Zoltán Nyitrai

He began his professional career in 1960 as a hardware developer at the Measurement and Computing Research Institute (Electronics Department, later MSZKI) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His first – and then significant – work was the design of the transistor printer unit of the multi-channel amplitude analyzer (operating with vacuum tubes) that was nearing completion. He subsequently participated in the development of additional units of multi-channel analyzers, and designed the ferrite ring reservoirs required for the given system.

During this time, he delved into the design of ferrite ring storage devices of various capacities and speeds, which were primarily used in KFKI computers and later multi-channel analyzers, but he also received several external assignments to produce special storage devices. At the same time, he developed the methods and tools for examining/testing ferrite ring storage devices. He earned a PhD degree in this field in 1983. He participated in several other research and development projects, including the development of testing tools for bubble memories.

In addition to his duties as group and department head, and deputy department head, he carried out his research and development work as a scientific associate, and from 1983 as a senior scientific associate.

Within the framework of the Halley–Vega space program, also underway at KFKI, they were asked to develop an image memory for the image transmission system, and to create an operational storage containing RAM and PROM fields with error correction for the processors of the orientation and image transmission systems. Both types of storage were successfully utilized in the flying specimens.

In 1991, he left KFKI to join CONTROLL (Electronics and Computing Co. Ltd.), where, in addition to his service manager duties, he also worked in quality assurance (ISO 9000) for a few years.

In 1994, he was invited by MEGAMICRO (Computer Development, Manufacturing, Service Co.) to lead a project (Emergency Warning System) to increase traffic safety, supported by OMFB, and to develop the system and the necessary tools, which ended with a successful one-year trial run when installed in buses.

His awards: Institute Award, 2nd degree (KFKI, 1972); Excellent Inventor, gold degree (MTA, 1974); Order of Labor Merit, bronze degree (Presidential Council of the Hungarian People's Republic, 1978); Excellent Inventor, gold degree (MTA, 1983); Order of Labor Merit, silver degree (Presidential Council of the Hungarian People's Republic, 1986).