On a Roller Coaster. József Tóth and Hungarian Human Geography

The study attempts to place József Tóth in Hungarian human geography, and primarily seeks the answer to whether he had such an outstanding role that we can even talk about “The era of József Tóth”. In order to answer this question, the professor’s career is outlined in three approaches, as they basically determine whether someone can be called an epoch-making scientist. These are, in order, outstanding academic performance, managerial ambitions and aspirations and professional institutional background. József Tóth was undoubtedly an outstanding figure in Hungarian human geography, but he could not really give it the style he envisioned. The main reasons for this were lack of academic membership and of a leading position in a research institute.

Keywords: science, József Tóth, human geography, Hungarian Academy of Sciences