ABSTRACT
József Beszédes completed his university studies in Eger and Pest, graduating from the Pest Institutum Geometricum in 1813 as a civil engineer. In 1819, he also obtained the doctorate in philosophy. He started his practical activities at the Sárvíz Nádor Csatorna Water Board and continued working on drainage projects around the cities of Veszprém, Tolna, Komárom, Pozsony and Nyitra. From 1816, Beszédes directed the Sárvíz Water Board which led then to regulation works of the Sárvíz, the Sió and the Kapos Rivers until 1825. He integrated thereby uniform flood protection levees along the Danube River reach between Baja and Báta. The latter project served as the basis for the economical rise of the Sárköz Region. In 1827, Beszédes was also invited to design the railway line between Linz and Budweis in Austria and to drain its surroundings.
