LOCZY, LAJOS

born Nov. 2, 1849, Poszony, Hung. died May 13, 1920, Balatonarcs Hungarian geologist who first scientifically described the mountains bordering the Tibetan Plateau that connect the Kunlun Mountains with the northsouth-oriented belt of mountains and gorges in central China. From 1877 to 1880 Lczy traveled through India and China as geologist to the expedition of Count Bla Szchenyi, which he described in his major work, Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Reise in Ostasien, mit B. Szchenyi (1899; The Scientific Results of the Expedition Through Eastern Asia with B. Szchenyi). In 1889 he became professor of geology at the University of Budapest and in 1908 director of the Hungarian Geological Institute. He completed geologic researches in China, Hungary, and, during World War I, Serbia. His research of the steppe formations of the Gobi (desert) and the northern Huang Ho (Yellow River) territory was very important. He also published a monograph on Lake Balaton, in Hungary, explaining the formations of the region. His posthumously published works include a new geologic map of pre-World War I Hungary and a book on the geology of west Serbia, which revolutionized the geologic map of Serbia.