7_Book Reviews.indd


102 Book review section – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 68 (2019) (1) 93–101.Chronicle – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 68 (2019) (1) 102–103.

C H R O N I C L E

In memoriam György Várallyay (1935–2018)

On 2nd of December 2018 Hungarian soil science lost 
one of its most prominent and best-known repre-
sentatives, György Várallyay, agricultural engineer, 
soil scientist, university professor, ordinary member 
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, holder of the 
Széchenyi Prize. Remembering his contributions to 
earth and environmental sciences, his passing can 
be regarded a major loss to those disciplines, too. 

Following the example of his father, the agro-
chemist György Várallyay Sr. (1900–1954), György 
Várallyay Jr. began his studies at the Agricultural 
University of Gödöllő (now: Szent István University) 
in 1952. With a degree as agricultural engineer, he 
found a job at the Department of Soil Science of the 
National Institute for Quality Analysis in Agriculture 
(OMMI) in 1957. In 1960 he became research fel-
low at the Department of Utilization of Alkali 
Soils of the Research Institute for Soils Science and 
Agrochemistry (RISSAC), Hungarian Academy of 
Sciences. This is the Institute to which he remained 
faithful throughout his career. With his scientific re-
sults on the processes of the evolution of salt-affected 
soils, he contributed to the assessment of the envi-
ronmental impacts of the Tisza II Irrigation System 
and to the prevention of alkalisation of soils in the 
extensive areas where the irrigation scheme modified 
water availability and groundwater tables. 

He defended his university doctor’s dissertation 
at the University of Agriculture in Gödöllő in 1964 
and received the Candidate of Agricultural Sciences 
degree in 1968 for his investigations of salt accumu-
lation continued for the soils of the Danube Valley. 
Returning from a scholarship in the Netherlands, his 
interests turned towards soil physics and soil water 
management. In team work he elaborated up-to-date 
standards for soil physical and water management 
analyses, which were published as directives by the 
Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 1978. He en-
couraged and supported the AGROTOPO project, 
coordinated by the RISSAC, which was aimed at the 
compilation of a detailed soil database and mapping 
for Hungary at 1:100,000 scale.

In 1976 he was appointed head of the Department of 
Soil Sciences and in 1981 director of the whole Institute, 
which position he held for 26 years. His investigations 
focused on soil hydrology and his academic career 
continued with the following degrees: The Doctor of 
Agricultural Sciences in 1988, corresponding (1993) and 
ordinary member (1998) of the Hungarian Academy 

of Sciences, where he was the leader of various pro-
fessional commissions. At the international level, he 
was member of the International Union of Soil Science 
and president of its Commission VI between 1982 and 
1986, as well as president of the Hungarian Soil Science 
Society between 1990 and 1999. As university profes-
sor he was active in Gödöllő, Debrecen and Budapest. 
He also was titular professor at the University of West 
Hungary and the University of Debrecen. Listening 
to his enjoyable lectures, many students came to like 
soil science and soil hydrology – generally considered 
boring subjects by non-professionals. 

He spoke Russian at medium and English at high 
level and his language skills helped him build inter-
national contacts. Utilising his experience in the study 
of alkali soils in Hungary, he worked in Yemen and in 
1977 lectured in Egypt, at the Ain Shams University of 
Cairo, a huge institution of higher education, which 
has 170,000 students at 14 faculties now. In 2005 he 
retired as head of the Department of Soil Science, a 
unit of higher education which operated within the 
institutional frame of the RISSAC. 

As part of his international recognition, Professor 
Várallyay became member of the Slovakian 
Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He assisted in 
launching the academic career of numerous young 
scientists as editor-in-chief of the renowned profes-
sional journal Agrokémia és Talajtan [Agrochemistry 
and Soil Science]. In addition, for long years he was 
on the editorial boards of other journals in Hungary 
and abroad (Hidrológiai Közlöny, Acta Agronomica, 
Geoderma, International Agrophysics, Land Degradation 
and Rehabilitation, Soil Technology), too.

Over his almost six decades of acedemic career, 
György Várallyay published more than 550 scientific 
papers and – partly with co-authors – 23 books, cited 
more than 2,200 times worldwide. He actively influ-
enced Hungarian environmental policy as member of 
the National Board for Environmental Protection. In 
1997 he was decorated with the Medium Cross, Order 
of Merit of the Hungarian Republic, and in 2004 with 
the Széchenyi Prize. 

Some of his thoughts on soil fertility, degradation 
and water management will always resound in the 
ears of all who read his works and listened to his lec-
tures, which were based on a collection of hundreds 
of transparencies. Each of them presented some of 
the intricate interactions among soil characteristics 
in very clear form. For instance, the properties which 



103Book review section – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 68 (2019) (1) 93–101.Chronicle – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 68 (2019) (1) 102–103.

control soil resilience were shown in flow charts. He 
called the soil a reactor and transformer which in-
tegrates the combined influences of other natural 
resources and fulfills the ecological requirements of 
living organisms. For this reason, he always showed 
deep interest in the achievements of disciplines close-
ly related to soil science, including physical geogra-
phy and environmental sciences. 

He regularly visited the biannual conferences of 
landscape ecology and held interesting lectures there. 
Focusing on his favourite field of research, soil water 
budget, he emphasised the significance of soils for 
humankind – as we say today, in the provision of 
ecosystem services. He held that water storage is of 
special significance in the Carpathian Basin, an in-
creasingly water dependent region under the condi-
tions of global climate change. In recent decades he 
studied the impacts of extreme weather conditions 

on soils. He researched to what extent – through their 
high buffering capacity – soils can moderate environ-
mental stresses. 

He was deeply worried about soil degradation pro-
cesses (desiccation, alkalisation, acidification, erosion, 
compaction etc.) of both natural and anthropogenic 
origin. Among the mapping projects he took part in 
the preparation of the world map of soil degradation 
stands out. On every forum he called for soil conser-
vation and warned against the over-exploitation of 
the soil, a fundamental natural resource, a gene pool, 
part of the world heritage of humanity.

His co-workers and students and, in fact, every-
body who knew him personally will keep his infinite 
wisdom and cheerful, grandfather-like personality in 
good remembrance. 

Dénes LÓCZY