On 24 February 1997 a large assembly of colleagues, former students and friends from Hungary and abroad said farewell in Budapest to an eminent geoscientist. Lajos Stegena was particularly well known within the geothermal community for his outstanding and original contributions over the last few decades.
The scientific sphere of activity of Lajos Stegena, however, covered much more than geothermal studies. After graduating with a degree in engineering from Budapest Technical University in 1941 he worked for some time in seismics. In 1953 he developed a new geophone, tens of thousands of which were subsequently manufactured and exported. His first international textbook was also on seismic exploration (1977, with Roll Meissner). In the years to follow he published primer papers in magnetotellurics, which had obvious links to geothermal energy.
These works, including the first European report on Moho reflections generated by exploratory seismic sources and the discovery of the thinned crust under the Pannonian basin, led him to apply the plate tectonic theory to the Carpathian domain. Along with his studies of a more theoretical nature on the interrelation of seismicity and geothermal phenomena, paleotemperatures and basin evolution, and hydrothermal systems, he also devoted time to geothermal energy, and was just lately involved in the exploration and development of the high enthalpy resources of the Pannonian basin.
Parallel to this, he made significant contributions to cartography. In 1962, when eligible for academic promotion, the chair in cartography fell vacant at