2019 is the 100th anniversary year of the death of Roland Eötvös (in Hungarian Eötvös Loránd, 1848-1919), a pioneer of high precision gravitational physics, founding father of applied geophysics and innovator of higher education. This centenary is commemorated in association with UNESCO. Results by Roland Eötvös are still with us, both in capillarity (before 1880) and in various fields of gravity. The Eötvös rule, Eötvös constant, Eötvös number (all related to surface tension of liquids), as well as several gravity terms: the Eötvös torsion balance, Eötvös experiment, Eötvös parameter, Eötvös tensor, Eötvös effect, and the Eötvös (E) physical unit. Roland Eötvös was President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1889-1905), Rector of the leading Hungarian university (now: Eötvös Loránd University), Minister of Religion and Public Education. He was not only a great scientist (explorer of true and deep relations), he was also a great man: supporter of young talents, sports organizer, sportsman, and stereoscopic photographer.
Concomitant with the Budapest World Science Forum (WSF, November 20-23, 2019), in Budapest several exciting Eötvös 100 events will be organized.
On November 20, between 11:00 and 12:30 a WSF Special Session will take place in the Ceremony Hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, co-moderated by Kathryn Whaler, President of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, and Alik Ismail-Zadeh, Secretary of the International Science Council. Presentations will be about stereographic photos took by Roland Eötvös, and a recent re-measurement of the celebrated Eötvös experiment (demonstrating the Weak Equivalence Principle with a high precision). The event ends with a book launch: Eötvös’ most famous work (available until now only in German) has been published in a historical context both in English and in Hungarian.
On November 22, a temporary Eötvös 100 exhibition will be opened at ELTE University Library. On November 23, the Finals of the “Roland Eötvös Commemorative Competition” for high schools will take place at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. On November 26, The Roland Eötvös Memorial Album will be launched. On November 28, in the series „High School Students at the Academy”, “Eötvös 100” presentations will be held. The venue is again the Ceremony Hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The Eötvös 100 event series starts already with the conference “From Eötvös to Eötvös”, organized by ELTE BTK on November 19. The MBFSZ Roland Eötvös Memorial Collection is open in workdays of the WSF week.