Historian

1963-1967 Assistant editor of the leading historical periodical Századok.
1967- Researcher at the Institute of History of the HAS.
1972 Research fellow at the Institute of European History (Institut für Europäische Geschichte) in Mainz with a one-year scholarship. Further scholarships abroad (Germany, Austria, Italy, the Soviet Union, France, USA, United Kingdom), in the course of which he continues his research in the field of historiography, and cultural history.
1974-1989 Lecturer of the prime college History of Hungarian and European Historiography at the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University (visiting lecturer from 1974 and associate professor from 1976).
1975 Defends his PhD dissertation entitled Történetíró és politika. Szekfű, Steier, Thim, Miskolczy felfogása nemzetről és államról (Historiographer and Politics. The Views of Szekfű, Steier, Thim and Miskolczy on Nation and State) (Published in 1980 at Akadémiai Kiadó)
1976-1986 Founder and Head of the Department of the History of Historiography and Methodology at the Institute of History of the HAS. Initiated and participated in a series of lectures in this subject matter. He began the rehabilitation of “civic historiographers” as the editor of the series entitled Történetírók Tára (Omnibus of Historiographers) which has been published since 1979. (Including reprints of writings of Sándor Domanovszky, Gyula Szekfű, Henrik Marczali, Flóris Rómer, Arnold Ipolyi, Mátyás Bél, Mihály Horváth, Ervin Szabó and the Twentieth Century Group.)
1977 Delivers a commemorative speech at the lecturing session of the HAS with the title Domanovszky Sándor helye a magyar történettudományban, 1877-1955 (Sándor Domanovszky’s Role in Hungarian Historical Science, 1877-1955)
1978 Elaborates and publishes the principle concept of the Department of Modern Age Historical Museology and launches this new major at the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University (1979), with a special emphasis on the source criticism of material and oral remains, cultural history and the relationship of man and nature. He leads the training until 1989 and returns as lecturer and seminar teacher of the major in 1990.
1979- Founding editor-in-chief of the historical political periodical História. The editorials of various issues (whether of mixed or thematic content) take the trends and standpoints of Hungarian historiography under revision among others in matters of nationality and minorities, the church, multi-party system, the relationship of man and nature, global strategic issues. The periodical also includes articles about topics that were considered to be problematic in the Soviet era (the Trianon Peace Treaty, the Horthy era, the so-called blue ballot paper elections of 1947, nuclear power, the criticism of major nature transformation plans, social democracy, smallholders and agrarian workers, Christian democracy, the revolution of 1956 etc.) as well as topical issues of the world’s historiography (the history of the everyday life of people, the Third World, modernisation attempts of the genre of historiography etc.).
1980 Delivers one of the keynote speeches at the World Congress of Historians in Bucharest with the title Oral History and Source Criticism. At this Congress he is elected member of the directorate of the Subcommittee on The History of Historiography.
1983 Delivers keynote lecture at the commemorative session about Gyula Szekfű on the 100th anniversary of his birth with the title Szekfű Gyula. Nemzeti történetíró a forradalmak után (Gyula Szekfű. National historiographer after the revolutions). Prepares a screenplay entitled Szekfű Gyula életútja (The Life of Gyula Szekfű).
1985 Following the thematic issue of the periodical História on church history he organises the first forum of church and secular historians in Esztergom in cooperation with the catholic weekly Új Ember presided by Cardinal János Lékai. The discussion takes account of the situation and tasks of church historiography in Hungary.
1985 Leads a roundtable discussion at the World Congress of Historians in Stuttgart and delivers the keynote lecture about the publication of modern age sources and specific issues of modern age source criticism. He suggests that professional science should make use of new audiovisual methods in propagating information (films, radio plays, picture books etc.) and to extend the traditional level of preparedness in source criticism with gaining insight into the nature of non-written sources. Besides the use of new research methods he also urges thematic modernisation (as far as the history of technology, nature and society is concerned). He is elected Secretary General of the Committee of Modern Age Methodology and Source Criticism founded at the Stuttgart Congress.
