Thomas Cholnoky has received his honorary citizenship

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In 2016 the Senate of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics granted the title of Honorary Citizen of BME to Thomas Cholnoky. He earned special merits through support for the Civil Engineering and Architecture training.

The 94-year-old former professor of the Department of Structural Engineering lives in the United States, but his health has kept him from attending the award ceremony in the last two years. Thomas Cholnoky has managed the Dr. Imre Korányi Civil Engineering Scholarship with great enthusiasm since its foundation in 1986. He named the scholarship after the famous construction and structural engineer, a former professor and head of department of structural engineering. Each year the scholarship makes it possible for usually one young PhD academic of BME to conduct 8-10 months of research at one of the best engineering universities of the United States. To show their gratitude, some of the leaders of BME and the Civil Engineering Faculty, many of them former Korányi-scholarship receivers, decided to give the honorary citizenship award to Tamás Cholnoky in person, at a modest ceremony, organized near the home of the professor. The award was handed by the team of: János Józsa rector of the university, László Kollár vice-rector, László Dunai dean, Attila László Joó, Tamás Krámer and Tamás Lovas vice-deans.

 

 

Thomas Cholnoky graduated as an engineer from József Nádor University of Technology and Economics in 1945. From 1946 to 1948 he was an assistant professor at the I. Structural Engineering Department, teaching the Structural analysis subject. After the war he worked on the plans for rebuilding the Budapest South connective railway bridge and other structures. In 1949 he became a research engineer at the Laboratories du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics in Paris, where he studied mainly the vibration and plasticity of concrete. From 1950 he was a design engineer at D.B.Steinman (New York), where he worked on reinforced concrete arches and long-span suspension bridges. Between 1950-54 he was the chief engineer of large tidal docks and deep quay walls at F.R. Harris (New York). He also worked on projects for the U.S. Navy, eg. reinforced concrete deck modules of aircraft carriers, but his publications were restricted at the time.

In 1951 he obtained the New York state professional engineer license. From 1954 he has been the joint owner of the Sinjon, Inc. construction company. The main profile of the company is the construction and property management of family homes, residential buildings and office buildings. In 1986 he founded the Dr. Imre Korányi Scholarship, which he had managed personally until his daughter Lisa took this work over a few years ago. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through his outstanding and generous work Thomas Cholnoky has made a remarkable contribution to the advancement of the BME engineer training. The Korányi Scholars play an important role in the Hungarian civil engineering training and research. Many of the former receivers of the fellowship have since become professors and leaders of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics: among them 6 professors, 17 associate professors and 3 assistant professors are currently working at the faculties of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Natural Sciences; three of them are academics, four are MTA doctors, all of them holding a PhD. They play a major role in the leadership of the Faculty of Civil Engineering as well: a vice-rector, a dean, 4 vice-deans and 5 heads of department are former Korányi Scholarship receivers.

 

 

The 30 Korányi Scholarship receivers of the past 29 years:

Name, academic rank

Year

University

Current workplace

Tamás Balogh

candidate, PhD

1987

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Polivent Ltd.

István Bódi

PhD

1988

University of Texas

BME, associate professor

László Dunai

corresponding member of MTA

1989

Lehigh University

BME, professor, head of department, dean

László Kollár

full member of MTA

1990

Stanford University

BME, professor, vice-rector

János Lógó

doctor of MTA

1990

University of Michigan

BME, professor

Katalin Bagi

doctor of MTA

1991

Cornell University

BME, professor

Gábor Domokos

full member of MTA

1992

University of Maryland at College Park

BME, professor, head of department

István Sajtos

PhD

1992

Cornell University

BME, associate professor, head of department

Béla Csíki

PhD

1994

University of California at Berkeley

DCB Engineering Office, executive director

Klára Ledniczky

PhD

1996

University of California at San Diego

Strusoft Kft, design engineer

Balázs Vásárhelyi

PhD

1997

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BME, associate professor

Nándor Liegner

PhD

1998

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

BME, associate professor, head of department

Krisztián Hincz

PhD

2001

Weidlinger Associates Inc.

BME, associate professor

György Károlyi

doctor of MTA

2001

University of Arizona

BME, professor, vice-dean

Tamás Lovas

PhD

2001

The Ohio State University

BME, associate professor, vice-dean

Anita Szabó

PhD

2002

Stanford University

INNO-WATER Environmental Research and Services Inc., CEO

Gabriella Tarján

PhD

2002

Stanford University

BME, assistant professor

Sándor Ádány

PhD

2003

Johns Hopkins University

BME, associate professor, head of department

Róbert Németh

2004

Cornell University

BME, associate professor

Nauzika Kovács

PhD

2006

Georgia Institute of Technology

BME, associate professor

Péter Várkonyi

PhD

2006

Princeton University

BME, associate professor

László Gergely Vigh

PhD

2007

Stanford University

BME, associate professor

Piroska Zaletnyik

PhD

2008

The Ohio State University

BME, assistant professor

Tamás Krámer

PhD

2009

NOAA Great Lakes Research Laboratory

BME, associate professor, vice-dean

Attila László Joó

PhD

2010

Lehigh University

BME, associate professor, vice-dean

András Árpád Sipos

PhD

2010

Cornell University

BME, associate professor, vice-dean

Gábor Jakab

PhD

2011

University of California at San Diego

Michael Glatt Maschinenbau GmbH, Berechnungsingenieur

Dezső Hegyi

PhD

2012

California Institute of Technology

BME, associate professor

Sándor Baranya

PhD

2013

University of Iowa

BME, associate professor

Tímea Szabó

PhD

2014

University of Pennsylvania

BME, assistant professor

Ádám Zsarnóczay

PhD

2017

Stanford University

BME, research associate

 

He was a contemporary of the poet János Pilinszky, who dediacated a poem to Thomas Cholnoky:

 

Winter Sky

To Thomas Cholnoky

 

Over my head the stars above

are stirring frosty fires,

under the merciless grey sky

against the wall I recline.

 

Sadness trickles wavering

from my abandoned mouth.

What’s become of mother’s milk?

I’m besmirching my coat.

 

Like a stone, that’s what I am,

no matter what, just let it come.

I’ll be obedient, so good,

I’ll tumble on the floor dumb.

 

I deceive myself no more,

there’s no one to help me,

no redemption by any pain,

no god can protect me.

 

Nothing on earth can there be

simpler or ghastlier –

slowly coming towards me

biblical monsters appear.

 

Translation: N. Ullrich Katalin, source can be found here.