LAUSR

George Olah was born on 22 May 1927, in Budapest, Hungary, to Julius Olah and Magda Krasznai. His early childhood was spent between the relative calm of the two great wars, and he benefitted from a strong education at the hands of Roman Catholic priests who ran his school. The curriculum emphasized humanities and included a rigorous study of Latin, French, and German along with history and literature. Olah remained deeply interested in these subjects throughout his life and was known to devour books in a single sitting. It was only after he graduated from high school, having survived the destruction brought on by the second World War, that he turned towards the sciences. He was fascinated by the great diversity of chemistry and enrolled in the Technical University of Budapest.