1986-1988 Deputy Director of the Institute of History of the HAS.
1986-1989 Member of the National Council of Public Education as the representative of the historical museologist education.
1987 In his study Ember, természet és az új történetszemlélet (Man, Nature and the New Concept of History) he declares the programme of “bio-history” based on a holistic approach towards the ecosystem of the world, urging the elaboration of a new nature policy, primarily programmes for water management and environment protection.
1988 Acting Director of the Institute of History of the HAS.
1988 Compiles and edits a volume entitled Magyarok a Kárpát-medencében (Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin), in which he provides an overview of the history of the co-existence of Hungarians and non-Hungarians in the region from the time of Hungarian settlement until present times in the genre of chronicles. He also writes the chronology, the tenth summarising chapter.
1988-1990 Attended the re-publication of the works of Gyula Szekfű in cooperation with the Mæecénás Kiadó (Forradalom után; A magyar állam életrajza; Három nemzedék és ami utána következik; Hóman-Szekfű: Magyar történet) [After the Revolution; Curriculum vitae of the Hungarian State; Three Generations and their aftermath; Hóman-Szekfű; Hungarian History]. Writes a historiographic study to each volume.
1989 Obtains doctorate in historical sciences with his dissertation entitled Történettudomány, kultúrpolitika, társadalom, 1919-1948 (Historical science, cultural policy and society, 1919-1948)
1989-1990 Minister of Culture and Education in the second government of Miklós Németh. His measures with regard to historical science were the abolition of censure and drafting the Ministerial Decree 113/1989 regulating the freedom of research in archives based on Western models.
1989-1990 Edits the representative six-volume series of Hungarian historical science for the World Congress of Historians (Madrid, 1990), prepares the book drafts, writes forewords and introductory chapters.
1990- Founding Director of the Europe Institute Budapest, established with the support of private foundations and using German as a working language. The primary objectives of the foundation are: the promotion of European integration by organising conferences, granting postgraduate scholarships and publishing books in foreign languages. (The research organisation framework of the institute is based on the practice of the Institute of European History in Mainz and the Oxford University College. Apart from acknowledged German, Austrian and French scientists leading representatives of Hungarian social sciences participate in the Scientific Council of the institute.) The Europe Institute, which primarily has historical topics in the focus of its attention, is generally viewed as one of the most significant German-speaking scientific institutes apart from the ones in German-speaking countries
1991- Member of the international scientific advisory committee responsible for the monitoring of preparedness for internal problems of the European Union and its envisaged Eastern enlargement, the working of which is financed by Bertelsmann Foundation in close cooperation with the administration in Brussels. (He is invited and regular member of this committee and various European committees between 1991 and 2004 on a regular basis.) He proposes that Central and Eastern European minority issues should be treated according to international norms and suggests the elaboration of an acceptable code of conduct with regard to minority issues. As member of the Working Group “Eastern Enlargement of the EU” he draws up the proposal entitled A kisebbségi kérdés Közép-Európában tegnap és ma (The Minority Issue in Central Europe Yesterday and Today) and tables it at he Working Group’s meeting in Moscow in 1992.
1993 He is elected Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He is appointed Vice President of the Section of Philosophy and Historical Sciences, becomes President of the Section (1994-1996). - President of the Academic Council responsible for Hungarians living beyond the borders.
1993-1994 Leader of the working group that assists the elaboration of a plan of autonomy for Hungarians living in Voivodina in the framework of the Europe Institute Budapest following the principles of the “Code of Conduct” published in several languages in previous years. The compilers of the draft autonomy proposal present the document in 1994 in Becse (South Bačka) after his inauguration speech.
1994 Delivers inaugural lecture as a corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences with the title A trianoni Magyarország 1920-1994. Kontinuitás és diszkontinuitás (Hungary after the Trianon Peace Treaty 1920-1994. Continuity and Discontinuity).
