26/05/2026
During the first 90 years of the High Voltage Laboratory, numerous distinguished university experts contributed to the laboratory’s development, professional achievements, and international recognition. Among the most influential figures of this exceptional professional community, we would like to present a few individuals, briefly outlining their work and roles in the laboratory's history. The second person in this series is another epoch-defining leader in the electrical industry, economic life, and academia: László Verebélÿ.
László Verebélÿ (1883–1959)
mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, university professor at the Technical University of Budapest,
Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering (from 1929), then of Power Systems (from 1931),
and head of the Department of Power System and Railways (1937–1959),
member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (from 1937),
president of the Hungarian Electrotechnical Association (1938–1941)
He obtained the first electrical engineering degree in Europe. A legendary lecturer, dean, rector, department head, outstanding educator, and author of many important textbooks. He founded the High Voltage Laboratory in 1936 at the Technical University's new Lágymányos campus, in the FE building on Budafoki Road.
He held legendary lectures in the AudMax hall, where female students sat in the first two rows, followed by two empty rows, and the technicians sat further back. During a long derivation at the board, he would suddenly stop, abandon the proof, put down the chalk, think for a moment, and then turn to the audience. “You are gentlemen, and so am I. The rest—please take on faith!” A surprised question from the audience: “Professor! Will you accept this proof at the exam as well?” Answer: “As long as neither your status nor mine changes, yes.”
He was an extremely strict director. If any problem arose in the departmental laboratories, the “Old Man” would always appear unexpectedly and take action. If he summoned someone, that person had to appear freshly shaved and wearing a tie. He invited new cohorts of students into his office, shook hands with them, and got to know each of them in a few minutes of conversation. During these talks, he would note a few words on the students’ departmental records. These notes remained as interesting mementoes of later colleagues in the department.
In 1949, at the establishment of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, almost all faculty departments were staffed with teaching assistants from Verebélÿ’s department, who were considered the best specialists. In later years, many of them became renowned professors of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.
In world affairs, he generally held firmly right-wing views. Yet in the 1950s, he argued to a close friend: “Neither you nor I can afford not to work with full strength for the electrification of the country, for supplying cities, villages, and industry. We must act now!”
Professor László Verebélÿ received, among other honours, the Kossuth Prize in 1953 and was forced into retirement from the Technical University in 1957.
