Description
At the meeting of the Hungarian Diet in Pozsony on 3 November 1825, Count István Széchenyi – one of the leaders of the Hungarian reform movement – donated one year’s income from his estates, amounting to 60,000 forints, to establish the Hungarian Learned Society. The founding of the Society was then later enacted by the Diet in Act XI of 1827. The Society, as the predecessor of today’s Hungarian Academy of Sciences, held its first meeting in Pozsony on 17 November 1830, at which it elected József Teleki as President and István Széchenyi as Vice-President, and appointed the first 23 full members. The Society quickly became a driving force in Hungary’s intellectual life, with its six sections organising competitions in various scientific fields and also publishing books. The name of the Society was changed to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1840.