1995 Delivers keynote speech at the conference of the Committee of Historiography at the World Congress of Historians (Montréal) with the title Politics and Historical Science in the Countries of the Soviet System.
1995 Compiles and edits the volume entitled A magyarok krónikája (The Chronicle of Hungarians), which presents the history of Hungarians and the Hungarian state in the genre of chronicles (including chronology, chronicle entries and illustrations). He prepares the chronology of Hungarians, the 16 summarising chapters from prehistoric ages until modern times and writes dozens of chronicle entries. The revised, extended versions of the book, which had been sold in ten thousands of copies, were published in 2000 and 2006.
1995 Initiator and editor of the book series Begegnungen, which publishes studies in the field of social sciences in German and English.
1995 His accomplishments as a historian and school founder are acknowledged by the Széchenyi Prize.
1996-2002 Elected President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for two subsequent periods (see below, in the chapter ’Public life’).
1997 He is awarded the International Herder Prize in recognition of his work accomplished in the field of methodological issues of historiography, the history of historiography and the history of minorities.
1999 Delivers keynote speech on the modern age history of Eastern European academies at the conference of European Academies organised on the anniversary of the founding of the Royal Prussian Academy. (The President of the French Academy speaks about the Western European scientific bodies.)
2001 Elected regular Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
2002- With the termination of his mandate as the President of the HAS he becomes Director of the Institute of History again.
2004 Member of the European group of lecturers participating in the first China-Europe Cultural Forum. The title of his presentation delivered at the Beijing Forum is Természeti, kulturális és politikai diverzitás a 20–21. században (Bio-, Cultural and Political Diversity in the 20th-21st Century)
2005 Delivers inaugural lecture as regular Member of HAS with the title Gaia-szemlélet és történetírás (Gaia Concept and Historiography).
2005 Elaborates a proposal as President of the Historical Committee of the HAS about the scientific programme of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He also leads the professional committee established for this specific purpose.
2006 Delivers keynote speech at the central scientific conference held on the occassion of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

Study trips

1972 (12 months) – Institute of European History, Mainz
- supported by: Federal Republic of Germany
- topic: Comparative analysis of the European historiography and cultural policy in the 19th and 20th century
1976 (3 months) – Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
- supported by: Austrian Academy of Sciences
- topic: The history of historiography in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; The Napoleonic Wars and Central Europe, 1809-1812
1977 (1 month) – Italian National Research Council, Rome
- supported by: Italian National Research Council
- topic: The Vatican’s role in the history of European historiography in the 19th and 20th century; Hungarian historians in Rome and the Vatican
1978 (8 months) – Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union
- supported by: Keldis Scholarship
- topic: New methodological trends in Russian and Soviet historical sciences; with special attention to demography, ethnography and the use of quantitative methods, basic principles of the ethnographic-historical school of Siberia and Tomsk
1980 (3 months) – French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris
- supported by: CNRS
- topic: Methodological innovations of the French historiography in the 19th and 20th century (The antecedents of the Revue de Synthèse Historique, Henri Berr and his circle and the Annales, as well as the relations of the French synthesising „new wave” to the German microsociology.)
1980 (1 month) – USA, Bloomington
- supported by: Indiana University
- topic: Historical basis of the new ethnic renaissance in the USA
1983 (3 months) – Institute of European History, Mainz, Munich
- supported by: Federal Republic of Germany
- topic: The development of modern age research and source criticism in Europe, 1867-1945; the European significance of the cultural and social history school of Leipzig and its French-English relations at the turn of the century
1984 (2 months) –Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
- supported by: Austrian Academy of Sciences
- topic: The revision and edition of documents prior to the redaction of the source publication entitled „Palatin Josephs Schriften. Vierter Band. 1809–1813” in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna
1986 (2 months) – Royal Academy of Sciences, London
- supported by: Royal Academy of Sciences
- topic: The history of the institutions and schools of English historiography in the 19th century, in particular positivism and the works of Thomas Buckle