Perhaps the greatest Hungarian patron of natural sciences was Andor Semsey, born in Košice (1833-1923). He was mainly interested in mineralogy and geology and bought several minerals and mineral collections for the Hungarian National Museum and the Royal Hungarian Geological Institute. He supported Ottó Herman’s research, Loránd Eötvös’ gravitational experiments, and the professional work and international trips of geologists and geographers. In the field of mineralogy, he had a particularly good relationship with József Krenner (1839-1920), a mineralogist at the Natural History Department of the Hungarian National Museum. As a result of their fruitful cooperation, one of the most significant mineral collections in the world was created in the Hungarian National Museum by the beginning of the 20th century, which was unfortunately mostly destroyed during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Krenner discovered many new minerals, two of which he named after Andor Semsey: semseyite described in 1881 (Pb9Sb8S21) and andorite described in 1893 (AgPbSb3S6); both are located in Baia Sprie. Thus, Andor Semsey became the first person in the world whose surname and first name were both used in mineral naming.
In the picture: Portrait of Andor Semsey (1833-1923).