian Academy of Science.

Among his editorial activity first of all the establishment of the serial "Plant Cell Biology and Development” is noteworthy. Sixteen volumes of the serial were published between 1991 and 2004. He was a member of the editorial boards of Acta Botanica (published by the Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest), Geologija (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Taiwania (Taipei, Taiwan).

At the beginning of his career, in 1966-67 he spent one year in Paris granted by the CNRS. In 1969-70 he accomplished investigations in Cairo for three months supported by the Hungarian Academy of Science. In the scope of a research cooperation of the NSF and KKI he was afforded the possibility to have research for three months in Athens, Georgia, USA. In addition, he spent several weeks abroad either with invitation or with the financial support of the Hungarian Academy. His scientific achievement is well indicated by the high number of his publications. He had more than 450 publications among which monographies, volumes published by the Akadémiai Kiadó, the Oxford University Press and the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation are to be found. His works were published in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, South Africa, Egypt, United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, India, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, Peoples Republic of China, Columbia, Cuba, Morocco, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, the former Soviet Union, Tunezia and the USA.

He was awarded twice abroad as an appreciation of his scientific work. First in 1986 he was given the honour "Medalla universitaria con el sello del estudio que se entrega en conmemoraciones o en atención a servicios distinguidos” of the Salamanca University, Spain and later in 1995 he was awarded with the "Birbal Sahni Centenary Medal” from the Institute in Lucknow, India.

Miklos Kedves will be warmly remembered both by his colleagues and friends and his research activity will be missing from Hungarian palynology.