80th Anniversary of Dr. rer. nat. Michal Džatko, PhD

Dr. Michael Dzatko, present honorary chairman of the working group "ecology focusing on soil protection" of the Working Community of Danube Countries celebrates his 80^th anniversary this year. General Secretary Peter de Martin congratulated Dr. Dzatko on the occasion of the last work meeting.
His curriculum vitae is closely related to the Working Community of Danube Countries and preserving soil protection. We sincerely gratulate.

Dr. rer. nat. Michal Džatko, PhD. was born on 1931-29-08 in Vranov upon Topľa. He completed secondary education and graduated in Prešov (1950). For political reasons, he could only study at Comenius University (Faculty of Natural Resources) in the years 1952-1955; he graduated in biology. In 1956, he began working as an assistant at the Institute of Biology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences; but in 1959, he was only allowed to teach in primary schools in Kúty, Kráľová at Senec and at the High School in Senec. From 1961 until now, he has been working at the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute in Bratislava. His professional activity at the Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Research Institute in Bratislava has always tended to address issues of conservation and sustainable use of soil resources and land. Later he devoted himself to detailed ecological land use and soil resources research with emphasis on the protection of the agricultural landscape. In this context of efforts and visions he has become an active investigator and has participated in the new system of land evaluation in Slovakia, including the assessment and utilization of production potential of soils in Slovakia. He has developed and published quite a large number of relevant proposals and documents to optimize use and protection of soils and landscape within the public policy relating to Regional Development of land use and protection in SR. From 1990-1991, he was Minister of Agriculture and Food of Slovakia, in 1991-1995 he served as Director of the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute in Bratislava. As Minister of Agriculture and Food of Slovakia, he pushed the establishment of the Slovak Academy of Agricultural Sciences. This Academy is semantically more significant than just a special guarantee for the accuracy of addressing issues of land and soil protection, use and environment for future generations. Dr. rer. nat. M. Džatko, PhD. is also an internationally recognized authority of natural sciences. For 20 years, he has been chairman of the "Working Community of Danube Countries" (ARGE Donauländer). Because this year he has declared his resignation, he has been honored as "honorary chairman for life".