The task of the society was specified as the development of the Hungarian language and the study and propagation of the sciences and the arts in Hungarian. Act XI of 1827 stated: "The voluntarily and freely donated capital in money shall be used to establish the Learned Society, that is, the Hungarian Academy."
A committee of the four founders and eleven writers and scholars worked out the bylaws of association, which the monarch endorsed in 1831, and the first "general assembly" of the Hungarian Learned Society convened on February 14, 1831.
In the 1860s, the Academy's activity was increasingly pervaded by the science policy principle, according to which the results achieved in the natural and engineering sciences abroad were to be adopted and the sciences "developed further to the best of our ability." Furthermore, the social sciences had to employ modern methods to explore and show the nation's historical past, past and present life conditions, changes in the economy, the processes of urbanization.
According to Act XL of 1994, the Academy is a scholarly public body founded on the principle of self-government, whose main task is the study of science, the publicizing of scientific achievements, and the aid and promotion of research. Its members are the academicians. The number of Hungarian academicians under the age of 70 years cannot exceed 200. The Academy, as a public body, is composed of academicians and other representatives of the sciences with an academic degree, who work to solve the tasks of Hungarian science, express their intention to become members of the public body and accept the duties it involves. They exercise their rights through their representatives. The general assembly is the supreme organ of this public body, which is composed of academicians and delegates representing the non-academician members of the public body. The 200 delegates are elected by secret ballot. The general assembly frames its own bylaws, determines its order of procedure and budget, elects its officers (president, vice-presidents, secretary-general, vice-secretary-general), the committees of the general assembly, and the elected members of the presidium.
As the bylaws stipulate, the Academy has eleven sections:
I. Linguistics and Literary Studies Section,
II. Philosophy and Historical Studies Section,
III. Mathematical Sciences Section,
IV. Agricultural Sciences Section,
V. Medical Sciences Section,
VI. Technical Sciences Section,
VII. Chemical Sciences Section,
VIII. Biological Sciences Section,
IX. Economics and Law Section,
X. Earth Sciences Section,
XI. Physical Sciences Section.
The sections operate committees corresponding to branches of scholarship and special fields of research. The Academy maintains research institutes and other institutions (libraries, archives, information systems, etc.) assisting their work, and extends aid to university research centers. The operation of research institutes is directed by the 30-member Council of Academic Research Centers with the assistance of three advisory boards. The Council of Doctors may confer the Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences title.
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