Jenő Kvassay

Jenő Kvassay (Buda, 5 July 1850 – Budapest, 6 June 1919) was a civil engineer, specializing in hydraulic engineering. He was a significant figure in the development of the Hungarian water service.

Bust of Jenő Kvassay
Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture
The native form of this personal name is Kvassay Jenő. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

After studying mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Pest, he attended the Hungarian Royal Economic Academy in Magyaróvár. He completed his education at the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris.[1]

In 1876, Kvassay was the first to trace the saline pollution in the Great Hungarian Plain to the salt deposits (Lower Triassic evaporites) in the Austrian mountains.[2] Although, later research also confirmed the hypothesis of József Szabó that weathering of peralkaline and alkaline rocks also contributed to this effect.[2]

He went to work at the Hungarian Agricultural Ministry, and in 1879 founded and became the director of their "Civil Engineering Institute" (Kultúrmérnöki Szolgálat) which was primarily concerned with flood-prevention, irrigation and the development of agricultural water resources.[3] This later became the "National Water Bureau" (Országos Vízügyi Főigazgatóság (OVF)). The current (2014-2020) national comprehensive water plan in Hungary is the "Jenő Kvassey Plan" (A Kvassay Jenő Terv).[4]

Awards

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences awarded him the Fáy Award for his work Mezőgazdasági vízműtan (Agricultural Water Works), and in 1918 they awarded Kvassay the Wahrman Prize for his work.[5]

Notes and references
  1. ’Kvassay’ Commemoration Committee (30 March 2015). "Public contribution for the renovation of the Kvassay graveyard in the cemetery of "Őrbottyán"". Archived from the original on 21 August 2018.
  2. Pál, Sümegi; et al. (2013). "The Late Quaternary Paleoecology and Environmental History of Hortobágy, a Unique Mosaic Alkaline Steppe". In Morales Prieto, Manuel B.; Traba Diaz, Juan (eds.). Steppe Ecosystems: Biological Diversity, Management and Restoration. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. pp. 165–193. ISBN 978-1-62808-298-2.
  3. Pál, Viktor (2017). Technology and the Environment in State-Socialist Hungary: An Economic History. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Verlag. p. 28. ISBN 978-3-319-63832-4.
  4. Pákozdi, József (19 September 2014). "A Kvassay Jenő Terv" (in Hungarian). Országos Vízügyi Főigazgatóság [National Water Bureau]. Archived from the original on 17 April 2017.
  5. Károlyi Zsigmond, P. "Kvassay Jenő" (in Hungarian). Tudósnaptár: História. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014.

Further reading
  • Fischer, Frigyes (1932). "Kvassay Jenő emlékének megőrőkítése" [Commemorating Jenő Kvassay]. Vízügyi Kőzlemények. 14 (1): 6–8.
  • Trummer, Árpád; Lászlóffy, Woldemár (1940). A Kultúrmérnöki Intézmény hat évtizede. 1879-1939 (in Hungarian). Budapest: Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture. OCLC 909844179.
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