Izhak, Imre

His father, Gyula Izhak, taught geography and biology in Zalaegerszeg. His mother, Aranka Palfi, was a teacher of mathematics and physics.

Education

Izhak received his basic education in Zalaegersese. After his mother’s early death, he continued his studies at the Lower Real School in Keseg , where he was influenced by geography and science teacher Szilárd Zerinváry, who later became famous for his work on astronomy.

Thanks to his outstanding mathematical abilities, Izhak was sent to study at the Cadet Military Engineering School of Arthur Gorgei in Esztergom . Toward the end of World War II , his entire class of military cadets was brought to Germany , where he became a prisoner of war. In the fall of 1945 , after returning to the hometown of the prisoner of war, he entered the 6th grade of the Ferenc Deak High School (now Miklos Zrini High School). The following year, he simultaneously completed 7th and 8th grade with outstanding results and took 1st and 2nd place in national competitions in mathematics.

He received a bachelor 's degree in mathematics and physics from the University of the Arts and Sciences of Laurent Eatves in Budapest . While there, he lived at Etves College, a residential college for elite university students. During his second year of study, he published an article that caused controversy , since many could not believe that such a work on differential geometry was written by a young student. Visiting lectures of Istvan Feldes, he became interested in celestial mechanics . During his studies, Izhak worked as an assistant at the observatory founded by Miklos Konkoli-Teg . Izhak continued to work there after he received his diploma in the summer of 1951 . He worked at the observatory under the leadership of Laszlo Detre and Julia Balás .

In 1953 , he settled in the Sabadsagegi Observatory. He later taught at the University of Arts and Sciences in Szeged .

The study of celestial mechanics

Izhaka was primarily interested in celestial mechanics, in particular, the “ three-body problem ” and the “ gravitational problem of N bodies ”. He studied light emissions of quasars . After defending his doctoral dissertation and not paying attention to the idea that there are no unresolved issues in celestial mechanics, he returned to his favorite topic and began to work on calculating the trajectories of rockets and satellites. It was possible to carry out their calculations in practice only in the Soviet Union or the USA ; international relations in Hungary at that time were limited to rare conferences in the Soviet Union. Therefore, in November 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution , he took advantage of the openness of borders and emigrated to Austria .

Then he went to Switzerland , where the director of the Zurich Observatory offered him a position. He arrived in Zurich on January 9, 1957 . In April, he became a full-time researcher at the Institute of Solar Physics. In addition to his studies, he taught astronavigation and time measurement for students. He began to study English and became part of the international scientific community. His satellite orbit calculations brought him an invitation to work in Cincinnati , Ohio . Soon he became one of the most respected experts on this topic. He received a new offer for a position at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge , Massachusetts . It was the main institution for processing satellite orbital data in the United States . The work that he began at Cambridge in 1959 led to his greatest success. He had access to computers that performed much more accurate calculations. The pace of work was intense. He and his colleagues published one work after another, and expanded the scope of his work to the geodetic application of satellites.

The ultimate goal of his calculations was to determine the exact shape of the Earth, which, as has long been known, had a shape close to an ellipsoid of revolution. He used satellite orbit observations to calculate deviations from this shape. A classic problem of celestial mechanics is the calculation of the orbit of the moon, given the known mass distribution. He solved the inverse problem. He used a harmonious approximation in his calculations, that is, he underwent a restructuring of the Earth’s gravitational field with monopoles, dipoles, quadruples and the like, in a form that may not exactly match the shape of the Earth, but has exactly the same gravitational field. Izhak calculated that the shape of the equator is not an exact circle, but deviates to the side by about 400 m.

On June 1, 1961 , Izhak officially published his calculations of the shape of the Earth and its surface. They brought him to the center of scientific attention and quickly brought him international fame. Izhak received an invitation and lectured around the world. He continued to work hard, agreeing to write a college textbook on satellite motion while lecturing at Harvard University . As a confirmation of his accomplishments, Izhak was hired by NASA as the chief scientist.

Family and Death

Izhak married Emily Kuempel Brady, a teacher of English literature at Boston University , on June 7, 1962 . He became a U.S. citizen on February 24, 1964 . In the autumn of that year, his son Andrew was born.

In 1965, Izhak went to a conference on satellite geodesy in Paris , where he died in his hotel room from a heart attack on April 21 at the age of 36. Buried April 28 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• Izhak Crater on the Moon, 23.3 degrees south latitude, 117.1 degrees east longitude. (West of the twin craters of the Tsiolkovsky Farm on the other side of the moon).
• Asteroid 1546 Izhak . Discovered by Dyordem Kulin .
• In 2007, the Institute of Astrophysics named Imre Gyula Izsák Astrophysics Institute at the University of Arts and Sciences of Laurent Etves in Budapest was named in his honor.

• Magyar tudóslexikon A-tól Zs-ig. Főszerk. Nagy Ferenc. Budapest: Better; MTESZ; OMIKK. 1997. 407-408. o. ISBN 963-85433-5-3
• Deák Ferenc Megyei Könyvtár
• Izsák Imre születésnapján
• Izsák Imre a MAGYAR ÉLETRAJZI LEXIKON-ban
• Izsák Imréről
• Izsák Imre életrajza a Sulineten
• Fizikai Szemle cikk Izsák Imréről
• Bödők Zsigmond: Magyar feltalálók a repülés történetében: Izsák Imréről
• Az Izsák kráter a Holdon