Szalay László, a Magyar Tudós Társaság titkára
László Szalay, Secretary of the Hungarian Scientific Society

Summary/Abstract: The study examines a more obscure period of the life of László Szalay (1813–1864), a key figure of political and social life in Hungary in the 19th century and of Hungarian historiography in general: his activities as secretary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Szalay, who had been elected as secretary of the Academy, thanks to the effective intervention of his political allies, at the great assembly convoked in December 1861, held the post for some two and a half years. In his program he endorsed modern ideas of scientific policy elaborated jointly by the former and the new leadership of the Academy: he urged for a high level cultivation of the sciences, a leading and coordinating role to be assumed by the Academy in Hungarian cultural and scientific life, and for an increased popularization and dissemination of the results of the different sciences. As a devoted partisan of civic values, he opposed the romantics who praised unconditionally the glorious past of the nation, but at the same time he proclaimed self-consciously his own Hungarian identity. He also rejected those extreme views which regarded both the Hungarians in general and their scientific and cultural achievements as „inferior” to the developments accomplished by the Western nations. He imagined the rise of the Hungarian nation in the framework of an effective scientific collaboration with the European nations, preserving in the process national characteristics and traditions alike. He urged for the establishment of a basic pool of social scientific knowledge on a national level, and was convinced that profound scientific examinations were the only means by which the history and culture both of his own country and of other nations could be sufficiently understood. During his office as secretary, Szalay engaged himself to promote three major programs of scientific policy, and actively supported their realization: the discovery of the Corvina codices at Istanbul, the establishment of the Hungarian statistical office, and the creation of the National Committee for the Supervision of Monuments for the more effective operation of the protection of national historic buildings. He played an important role in the everyday shaping of scientific life at the Academy, such as organizing the work of individual departments and committees, maintaining relations between the Scientific Society and the different governmental offices, before all the Hungarian Royal Lieutenancy Council, organizing cooperation with foreign academies and scientific societies, developing the academic library, supervising scholarships announced by the Academy, and taking care of various material offerings made for the benefit of it. His manifold and high-level activities as secretary in fact amounted to an „expansion of the civic spirit of science” in the history of the Academy.

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