ACTA AGRONOMICA TOMUS 23. (A MTA AGRÁRTUDOMÁNYI KÖZLEMÉNYEI, 1974)

1974 / 1-2. szám - CHRONICA - Z. E. KÁRPÁTI†: Zoltán Zsák

Acta Agronomica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Tomus 23 (1—2), pp. 247 —249 (1974) CHRONICA ZOLTÁN ZSÁK (1880—1966) It was on October 13th, 1966, at the age of 87, that Zoltán Zsák, the internationally reknown Hungarian expert of seeds and researcher of Hungarian flora died. With his death his colleagues and friends lost a cheerful companion always ready to help and teach. Zoltán Zsák was born at Nyíregyháza on February 3rd, 1880. He was the second of five children. His parents were Endre Zsák, Lutheran schoolmaster and cantor, and Emilia Nádassy. His father soon recognized the importance of learning and knowing foreign languages and sent his son Zoltán to a North-Hungarian region inhabited by a German speaking popula­tion to acquire a thorough knowledge of German. He attended school there except the last year of the secondary school which he completed — and sat for a final examination — in his home town, in 1898. Being interested in natural sciences the young Zoltán Zsák was matriculated at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Kolozsvár University in the same year. He became especially interested in botany and joined in the work of the Department of Botany under the leadership of Prof. Aladár Richter, where in January 1902 he was also employed. At that time an important change occurred in the life of the University; at the end of the year Vince Borbás was appointed professor of Taxonomy and Plant Geography, and the Depart­ment of Botany was divided into two. Zoltán Zsák worked as assistant to Borbás until the latter's death in 1905, when the two Departments were reunited under the leadership of Prof. Richter. Thus, Zoltán Zsák was pupil and collaborator of both of them. One of Prof. Richter's large-scale projects was to establish the largest possible herbarium at Kolozsvár. For this purpose he collected a vast material, and made his collaborators do the same. So, at both Departments — as assistant to Prof. Borbás or to Prof. Richter — Zoltán Zsák had an opportunity to roam about large areas and collect vast material, which increased his knowledge of plants to a great extent. Zoltán Zsák had extremely keen eyes to notice the slightest differences; this faculty was a great help in his later activity. In 1904 in the gorge of Torda (Transylvania) he discovered a very interesting Valerianella which proved to be a so far unknown hybrid of dentata X rimosa and was named by Vince Borbás Valerianella Zoltáni after its discoverer. In the same year he published his observations on those specimens of the family Fuma­riaceae which differ from the other completely glabrous members in being hairy. These obser­vations were also due to his extremely keen eyes. These results called the attention of Árpád Degen, director of the Seed Testing Station of Budapest to Zoltán Zsák who was invited in 1908 to work at the institute. Árpád Degen wanted to employ the highest possible number of experts to ensure the efficient work of the institute and a possibility for giving correct answers even in the most particular problems. 1 Acta Agronomica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 23, 1974

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