István Peák

After graduating from university, he taught at the Dunaújváros Metallurgical and Mechanical Engineering Technical School for half a year, then joined the Bolyai Institute of the József Attila University of Science (JATE) in Szeged, at the Department of Algebra and Number Theory. In 1966, he defended his PhD thesis entitled “Automata and Semigroups” in Kiev. Under the supervision of Professor László Kalmár, he was the topic manager for automata theory research.

In 1972, he headed the Mathematics-Statistics Department Group at the Salgótarján Branch of the College of Finance and Accounting (PSZF) as a college professor. From 1978, he worked at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Marx Károly University of Economics (MKKE), where he became the head of the Department of Computer Science from 1980. As a scientific advisor to the Department of General Computer Science of the Institute of Mathematics of ELTE, he also directed the work of the Automata Theory Research Group.

He was one of the initiators of the launch of domestic automata theory research. By the time of his death, he had published nearly fifty publications, mostly in world languages. His work “Introduction to the Theory of Automata,” co-written with Ferenc Gécseg, was published by the Akadémiai Kiadó in 1972. In 1984, he defended his academic doctoral dissertation entitled “Investigation of Automata with Semigroup Theory Tools.” In 1985, he was appointed a university professor. He was often invited to give lectures abroad (Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany).

He was a member of the Computer Science Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He participated in the work of ad hoc committees convened to examine the domestic situation of algebraic and computer science research. He was a member of the Bolyai János Mathematical Society, the Hungarian National Association of Theoretical Computer Science, the Scientific Information Society, and the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. He was a referee for the journals Mathematical Reviews and Zentralblatt für Mathematik.

Awards: Géza Grünwald Memorial Prize (Bolyai János Mathematical Society, 1965); Minister of Education Commendation (1975); Award for Excellent Work (1988); Certificate of Commendation from the National Presidency of the Hungarian Institute of Mathematics (1978, 1983).