György Lajtha

He began his studies at the József Nádor Technical University in 1948. As a second-year student, he participated with his third year in compiling an applied mathematics example book.
When Károly Simonyi established the Department of Theoretical Electricity in 1952, he became involved in the work of the department: he participated, for example, in the compilation of the book Theoretical Electricity and in the creation of a measuring device for determining the magnitude of cosmic radiation. However, he could not stay with Simonyi after graduation.

In 1952, he was employed at the Electrical (Telegraph and Telephone Technology) Department of the Hungarian Postal Experimental Station (PKÁ) led by Szilárd Ocskay. (The successor institution of the PKA is the Hungarian Postal Experimental Institute, the PKI.). He first examined the stability of carrier frequency level control equipment, then became the head of the newly established Measurement Technology Group. One of their interesting tasks was the examination of the sound amplification equipment of the Népstadion, and then they dealt with various transmission technology problems. From 1964 – already as a department head – he was in charge of, among other things, the creation and development of signaling instruments, the development of new transmission and switching technology technologies, and the development of telecommunications networks.

In 1967, he spent two months on a scholarship in England, at British Telecom (BT), where he worked on the methodology of network design (Process Communication Model, PCM). He later used his experience with PCM transmission technology within PKI.

From 1974 to 1986, he was the deputy scientific director of the PKI. Together with his talented young colleagues, he wrote and edited several gap-filling textbooks. This period saw the spread of PCM technology, mobile telecommunications, and the preparation of light technology and the introduction of light telecommunications in Hungary.
In 1955, he first participated in organizing the PKI Days lecture series, of which he was a defining personality for 50 years. In 1986, he had to leave the PKI, but the then management of the Hungarian Post commissioned him to edit the sequel to the 1938 book 50 Years of the Postal Engineering Service (published in 1991).
He retired at the end of 1990, but continued to assist the work of the PKI as a scientific advisor.

He became a candidate of technical sciences in 1963, and a doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1975. From the 1960s, he taught at the BME's professional engineering courses and then at the Institute of Continuing Engineering. From 2003, he also taught at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Miskolc (ME). He was an honorary professor at the BME's Department of Telecommunications and Media Informatics.

From 1958, he participated, among others, in the meetings of the Telecommunications Development Department of the former socialist countries; from 1967, he was a member of the Consultative Committee for International Telephony and Telegraphy (technical) (CCITT), vice-chairman of the XVIth Study Committee of the CCITT (1976-1993), and member of the scientific committee of the Networks Network Planning Symposium (1978-2004).

From 1986 he participated in the work of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Scientific Qualification Committee, then the Doctoral Council; council member of the National Technical Development Committee (OMFB); chairman of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Telecommunications Systems Committee (1990-1994); member of the Kossuth and Széchenyi Prize Committee (1994-1999); representative of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences General Assembly (2001-2007).
He has been an honorary senator of the Hungarian Association of Telecommunications and Informatics (HTE) since 2009. He is an author, editor and then editor-in-chief of several domestic journals; he was the chairman of the editorial board of the journal Híradástechnika.

His awards: Pollák–Virág Prize (HTE, 1967, 1975); József Jáky Prize (Presidency of the Transport Science Association, 1977); Loránd Eötvös Prize (Minister of Industry and Trade, 1981); Tivadar Puskás Prize (HTE, 1981, 1990); BME Memorial Medal (1982); Békésy Memorial Medal (MTESZ Optical, Acoustic and Film Technology Association, OPAKFI, 1985); Mihailich Prize (BME, 1992); Széchenyi Prize (1992); Dénes Gábor Prize (Novofer Foundation, 2001); László Kozma Prize (BME, 2003); MTESZ Prize (Association of Technical and Natural Science Associations, MTESZ, 2005); Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civilian category) (2005); József Eötvös Wreath (MTA, 2006).