He graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE TTK) as a research biologist in 1955. He began to study the structure of the central nervous system of vertebrates at the Szentágothai János Institute in Pécs in 1958 and since 1963 he has been studying the connections between and the development of the nervous network and the nervous system at Semmelweis University. Currently he is also teaching as a research professor. From 1980 he was a visiting professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York and since 1998 he has been a regular member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and of the European Academy. Between 1992 and1994 he was rector of Janus Pannonius University and between 1993 and 1994 he was chairman of the Hungarian Rectors' Conference. Between July 1998 and January 2000 he was the Minister of National Cultural Heritage. In 1999 he was president of the Scientific World Conference organised by UNESCO. From July 2000 he has been the president of the Hungarian Heritage Award Committee and since September 2001 he has been president of the Hungarian Department of the European Movement. In May 2002 he was chosen as the chairman of the Hungarian Committee of UNESCO. His main fields of research are the study of the synaptic structure in the subcortex centre of the visual system and the cerebellum, the study of the development of the nervous networks and the nervous system in general as well as the study of the plasticity of developing and developed nervous systems.