PÉCH

HUNGARY (see also List of Individuals)

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4.1.1829 Nagy-Várad/H - 17.11.1902 Budapest/H

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József Péch made civil engineering studies at the Polytechnic Schools of Vienna and Budapest and graduated at the latter in 1852. He started his career as an engineer collaborating to various river regulation works, such as for the Rivers Temes and Tisza in today's Hungary, and River Danube. From 1873 he was active with the canalization of River Béga and in 1879 participated in the rescue action of the town Szeged after the enormous Tisza flood. During the disastrous Danube flood in 1873, Péch lost one of his legs after having fallen into the river.

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The terrible floods in Hungary during the 1870s and the 1880s demonstrated that period and elevation of gauges as also the distribution and amount of both precipitation and discharge had to be recorded. As in other countries systematic observations on the hydrologic and hydraulic characteristics of certain catchments were initiated. The hydraulic service was at this time a department of the Ministry of Agriculture and directed by Jenő Kvassay (1850-1919). Péch was thus appointed director of the hydrographic department from 1887, the year he was also promoted to Technical Councilor. Like in other parts of the Austrian Empire, the observation of hydrographic characteristics was well developed, such as by Andreas Harlacher (1842-1890) in today's Czech Republic or by Richard Siedek (1859-1949) in Austria. Péch's particular interest was the flood prediction, an important issue for the large plains in Hungary where enormous discharges had brought destruction in the past. Péch was awarded the Order of the Iron Crown in 1895 by the Austrian Emperor for his services towards his country. Péch sponsored an Award at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for excellent research on small river regulation that was annually distributed.

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_{Anonymous (1902). Josef Péch, Leiter der hydrographischen Abtheilung der Wasserbau-Direktion im königlichen ungarischen Ackerbau-Ministerium. Österreichische Wochenschrift für den Öffentlichen Baudienst 8(50): 875-876. P}

_{Kresser, W. (1988). Entwicklung der hydrologischen Forschung im Donauraum. Wiener Mitteilung 74: 109-127.}

_{Lászlóffy, W. (1979). Péch és munkájának emlékezete. Vízügyi Közlemények 61(1): 108-115. P}

_{Péch, J. (1895). Wasserstandsprognose Studie über die Voraussagung der zu erwartenden Wasserstände. Ackerbauministerium: Budapest.}

_{Péch, J. (1897). Prévision des crues. Ministère de l'Agriculture: Budapest.}

_{Péch, J. (1898). Jaugeages en Hongrie. Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 68(3): 287-307. Szinnyei, J. (1905). Péch, József. Magyar Írók élete és munkái 10: 638-642. Budapest.}