László Kozma
Encyclopedia
László Kozma was a Hungarian electrical engineer, designer of the first Hungarian digital computer (1957), a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
.
Due to the regulations of numerus clausus
his application to the Budapest University of Technology
was rejected in 1921, and he started to work as an electrician. Between 1925 and 1930 he studied at the Brno University of Technology
, where he graduated as an electrical engineer in 1930, then was hired by the Antwerpen office of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company to design automated telephone switchboard
s and electromechanical computer
s. He moved back to Hungary in 1942, but in 1944 he was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp. He returned in August 1945 in a very poor physical state, then worked for a Hungarian electrical company, Standard Electrical Co. as designing engineer. He was arrested by the communist government in 1949, and sentenced to 15 years in the show trial called Standard Gate. He was rehabilitated and released from prison in 1954 and taught as a professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
between 1955 and 1972.
His main researches were in the field of automatization of telephone
technology, but he is more notable for the first Hungarian digital computer (called MESZ–1) what he designed and created between 1955 and 1957. He was a corresponding (1961), then a full member (1976) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
.
Due to the regulations of numerus clausus
Numerus clausus
Numerus clausus is one of many methods used to limit the number of students who may study at a university. In many cases, the goal of the numerus clausus is simply to limit the number of students to the maximum feasible in some particularly sought-after areas of studies.However, in some cases,...
his application to the Budapest University of Technology
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics , in hungarian abbreviated as BME, English official abbreviation BUTE, is the most significant University of Technology in Hungary and is also one of the oldest Institutes of Technology in the world, having been founded in 1782.-History:BME is...
was rejected in 1921, and he started to work as an electrician. Between 1925 and 1930 he studied at the Brno University of Technology
Brno University of Technology
Brno University of Technology is a university located in Brno, Czech Republic...
, where he graduated as an electrical engineer in 1930, then was hired by the Antwerpen office of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company to design automated telephone switchboard
Telephone switchboard
A switchboard was a device used to connect a group of telephones manually to one another or to an outside connection, within and between telephone exchanges or private branch exchanges . The user was typically known as an operator...
s and electromechanical computer
Analog computer
An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved...
s. He moved back to Hungary in 1942, but in 1944 he was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp. He returned in August 1945 in a very poor physical state, then worked for a Hungarian electrical company, Standard Electrical Co. as designing engineer. He was arrested by the communist government in 1949, and sentenced to 15 years in the show trial called Standard Gate. He was rehabilitated and released from prison in 1954 and taught as a professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics , in hungarian abbreviated as BME, English official abbreviation BUTE, is the most significant University of Technology in Hungary and is also one of the oldest Institutes of Technology in the world, having been founded in 1782.-History:BME is...
between 1955 and 1972.
His main researches were in the field of automatization of telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
technology, but he is more notable for the first Hungarian digital computer (called MESZ–1) what he designed and created between 1955 and 1957. He was a corresponding (1961), then a full member (1976) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
.
Works
- The new digital computer of the Polytechnical University, Budapest. in: Periodica Polytechnica 1959. 321–343.
- Távbeszélő technika I–II. [Telecommunication technologies.] Budapest, 1966–1967, 366 + 184 p. (with Béla Frajka)