Renowned Hungarian Historian Passes Away

Széchenyi Prize-winning historian Mária Ormos passed away on December 8, in the 90th year of her life, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has announced.

A regular member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a professor emerita of the Department of Modern History at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Pécs, she was a renowned researcher of Hungarian and universal history of the 20th century.

Mária Ormos was born in Debrecen in 1930. She conducted her university studies in Debrecen and Budapest, and she graduated in 1952 in Debrecen as a teacher of history and Hungarian language and literature.

First, in 1953, she worked as an assistant professor at the Lajos Kossuth University in Debrecen, and then, from 1953 to 1957, she was assistant professor at the József Attila University in Szeged.

In 1957, she was removed from the institution by disciplinary action as she opposed retaliatory measures following the 1956 uprising and refused to testify against her colleagues. So, from 1957 to 1963, she worked as assistant archivist, elementary school teacher and then lexicon editor. From 1963 to 1982, he was a researcher at the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, then a senior fellow. Between 1984 and 1992, she was Rector of Janus Pannonius University of Pécs. She was Professor Emerita since 2001.

Mária Ormos’ research area ​ was the 20th century history of Europe and Hungary until 1945. PhD degree holder in 1968, Doctor of Science in 1980, she became a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1987, then in 1993, she became a regular member.

Her work has been recognized, among others, by the Széchenyi Prize and the Academy Prize.