The library of Berzsenyi Dániel Gimnázium, Budapest grew by an extraordinary donation of books in 2003. Bookcases in the mathematics classroom of the school were filled with one thousand mathematical books and journals.
The donation came from György Berzsenyi, professor emeritus of the Rose-Hulman Institute, USA, who is a great-great-grandson of the famous poet Dániel Berzsenyi. He was born in Budapest, 1938, spent his childhood on the old family estate in Nikla, and went to high school in Csurgó. It was tight before the final examinations that he had to leave Hungary because of his activity in the anti-communist uprising of 1956. He started a new life in the United States on his own. That is where he graduated from university and that is when he changed his name to the maiden name of his mother. George Szent-Lászlói Vargha became Dr. George Berzsenyi. He taught at various universities for 32 years, but since he was nominated professor in 1981, he has devoted most of his energy to supporting talented students. He tried to introduce overseas the best Hungarian traditions, the spirit of competitions, the enthusiasm of Hungarian students and teachers and the exciting and unusual competition problems. But the greatest impression on him was made by KöMaL, the Mathematical and Physical Journal for Secondary Schools. He made a lot of effort to establish a similar periodical for young people in America. He was a member of the Committee of the U.S. Olympiad team for 12 years, he edited problem solving columns in several journals for 25 years, and he initiated the USA Mathematical Talent Search, which was modelled on the competition of KöMaL. He maintains a good personal relationship with the editors and with a lot of Hungarian mathematics teachers. What he is the most proud of is perhaps the Paul Erdős Award received from the International Association for Mathematics Competitions in 1996.
After retirement, professor Berzsenyi thought that the collection of books that he had accumulated over the years would be helpful for younger generations of similar interest in mathematics. Since his own children did not choose mathematics for a profession, he did not want to leave it to them. In addition, he felt he owed something to his beloved country, so he decided to donate his mathematical books to a Hungarian school. It was a truly remarkable decision. He chose Berzsenyi Dániel Gimnázium, Budapest. The school (bearing the name of his great-great-grandfather), which was founded 145 years ago, has had a special section of advanced mathematics for decades. It was not easy at all to organize the shipment of 36 large boxes containing a thousand volumes from Denver, Colorado to Hungary. He could not have managed it without the help of his wife Kay and the honorary Hungarian consulate general Jenő Megyesi. He arranged all details successfully with the headmaster László Somogyi, and the Berzsenyi library was transferred to the library of Berzsenyi.
From now on, mathematics teachers Dorottya Csonka and Péter Erben are in charge of the collection. There are volumes of journals that have been collected since 1920, books on the methodology of mathematics teaching and popular mathematics, as well as essential classics in various branches of mathematics (most of them unavailable in Hungarian), and books of mathematics problems. The computer database is operated by the librarian-teacher Erika Bondor. The books have been catalogued and classified by subject. The list will soon be available at http://berzsenyi.tvnet.hu/~sediqi in the section called The George Berzsenyi Mathematics Collection. It is going to take a little more time to produce a detailed catalogue of the books, but when it is done, it will be also possible to search in the database.
During the opening hours of the school library, students and teachers can read the books there. The collection provides an extraordinary opportunity of research for those who can visit Berzsenyi Gimnázium in Kárpát Street, Budapest.
Postscript: George Berzsenyi gave the name Dániel to the youngest of his four children. That was a good omen. Whether it happened by chance or not, Dániel Berzsenyi is now living in Hungary with his wife, he has learnt Hungarian, and his children speak without accent the language of their ancestor, one of the greatest Hungarian poets. At school, they will certainly be very good at Hungarian literature and, hopefully, mathematics $\text{...}$