Gyula Prinz in Pécs

Abstract

Gyula Prinz (1882-1973) occupies a special place in Hungarian geography in several respects. Although not the most important of these, it is worth mentioning that as a professor, he was the one to teach in most universities and university towns. He became a professor at the Elizabeth University in Bratislava in March 1918. However, the disannexation of the city after the Treaty of Trianon meant that the institution remained outside the country's new borders, and it temporarily continued its work in Budapest, and Gyula Prinz carried on his professorship there. The University of Elizabeth moved to Pécs in 1923, and Professor Prinz also continued teaching here. However, in the autumn of 1940, another change took place: he moved from Pécs to Cluj-Napoca. He had barely warmed up there when four years later he resumed his work in Szeged and retired from there in 1958 at the age of 76.

The primary aim of this study is to present some aspects of Gyula Prinz's 17 years in Pécs. What we do not undertake at all is to present and evaluate the professor’s academic work, as Prinz's immense work not only covered geography, but he also dealt with, or at least touched upon many other fields of earth sciences. He can rightly be called the last Hungarian geo-polymath.