Julius Csikai#
Obituary
, The Kecskemét Sun
Curriculum Vitae#
Education and Academic Degrees
- High-school: 1949 in Calvinist College Debrecen, Hungary
- M.Sc.: 1953 in Physics and Mathematics, Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary
- C.Sc. (Ph.D.): 1957 in Physics, Budapest, Hungary
- D.Sc.: 1966 in Physics, Budapest, Hungary
Appointments after Ph.D.
- 1956-1967 Head, Dept. of Neutron Physics of the Nuclear Research Institute of Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, Hungary
- 1965-1967 Deputy Director of ATOMKI
- 1967-1995 Head, Institute of Experimental Physics, Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary
- 1967-2000 Professor of Physics, Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary
- 1969-1971 Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary
- 1972-1975 Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary
- 1978-1980 Deputy Rector of the Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary
- 1981-1986 Rector of the Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary
- 1987. Deputy Minister of Culture and Education of Hungary
- 1993-2000 Ph.D. Program-director in Physics, Kossuth University , Debrecen, Hungary
- 2001-Professor Emeritus, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
- 2002-Professor Emeritus Instituti, ATOMKI, Debrecen, Hungary
Teaching Activities
Courses taught at the Kossuth University: Fundamental Physics. Nuclear Physics and Radioactivity. Trends in Physics. Neutron and Reactor Physics. Physics and Society. Structure of Matter. Supervised 28 university dr., 8 candidate and 14 Ph.D. dissertations (18 of them from the developing countries). The Neutron Physics Laboratory developed in close cooperation with the IAEA was a good base to accept Training Courses, Study Tours and scientific visits during many years organized by the Agency for participants from the developing countries. The Laboratory Manuals prepared for the Training Courses held in Debrecen for hundreds of participants were adopted in many developing countries in planning their nuclear oriented research and training programs using modest facilities.
Presented about 300 invited talks at universities, research and training centers, international conferences in 45 countries of Europe, Africa, USA, CIS, Asia, Central- and South-America and Canada. Expert of the International Atomic Energy Agency in several times in Morocco, Peru, Zambia, Viet-Nam, Cuba, Bangladesh, Sudan, Thailand, Nigeria, Myanmar and Bulgaria to help the countries in the upgrading of the nuclear oriented research and education with an emphasis on the development of Nuclear Analytical Laboratories based on neutron generators, X-ray fluorescence facilities (source, tube, accelerator excitations) and radiation measuring methods.
Research experiences
The special scientific fields are the low energy nuclear physics, neutron physics, applications of nuclear methods in science and technology (weak interactions, neutron gas physics, fast neutron reactions, low energy charged particle reactions, activation and prompt radiation analyses, X-ray fluorescence analysis, track-etched technique, neutron spectrometry, design and construction of low voltage neutron generators as well radiation measuring methods and facilities). Published more than 300 research and review papers, about 260 of them in refereed international journals. A part of these papers was co-authored with 113 scientists from 33 advanced and developing countries in addition to the 67 coworkers from Hungary. Six books and monographs were written, the major is “Handbook of Fast Neutron Generators” published in two volumes by the CRC Press Inc., (USA) in 1987. Research results are cited in more than 70 technical- and text books, 480 original papers and about 100 collected works (tables, data evaluations, etc.). The total number of citations are over 1800. For example, during five years between 2001 and 2005 52 scientists from 21 advanced and developing countries have published 36 research papers in international journals in collaboration with Csikai’s group which were based mainly on the facilities available in Debrecen.
Some outstanding results are as follows; 1) Photographic evidence for the existence of the neutrino (Nuovo Cimento, 1957): 2) Observation of (n,3He) reaction (Nucl. Physics, 1965); 3) Dependence of (n,2n) cross section on the symmetry parameter N-Z (Phys. Letters, 1966); 4) Observation of systematics in the cross sections of neutron induced reactions (Handbook of fast neutron generators, Vol. II. 1987); 5) Correlation between nuclear radii and binding energies for light nuclei (Phys. Letters, 1969); 6) Energy dependence of isomeric cross section ratio produced in neutron induced reactions (Nucl. Phys. 1963, 1965, 1968, Nejtronnaya Fizika 1974, Atomnaya Energiya 1985, Phys. Rev.C49 1994, C52 1995, C58 1998, C60 1999, Nucl. Sci. Eng. 1998); 7) The concept of the reflection cross section of thermal neutrons (Appl. Radiat. Isotopes, 1999); 8) Use of elastically backscattered neutrons in elemental analysis of bulk samples (Nucl. Instr. Methods A, 1999); 9) Applications of nuclear techniques to anti-personnel landmine identification (Appl. Radiat. Isotopes 2004); 10) Bulk hydrogen analysis using epithermal neutrons (J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chemistry, 2005, Appl. Radiat. Isotopes (2007)). Since 1968 supervised research contracts and agreements with the Nuclear Data Section and Physics Section of the IAEA in the following fields; a) Measurements and calculations of differential and integral neutron data; b) Production of long-lived isotopes relevant to nuclear fusion; c) Helium production cross sections; d) Development of a reference neutron activation library; e) Design and construction of neutron generator laboratories; f) Bulk media assay using neutrons; g) Development of nuclear techniques to landmine identification. In addition, a long-term contract with the Hungarian Research Fund on “Experimental and theoretical investigations on interactions of neutrons with matter“; Research Agreements and Collaboration with KFA Jülich (Germany), Tohoku University, Sendai, KEK Radiation Science Center, Tsukuba (Japan), WKU Applied Physics Institute (USA), BAS Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy (Bulgaria), Kiev State University (Ukraine), University of Cologne (Germany), EURATOM Geel (Belgium), IPPE, Obninsk (Russia), KRI St. Petersburg (Russia), Egyptian Nuclear Physics Association (Cairo), etc.
Honors and Responsibilities
- 1973-Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS)
- 1985-Ordinary Member of HAS
- 1982-Active Member of the New York Academy of Sciences
- 1991-Member of the Academia Europaea (London)
- 1981-1986 President of the Hungarian Physical Society (HPS)
- 1990-1999 Vice President of the Mathematics and Physics Section of HAS
- 1993-1996 Secretary of Commission on Nuclear Physics of IUPAP
- Fellow of European Physical Society
- Fellow of International Radiation Physics Society
- Fellow of International Nuclear Target Development Society
- Fellow of Hungarian Nuclear Society
- Editor of the Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Editor of J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. and Editor-Editor- in-Chief of Acta Physica et Chimica Debrecina up to 2007.
- Invitation to submit proposals for The Nobel Prize in Physics 11 times up till now.
