KOVÁCS

HUNGARY (see also List of Individuals)

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24.9.1925 Budapest/H - 21.4.1988 Budapest/H

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György Kovács graduated from the Budapest University of Technology in 1947. He continued researches at the Hungarian water management service until being appointed professor. From 1969 to 1970 he worked for UNESCO in Kenya to coordinate activities in hydrology and hydrogeology in 34 countries. Until 1975 he was the Secretary General of the IAHS International Association of Hydrological Sciences, then promoted to its vice-president and elected in 1983 to president of IAHS for the next four years. He was also Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Kovacs passed away following a grave illness.

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Kovács fulfilled his multi-facetted professional work in Hungary and abroad with energy and perfection. In Hungary he retired as the Director General of the Research Centre for Water Resources Development VITUKI in 1985 to accept a position in Laxenburg, Austria, where he was responsible for the development of great river basins. His 270 publications demonstrate significant results in the hydrologic sciences. Kovács was particularly interested in the resistance dynamics of granular formations and fissured rocks, he worked on an unified approach for characterizing both steady and unsteady seepage flows, and he investigated the hydrology of subsurface waters with a special attention on the analysis of hydrogeological processes of the unsaturated zone. His most popular work is the 1981 book Seepage hydraulics. Kovács thus rendered to the hydrological society both in Hungary and internationally a great service and will be remembered particularly by IAHS.

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_{Anonymous (1971). New officers of IAHS. Bulletin IAHS 16(4): 98. P}

_{Stelczer, K. (1988). Dr. Kovács György (1925-1988). Vízügyi Közlemények 70(3): 448-450. P Hock, B., Kovács, G. (1987). A large international river: The Danube. A summary of hydrological conditions and water management problems in the Danube basin. Intl. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis: Laxenburg.}

_{Kienitz, G. (1998). György Kovács. Journal of Hydrological Sciences 33(5): 539-540. P}

_{Kovács, G. (1969). Seepage law for micro-seepage. 13 IAHR Congress Kyoto 4: 1-7.}

_{Kovács, G. (1971). Seepage through unsaturated porous media. 14 IAHR Congress 5: 449-456. Kovács, G. (1978). Mathematical modeling of groundwater flow. Budapest.}

_{Kovács, G. (1979). Practical applications to hydrodynamic models to assess groundwater resources. Budapest.}

_{Kovács, G. (1981). Seepage hydraulics. Elsevier: Amsterdam.}