István Andrássy
1927-2012
Rev. 01/01/2020
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Professor Andrássy’s
international reputation emerges from his evolutionary approach to systematics
and his extensive research and taxonomic contributions in all major groups of
terrestrial and freshwater nematodes. Indeed, he can be considered the
originator of the current classification system applied to the Dorylaimida.
Dr. Andrássy has authored more
than 200 publications during his scientific career. He has produced several
publications each year since his formal retirement from the university and more
than 30 since achieving the age of 70! A remarkable measure of Dr. Andrássy’
productive career is his description of 530 taxa of nematodes. As a measure of
the respect with which he is held by nematologists throughout the world, at
least 39 taxa are named after him.
Among Hungarian biologists, Dr.
Andrássy is one of the most frequently cited in the international scientific
literature. Besides his voluminous contributions to nematode taxonomy and
systematics, he has had an enormous influence on soil and nematode ecology.
Probably his paper that is most frequently cited by ecologists is that in which
he provided a formula for calculation of the volume of nematodes, used in almost
every paper in which determinations of nematode biomass are made.
His 1984 book, Klasse
Nematoda, exercised major influence on the direction of nematode ecology in
that it bridged the gap between nematode taxonomy and soil ecology. It provided
a framework for many of the advances in nematode ecology of the 1980s, and later
that became the centerpiece of current directions in nematode faunal analysis
and the use of nematodes as bioindicators of community structure and ecosystem
services.
Dr. Andrássy was the
Editor-in-Chief of the Hungarian scientific journal Állattani Közleményekfor
40 years. He helped establish and, since 1956, has served as an editor of the
journal Opuscula Zoologica. He also was editor Acta Zoologica
Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae.
Professor Andrássy has been
recognized with many awards, including the restigious Huzella Prize in 1987, and
the Gelei Prize of the Hungarian Biological Society in 1998. Honorary Membership
of the Helminthological Society of the