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Emil Pásztor
Surg Neurol 1985;23:219-20
219
Emil P sztor
The twentieth century has, more than any other, seen the world shrink almost to Ariel's boast, "I'll put a girdle round the earth in 40 minutes." For widely separated scientists and surgeons, meeting, exchanging ideas, and collaborating in research and in the training of young men and women has never been so easy. International Address reprint requests to: Professor Lindsay Symon, Department of Neurological Surgery, The National Hospital, Queen Square, London WC IE 3BG, England.
¢c) 1985 by Elsevier Science PublishingCo., Inc.
neurosurgery has treasured such aims in the activities of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, the European Association, and the recently established link organization between Europe and Asia. It is to the great credit of neurological surgery that, in each country, there have been those prepared to spend time and effort to bridge distance or idealogical differences for scientific and humanitarian ends. One such person is Emil P~sztor, Director of the Institute of Neurosurgery in Budapest. Dr. P~sztor was born in Budapest on April 18, 1926, and graduated from the Semmelweis Medical University there in 1950. In the same year he entered the Neurosurgical Institute and came under the influence of one of the founders of Hungarian neurosurgery, Dr. Laszlo Zoltan. H e worked with Zoltan from that time forth. In 1971, he assumed the post of vice director of the Institute of Neurosurgery and, on Zoltan's death in 1975, he became director of the Institute. In 1977 he was appointed professor and chairman of Neurosurgery in the postgraduate medical school at Budapest. Throughout his formative years, Dr. P~.sztor had an intense and productive interest in neurosurgical research. H e has published over 140 papers, either alone or with his associates, and has spent periods of study in both clinical and laboratory research in Moscow, Oslo, and London. His publications have spanned experimental cerebrovascular research, aneurysm surgery, transphenoidal surgery, neurooncological topics, and hypothermia. Hungarian is a difficult language. The circle of the Carpathians that now encloses the proud Magyar could in many ways be a barrier to communication, for Hungarian has an affinity with few other European languages. Perhaps because of this, Emil P~sztor has led the way in his own country in the development of English and Russian as international means of communication. Eightyfive of his own scientific publications, together with a part of a book and one entire book, have been published both in Hungarian and in foreign languages. H e has taken a prominent part in the organization of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies and has for many years been vice president of that society, particularly concerned with the Eastern countries. Through him, friendships and contacts in the Soviet Union and 0090-2,019/85/S3.~,0
220
Surg Neurol 1985;23:219-20
in Bulgaria have been made available to Western neurosurgeons. H e has been recognized in his own country by his election as president o f the Hungarian Neurosurgical Society and as corresponding m e m b e r of the Hungarian Academy o f Sciences, a notable honor for a practicing clinician. Dr. P~sztor has been elected corresponding member in many international societies, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Scandinavian and Italian Neurosurgical Societies, and he has been a member of editorial boards of Surgical Neurology, Neurological
Research, Advances and Technical Standards in Neurosurgery~ Progress in Neurosurgical and Neurological Surgery, and Neurosurgical Reviews. H e is a vice president of the World Federation o f Neurosurgical Societies. These bald facts convey only an impression of a dedicated and hard-working clinical scientist and surgeon. Those who have been fortunate enough to know him, however, know the spiritual greatness that has sustained Emil P~sztor over the years. Perhaps the clearest indication of the thoughtful philosophy that has guided him was given in the Third European Lecture, which he presented to the European Association in Naples in April
Symon
1982. In this lecture he analyzed his views of the problems facing the neurosurgeon, as reflected in the neurosurgical personality and in his relationship to his art, his patients, and the future of his subject. Quoting from Hippocrates, he said, "Balance is essential to health, and imbalance creates, or is, disease." It is this balance in Dr. P~sztor--as he directs a busy institute and arranges for young men and women to travel to his friends in Europe and the United States--that his friends have come to admire. For those who know him, the richness of Dr. P~sztor's personal friendships is crystallized in a tablecloth that his wife Esther, a practicing psychiatrist he married in 1949, has embroidered. The tablecloth bears the signatures of neurosurgeons the world over who have enjoyed the hospitality of the P~sztor's flat in Budapest, a flat richly decorated with memorabilia from Dr. P~sztor's travels throughout the world. Dr. P~sztor and his wife have no children, but he is a father to the many young people who have passed through his institute and an affectionately admired friend to many neurosurgeons in all parts of the world. LINDSAY SYMON London, England
219
Emil P sztor
The twentieth century has, more than any other, seen the world shrink almost to Ariel's boast, "I'll put a girdle round the earth in 40 minutes." For widely separated scientists and surgeons, meeting, exchanging ideas, and collaborating in research and in the training of young men and women has never been so easy. International Address reprint requests to: Professor Lindsay Symon, Department of Neurological Surgery, The National Hospital, Queen Square, London WC IE 3BG, England.
