Budapest, June 3, 2002

On June 3, 2002, Szilveszter E. Vizi, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Elek Straub, Chairman-Chief Executive Officer of Matáv, signed a letter of intent regarding the launching of a joint program called University of All Knowledge from September 2002 by Matáv and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA).

Continuing the best Hungarian traditions of the dissemination of scientific knowledge and following French and Anglo-Saxon examples, from September 2002 Matáv and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences will launch a series of encyclopedic lectures.

The aim of the program initiated by Matáv is to give an overview and make available for interested audiences the highest-level scientific knowledge of our days. In the framework of the one-year program prominent scientists will present the most important questions of natural and social sciences. The approximately fifty lectures will be held in the IT building of the Budapest University of Technical and Economic Sciences.

The MTA has agreed to elaborate the themes of the lectures, choose the lecturers, construct and maintain the home pages of the lectures and to do the theoretical background work, as well. The lectures, including references to professional literature, and the necessary background materials will also be published on the Internet and the interactive part of the program will use the Internet for various forums and chats.

The lectures can be visited free of charge. A national television channel is expected to broadcast the lecture series.