Heszky, Laszlo

Plant geneticist, biotechnologist

Dr Heszky is a professor at Szent István University, where he is Chair of the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding. Since 2004, he has been a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), of which he heads the Molecular Plant Breeding Research Group. He is the Hungary correspondent of the International Association of Plant Biotechnology, and56 of his 128 scientific publications have appeared in prestigious international periodicals. The co-author of five international books, for which he wrote his own chapters, Dr Heszky has also published three books on biotechnology in Hungarian. He was born in Győr in 1945 and is married to Judit Czakó, a language teacher, with whom he has three children: Krisztina (22), András (17) and Barnabás (15).

Transgenic Plants - a triumph for humankind, or a reason for fear?