¢c) 1985 by Elsevier Science PublishingCo., Inc.
neurosurgery has treasured such aims in the activities of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, the European Association, and the recently established link organization between Europe and Asia. It is to the great credit of neurological surgery that, in each country, there have been those prepared to spend time and effort to bridge distance or idealogical differences for scientific and humanitarian ends. One such person is Emil P~sztor, Director of the Institute of Neurosurgery in Budapest. Dr. P~sztor was born in Budapest on April 18, 1926, and graduated from the Semmelweis Medical University there in 1950. In the same year he entered the Neurosurgical Institute and came under the influence of one of the founders of Hungarian neurosurgery, Dr. Laszlo Zoltan. H e worked with Zoltan from that time forth. In 1971, he assumed the post of vice director of the Institute of Neurosurgery and, on Zoltan's death in 1975, he became director of the Institute. In 1977 he was appointed professor and chairman of Neurosurgery in the postgraduate medical school at Budapest. Throughout his formative years, Dr. P~.sztor had an intense and productive interest in neurosurgical research. H e has published over 140 papers, either alone or with his associates, and has spent periods of study in both clinical and laboratory research in Moscow, Oslo, and London. His publications have spanned experimental cerebrovascular research, aneurysm surgery, transphenoidal surgery, neurooncological topics, and hypothermia. Hungarian is a difficult language. The circle of the Carpathians that now encloses the proud Magyar could in many ways be a barrier to communication, for Hungarian has an affinity with few other European languages. Perhaps because of this, Emil P~sztor has led the way in his own country in the development of English and Russian as international means of communication. Eightyfive of his own scientific publications, together with a part of a book and one entire book, have been published both in Hungarian and in foreign languages. H e has taken a prominent part in the organization of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies and has for many years been vice president of that society, particularly concerned with the Eastern countries. Through him, friendships and contacts in the Soviet Union and 0090-2,019/85/S3.~,0
220
Surg Neurol 1985;23:219-20
in Bulgaria have been made available to Western neurosurgeons. H e has been recognized in his own country by his election as president o f the Hungarian Neurosurgical Society and as corresponding m e m b e r of the Hungarian Academy o f Sciences, a notable honor for a practicing clinician. Dr. P~sztor has been elected corresponding member in many international societies, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Scandinavian and Italian Neurosurgical Societies, and he has been a member of editorial boards of Surgical Neurology, Neurological
Research, Advances and Technical Standards in Neurosurgery~ Progress in Neurosurgical and Neurological Surgery, and Neurosurgical Reviews. H e is a vice president of the World Federation o f Neurosurgical Societies. These bald facts convey only an impression of a dedicated and hard-working clinical scientist and surgeon. Those who have been fortunate enough to know him, however, know the spiritual greatness that has sustained Emil P~sztor over the years. Perhaps the clearest indication of the thoughtful philosophy that has guided him was given in the Third European Lecture, which he presented to the European Association in Naples in April
Symon
1982. In this lecture he analyzed his views of the problems facing the neurosurgeon, as reflected in the neurosurgical personality and in his relationship to his art, his patients, and the future of his subject. Quoting from Hippocrates, he said, "Balance is essential to health, and imbalance creates, or is, disease." It is this balance in Dr. P~sztor--as he directs a busy institute and arranges for young men and women to travel to his friends in Europe and the United States--that his friends have come to admire. For those who know him, the richness of Dr. P~sztor's personal friendships is crystallized in a tablecloth that his wife Esther, a practicing psychiatrist he married in 1949, has embroidered. The tablecloth bears the signatures of neurosurgeons the world over who have enjoyed the hospitality of the P~sztor's flat in Budapest, a flat richly decorated with memorabilia from Dr. P~sztor's travels throughout the world. Dr. P~sztor and his wife have no children, but he is a father to the many young people who have passed through his institute and an affectionately admired friend to many neurosurgeons in all parts of the world. LINDSAY SYMON London, England