Dr Adorján Bartha was one of our most innovative veterinary researchers. He became world famous for his Aujeszky’s disease vaccine which he developed from the virus strain named after him. He was Hungary’s most successful practical virologist. In 1957 he introduced cell cultures into virology. Applying his virological and serological methods, he discovered new virus strains, identified diseases and developed vaccines.

A truly innovative and forward-looking researcher, most of his earlier observations were validated by DNA technology adopted decades later. His work was characterized by high efficiency. As early as in 1961, he announced the development of K/61; a new vaccine strain against Aujeszky’s disease. He was the first in the world to isolate thus far unidentified adenovirus serotypes in calves with pneumonia and enteritis, and made a combined inactivated vaccine against them. He also developed vaccines against various infectious diseases, such as Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis, adenovirus-induced egg drop syndrome (EDS) in chickens as well as canine parvovirus disease. He made his discoveries and achieved his successes with enviable ease.

Adorján Bartha was born in Porcsalma, in Hungary’s Nyírség region on 15 December, 1923. His father was a cantor-teacher. He completed his secondary education in the Protestant High School of Debrecen and the St. Ladislaus High School of Nagyvárad. He attained his diploma in 1949 and received his doctoral title in 1950 at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Agrarian Science. He worked as an assistant lecturer in the Institute of Infectious Diseases, followed by his service time in the Military Institute of Veterinary Care from 1951 to 1956. He defended his CSc dissertation in 1960. He was a creator of new schools of thought in science. He taught microbiology and epidemiology at the university while he helped research and doctoral students, co-authored textbooks and wrote university course materials as well as held over 100 further education presentations and other lectures. In 1975 he transferred to the Hungarian Academy of Science’s Research Institute for Animal Health, where he defended his DSc theses. Working as the director of the institute from 1991 to 1994, he became a corresponding member of the Academy in 1993. He received the Széchenyi Prize in recognition of his work. He passed away in Budapest in 1996, at the age of 73.