VARGA, József
* 8. 2. 1891, Budapest, Hungary
† 28. 12. 1956, Budapest, Hungary
Chemical engineer
V. began his career as a chemical engineer after graduation at the Technical University of Budapest. He explored the uses of bauxite in the manufacture of cement. Before World War I he participated in tests for increasing the use of known natural gas fields in Transylvania. In 1922 he became a professor of chemical engineering at Czech institution of higher education in Budapest, where he worked until his retirement in 1955. His work there was interrupted due to his political activism. In 1939 he worked as the secretary of state and later that year as a Minister for Industry until the arrival of Germans to Hungary.
From 1951 on, he managed the newly created Research Institute for high-pressure as director and in addition to that taught chemical engineering at the new University of Veszprém since 1952. Throughout his entire academic career he dealt primarily with natural gas. In 1938 he discovered the "Varga effect", named after him, which proved to be very important for the production of gasoline from coal. His hydro-crack method was crucial for obtaining petrol from the natural gas containing asphalt.
