Laszlo Z. Bito
László Z. Bitó (born 7 September 1934, Budapest) is a physiologist and a writer. As a researcher he has developed a medicine for glaucoma. As a writer he writes novels and essays.
Biography
László Bitó was born in Budapest, Hungary. He was family was forced to leave Budapest during Communism. He served in a mine in Komló and became a local leader of the revolution in 1956. After the revolution was crushed by Russian forces he fled to the United States where he won a scholarship and became a physiologist.
Scientific career
In the United States László Bitó has built an academic career as an internationally-known professor of physiology. Most of his academic career is connected to Columbia University (where he Professor Emeritus of Ocular Physiology) and to University of Puerto Rico where he studied the change via ageing in the eyes of apes. The fruit of his research is Xalatan, the medicine for glaucoma that he has developed brought a fundamental change to the management of this blinding disease. He published more than 140 scientific papers and was awarded with the Proctor Medal (2004) and Columbia University Award for Distinguished Achievement (2004).
Writing
László Bitó gradually moved back to Hungary after the fall of Communism and started a new career as a writer. His first novels are based on his early personal memories of Hungarian history. Istenjárás (Quick Step) and Az Ötödik Lovas (The Fifth Horseman) were written in English but published only in Hungarian translations. His first novel which is based on Biblical stories, Abraham and Isaac brought him literary success in 1998. The book was translated to several languages and was staged in Budapest. The Teachings of Isaac and Isaac of Nazareth followed the philosophical ideas in Abraham and Isaac to a logical conclusion.
His most recent books are the work of an American citizen and a Hungarian patriot. Nekünk kell megváltanunk magunkat (We Must Be Our Own Saviors) is a selection of his newspaper and magazine articles and interviews. Eutalia – Euthanasia (Blissful Life - Peaceful Death) is a philosofical writer’s and a humanist medical researcher’s argument about dignity in life and death. Az utolsó mérföld (The Last Mile) written together with Polcz, Alaine, a Hungarian writer and founder of the Hungarian hospice service, is a book about preparing to die.
Books
Academic publications
- The Ocular and Cerebrospinal Fluids, with Davson H, Fenstermacher JD (Eds.),Academic Press, London, 1977.
- The Ocular Effects of Prostaglandins and Other Eicosanoids, with Stjernschantz J (Eds), Alan R. Liss, New York, 1989.
- Ocular Effects of Prostaglandins and Other Eicosanoids (Ed), Special Supplement based on the 9th International PG Symposium (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 12-13 May 1995) and the ARVO SIG Sessions on Latanoprost (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 22-23 April 1996). Survey of Ophthalmology Vol. 41, Suppl 2, 1997.
Novels
- Istenjárás, (Quick Step), Aura, 1994. (Translated from English by Árpád Göncz and Pál Békés) ISBN 963-7913-15-7
- Az ötödik lovas, (The Fifth Horseman), Aura, 1996. (Translated by Pál Békés) ISBN 963-7913-17-3
- Ábrahám és Izsák,(Abraham and Isaac), Magyar Könyvklub, 1998. ISBN 963-548-698-7 és Argumentum Kiadó, 2000. ISBN 963-446-158-1
- Izsák tanítása, (The Teachings of Isaac), Argumentum Kiadó, 2000. ISBN 963-446-131-X
- A Názáreti Izsák, (Isaac of Nazareth), Argumentum Kiadó, 2002. ISBN 963-446-208-1
Essays and collections
- Nekünk kell megváltanunk magunkat, (We must be our own saviors), Argumentum Kiadó, 2004. ISBN 963-446-288-X.
- Boldogabb élet - Jó halál, (Blissful Life - Peaceful Death), Anthenaeum 2000 Kiadó, 2005. ISBN 963-9471-82-8.
- Gáspár, Menyhért, Boldizsár, Karácsonyi ős-ökuménia, (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar), Ecumenical Chanuka and Christmas story with 30 fullpage color illustrations by Wanda Szyksznian, Jelenkor Kiadó, 2006. ISBN 963-676-409-3
- Az utolsó mérföld (The Last Mile) (with Polcz, Alaine), Jelenkor Kiadó, 2007. ISBN 9789636764180 (jó halál)