Zoltán Lajos Bay

Zoltán Lajos Bay (1900-1992)"Fizikai Szemle 1999/5 - Zsolt Bor: OPTICS BY HUNGARIANS" (with Zoltán Bay), József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary, 1999 [http://www.kfki.hu/fszemle/archivum/fsz9905/bor.html KFKI-Hungary-Bor] ] was a Hungarian physicist, professor, and engineer who developed microwave technology, including tungsten lamps. He was the first person to observe radar echoes from the Moon. From 1930, he worked at the University of Szeged as a professor of theoretical physics.

In 1923 at Tungsram Ltd., a research laboratory was established for improving light sources, mainly electric bulbs. The head of that laboratory was Ignácz Pfeiffer, whose research staff included Zoltán Bay, along with Tivadar Millner, Imre Bródy, György Szigeti, Ernő Winter, and many others.

György Szigeti worked together with Zoltán Bay on metal-vapor lamps and fluorescent light sources. They received a U.S. patent on "Electroluminescent light sources" which were made of silicon carbide; these light sources were the ancestors of light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Life

Zoltan Bay was born in the town of Gyulavári, Hungary on July 24, 1900."Zoltán Bay, whose name the Foundation bears" (life), Bay Zoltán Institute of Logistics and Production Engineering (Bay-Logi), Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research, 1994, webpage: [http://www.bzlogi.hu/bzaka/bz_a.htm BZLogi Biography at Bay Zoltán Foundation] .] Having finished his secondary school studies in Debrecen, he developed an interest in the technical sciences. His inspirations were famous Hungarian scientists such as János Bólyai and Loránd von Eötvös.

In 1918, Zoltán Bay enrolled at the József Eötvös College and studied at the "Royal Hungarian Péter Pázmány University" (former name of the Budapest University). In 1923, he received a secondary school teacher’s diploma and, in 1926, earned a doctorate in physics.

From 1926 to 1930, Zoltán Bay worked on a scholarship in Germany, where he experienced the character-forming environment of a scientific workshop, and where he also made significant results in analyzing discharges in nitrogen gas and demonstrating the presence of atomic nitrogen.

On returning home to Hungary, Zoltán Bay was appointed head of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Szeged University. In 1936, he began managing the research laboratory of the United Incandescent Lamps and Electrical Co. In 1937, he became a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and in 1945, an ordinary member. In 1938, Bay was appointed professor at the Department of Nuclear Physics in the Technical University of Budapest. In 1946, he conducted successful Moon-radar experiments.

Leaving Hungary in 1948, Zoltán Bay continued his research, working as a professor at George Washington University, United States. His most important achievement at the university was to finish work on development of the electron multiplier, which he had started in Hungary in 1938.

In 1955, Zoltán Bay became head of the Department of Nuclear Physics in the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, called today NIST), where he measured the velocity and frequency of light by a previously unknown measurement method. As a result of Zoltan's research, the 1983 conference of the International Weights and Measures Bureau accepted, as a standard, the definition of a meter (metre) as recommended by Zoltán Bay.

Zoltán Bay retired at the age of 72. In 1981, he was elected as an honorary member into the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Zoltán Bay died on October 4, 1992 at his home in Washington, D.C.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.kfki.hu/fszemle/archivum/fsz9905/bor.html KFKI notes on Zoltan Bay] .
* [http://www.hpo.hu/English/feltalalok/bay.html HPO-Hungary on Zoltan Bay] .
* [http://www.bzlogi.hu/bzaka/bz_a.htm BzLogi-Hungary-Bzaka on Zoltan Bay] .