Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered a heartfelt eulogy at the funeral of the chemist and Nobel laureate György "George" Oláh.
"He will be fondly remembered not only in the annals of science, but also in the book of great Hungarian patriots. He was a man of unbending character, who always followed his own path, and never allowed himself to be diverted from it," the prime minister said.
Oláh, who received the Corvin Chain and the Széchenyi Grand Prize from the Hungarian state, was laid to rest at Budapest’s Fiumei Street Cemetery on Tuesday.
“When he reached the pinnacle of scientific life and won the Nobel Prize, he responded to this worldwide recognition with a sense of proportion and humility befitting such a great character.
"At the height of his career he remained the same open-hearted and genial man who lived for his work and his family, and who searched for the eternal laws of the workings of the Universe with the unending curiosity possessed by the alchemists of old," the prime minister added.
“George A. Olah firmly entrusted his whole life to love, friendship and his calling," the prime minister said.
The prime minister said that Olah was one of an exclusive group of Hungarians whose lives and scientific careers mirrored the best qualities of the Hungarian nation, proving that only Hungarians’ talent, knowledge, vitality and will to live can help them to keep their heads above the surface in the world’s turbulent seas.