Preface

This special issue of the scientific journal BIOLOGIA FUTURA on the topic evolution is dedicated to Professors Gábor Vida and Pál Venetianer, two eminent Hungarian researchers, who, at the time when the issue was initiated, celebrated their 85th birthday. Gábor Vida is an emeritus professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary, whereas Pál Venetianer is an emeritus professor at Biological Research Centre (BRC), Szeged, Hungary. Both professors are a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Gábor Vida from 1985, Pál Venetianer from 1987. They supervised and trained a young generation of Hungarian scientists, members of which made substantial contributions to the field of molecular evolution at both national and international levels.

Gábor Vida (born in March 24, 1935, Budapest, Hungary) received his university degree as a teacher in biology and chemistry, and then got his first scientific position as a research fellow at the Institute of Genetics, HAS (1961–1970). He next moved to the Institute of Botanical Research, HAS, as a group leader (1970–1973), then to the ELTE, where he became the head of the Department of Genetics (1973–2001). Just before becoming retired, he acted as a director at the Research Institute of Ecology and Botanics, Vácrátót (2004–2006). During his carrier he spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Leeds, UK.

Gábor Vida (Fig. 1) has had a strong multidisciplinary research interest, especially in the fields of botanics, systematics, genetics, evolution and conservation biology, and supervised numerous M.Sc and Ph.D. students in each of these areas. In addition, he trained several generations for loving, and performing high motivation to, research (many of the authors contributing to this special issue on evolution were strongly impressed and influenced by him). Personally, he was most interested in the evolution and systematics of ferns endemic to Hungary, and also contributed many other intriguing issues of evolutionary biology including, for example, the emergence of eukaryotes. At the ELTE, he was responsible for teaching curses of evolution and genetics, and he did this work at an extraordinary high level. During the 1980s, he edited and co-authored a book series in Hungarian language on the topic of evolution. Authors of chapters found in these books represented at that time the most outstanding researchers in the Hungarian research community on evolution. The first book of this series appeared in 1981, and from this date research on evolution in Hungary started to strengthen significantly. He is currently playing a central role in calling attention to threats of human activity on environment and societies.

Fig. 1

Gábor Vida, professor of genetics and evolution

Pál Venetiáner (born in April 15, 1935, Budapest, Hungary) also gained university degree at the ELTE as a teacher in biology and chemistry (Fig. 2). The major stages of his scientific carrier include a research fellow position at the Institute of Genetics, HAS (1957–1970), another research fellow position at National Institute of Health, Bethesda, US (1965–1966 and 1973–1974), and finally a group leader position at the Institute of Biochemistry, BRC (1970-). He became a fellow of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO, Heidelberg, Germany 1991), a member of the Academia Europaea, London, UK (1992), a member of the Leopoldina German Academy of Sciences (1993) and director of the BRC between 1994 and 1996.

Fig. 2

Pál Venetianer, professor of biochemistry and genetics

Venetianer Pál’s research efforts focused on biochemistry and molecular biology. Specifically, he discovered the enzyme protein disulfide isomerase, invented a method to isolate specific mRNA agents, and determined the number of rRNA genes in the Escherichia coli genome. His research group generated the first recombinant organism (a bacterial strain expressing human insulin) in Hungary. He had scientific publications in high standard journals, such as Nature, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, and Nucleic Acids Res. He also wrote several articles for dissemination to the public in Hungarian on DNA technology, and research and ethics. Many of his students run an excellent scientific carrier at different research fields. Thus, he supervised and influenced a new generation of Hungarian molecular biologists in the 1970–1980 s. Some of his works dealt with the role of specific mutations in evolution.

The authors of this issue celebrate their birthday by presenting some significant new trends of their research on evolution. On behalf of them, I wish Gábor and Pál good health and a similarly high ambition and commitment in their forthcoming life!