ABSTRACT
Hungary is a Gerschenkronian ‘late late developer’ in most aspects of its economic and technological development. This statement, however, does not hold true for the area of science, where Hungarians have shown their capacity to engage into quality research at least since the beginning of the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century. The ‘General Commission for the Supervision of Science’ was created in 1795. It was the first advisory body solely created for the purpose of drafting science policy. The inflow of foreign capital and technology, in combination with the huge market, led the Hungarian economy to the take-off stage. Between 1867 and 1918 40% of the investments in the time span came from abroad, mostly from Austria. On the one hand Hungary’s development during the interwar era is often described as a time of stagnation. The educational system was not changed dramatically, in spite of the need to do so.
