Zoltán Lajos Bay

Who was Zoltán Lajos Bay?

Zoltán Lajos Bay was a Hungarian physicist, professor, and engineer who developed microwave technology, including tungsten lamps. He was the first person to observe radar echoes from the Moon. From 1930, he worked at the University of Szeged as a professor of theoretical physics.

In 1923 at Tungsram Ltd., a research laboratory was established for improving light sources, mainly electric bulbs. The head of that laboratory was Ignácz Pfeiffer, whose research staff included Zoltán Bay, along with Tivadar Millner, Imre Bródy, György Szigeti, Ernő Winter, and many others.

György Szigeti worked together with Zoltán Bay on metal-vapor lamps and fluorescent light sources. They received a U.S. patent on "Electroluminescent light sources" which were made of silicon carbide; these light sources were the ancestors of light-emitting diodes.

In 1998 the State of Israel recognized him as among the Righteous Among the Nations and listed his name at Yad Vashem.