Eötvös Loránd University

"Budapest University" and "University of Budapest" redirect here. For other universities in Budapest, see List of universities in Hungary.

Eötvös Loránd University
Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem
Latin: Universitas Budapestinensis de Rolando Eötvös nominata
Established	1635 (1635)
Type	Public
Rector	Barna Mezey, Prof. Dr.
Admin. staff	1,500
Students	30,000
Location	Budapest, Hungary 47.4906°N 19.0585°E / 47.4906; 19.0585
Campus	Urban
Affiliations	EUA Coimbra Group Utrecht Network
Website	www.elte.hu

Eötvös Loránd University or ELTE, founded in 1635, is the largest university in Hungary. It is located in Budapest.

History

Seal of the University from 1880

The university was founded in 1635 in Nagyszombat, Kingdom of Hungary, (today Trnava, Slovakia) by the archbishop and theologian Péter Pázmány. Leadership was given over to the Jesuits. Initially the university only had two colleges (College of Arts and College of Theology). The College of Law was added in 1667 and the College of Medicine was started in 1769. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order, the university was moved to Buda (today part of Budapest) in 1777 in accordance with the intention of the founder. The university moved to its final location in Pest (now also part of Budapest) in 1784. The language of education was Latin until 1844, when Hungarian was introduced as an official language. Women have been allowed to enroll since 1895.

It was named University of Budapest (Hungarian: Budapesti Tudományegyetem) until 1921, when it was renamed Pázmány Péter University after its founder Péter Pázmány (not to be confused with Pázmány Péter Catholic University, a separate and more recent university). The Faculty of Science started its separate life in 1949. The university received its current name, Eötvös Loránd University, after the physicist Loránd Eötvös in 1950.

Today

Today Eötvös Loránd University has eight different faculties and more than 30,000 students. According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities – 2011, it was ranked as the best university in Hungary (301–400th in the complete list), along with the University of Szeged.

Faculties

Lágymányosi Campus of the University, home of the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Informatics

• Faculty of Law and Political Sciences (ÁJK)
• Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Education (BGGyK)
• Faculty of Humanities (BTK)
• Faculty of Informatics (IK)
• Faculty of Education and Psychology (PPK)
• Faculty of Social Sciences (TáTK)
• Faculty of Elementary and Nursery School Teachers' Training (TÓK)
• Faculty of Science (TTK)

Notable alumni

Nobel prize winners:

• Georg von Békésy, (bio-) physicist Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1961)
• Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1937), discoverer of Vitamin C
• John Harsanyi, Nobel Prize in Economics (1994)

Other notable alumni:

• Miklós Ajtai, Knuth Prize (2003)
• József Antall, Prime Minister of Hungary, 1990-1993
• Wilhelm Bacher
• Albert-László Barabási, physicist, concept of scale-free networks, C&C Prize (2008)
• Georg von Békésy,(bio-)physicist Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1961)
• Károly Bezdek
• Christine L. Borgman
• Zoltán Dörnyei
• Ahn Eak-tai
• Paul Erdős, mathematician
• Tamás Freund, neuro-scientist, one of three (Hungarian ) co-winners of the (first) Danish Brain Award 2011
• Laszlo Garai
• Peter G. Gyarmati
• Pál Schiller Harkai
• Ágnes Heller
• John Harsanyi, Nobel Prize in Economics (1994)
• Zsuzsanna Jakab
• László Kákosy
• László Kalmár, mathematician
• Karl Kerényi, co-founder of modern studies in Greek mythology
• Andras Kornai
• Radó von Kövesligethy, (astro-and geo-) physicist, Kövesligethy´s spectralequation (1885)
• Ferenc Krausz, physicist, founder of attophysics, director at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (2003)
• Miklós Laczkovich, mathematician
• László Lovász, mathematician, Knuth Prize (1999), Bolyai prize (2007), Kyoto prize (2010)
• Ioan Lupaş
• Iuliu Maniu
• László Mérő
• Péter Molnár
• Krisztina Morvai, lawyer and MEP
• Teodor Murăşanu
• Ádám Nádasdy
• John von Neumann,mathematician, inventor of the computer
• Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary, 1998–2002, 2010–
• Raphael Patai
• Ágoston Pável
• János Pach, mathematician
• Rózsa Péter, mathematician
• Karl Polanyi
• Michael Polanyi, polymath, father of John Polanyi (Nobel Prize winner in chemistry)
• Peter Pulay
• Michael Somogyi
• József Szájer
• Endre Szemerédi, Abel Prize (2012)
• Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1937), discoverer of Vitamin C
• Franz Tangl
• Éva Tardos, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Stephen Ullmann
• Ferenc A. Váli
• Sándor Wekerle, three-time prime minister
• Franz Wittmann, constructor of the Wittmann oscilloscope
• István Gyöngy, mathematician
• Van H. Vu, mathematician, Percey F. Smith Professor of Mathematics at Yale University

See also

• Utrecht Network
• List of universities in Hungary

External links

• Official website
• Eötvös Loránd University (list of faculties)
• ELTE Faculty of Science (description in English)
• ELTE Faculty of Humanities with information on admissions
• Its full history in Hungarian
• Academic Ranking of World Universities – 2005
• Pictures, sorted by faculties
• Site of Faculty of law
• Site of Faculty of Informatics