Gyula Németh

Born Nov. 2, 1890, in Karcág. Hungarian Orientalist and Turkologist; member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1935; corresponding member, 1922). Professor of Turkic philology at the University of Budapest (1916–64).

Németh’s chief works concern Turkic philology and the early history of the Hungarians. His most important work, Formation of the Hungarians During the Era of Migration (1930), deals with the tribal composition of the Hungarians up to the end of the ninth century and the role of Turkic tribes in their ethnogenesis. He also wrote a series of works dealing with the historical geography of Hungary, the origins of the Turkic tribes, the decipherment of the Orkhon runic inscriptions, and the elucidation of the linguistic classification of the Huns.

Németh received the Kossuth Prize in 1948. He is a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1954), the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic (1955), and the Finno-Ugric Society in Helsinki (1931) and an honorary member of the Royal Asian Society in London (1956).