Szabolcs Mészáros

senior research fellow

PhD (University of Szeged, 2010)

Habilitation (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 2024)

Biography:

My interest in astronomical spectroscopy started during my studies at the University of Szeged. As a predoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Simthsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), I was involved in determining the mass loss of red giant stars in star clusters, which required accurate theoretical modeling of the Hα line of hydrogen in the visible range. In 2010, I won my first postdoctoral fellowship to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in the Canary Islands to work in the APOGEE spectroscopic sky survey program, which started in the third phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). There, I specialized in high resolution stellar spectroscopy and the determination of atmospheric parameters and chemical composition of stars. I created the largest ever survey of the chemical composition of stars in globular clusters found in the halo of the Milky Way. I came back to Hungary in 2014, since then I have been developing theoretical stellar spectra for the APOGEE survey, and in the last couple of years on calibrating the first public data release (Summer of 2025) of the SDSS-V Milky Way Mapper high-resolution spectroscopic sky survey. The MTA-ELTE Lendület Milky Way research group under my leadership is working on creating the largest chemical map of our Galaxy ever in order to understand the evolution of the Milky Way. In collaboration with researchers at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), I created the latest edition of the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) official collection of theoretical stellar spectra, the largest such database ever created to flux calibrate the JWST.


PUBLICATIONS
120 refereed publications, 20400 citations, h-index 58

EDUCATION
2010 PhD. University of Szeged, supervisors: Dr. Andrea K. Dupree, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA, and Dr. József Vinkó, University of Szeged, Hungary
2004 MSc in Astronomy, Dr. József Vinkó, University of Szeged, Hungary

CURRENT POSITIONS
2021 – Principal Investigator, MTA-ELTE ‘Lendület’ Milky Way Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (hosted by Gothard Astrophysical Observatory, Eötvös Loránd University), Szombathely, Hungary
2019 – Senior research fellow, Gothard Astrophysical Observatory, Eötvös Loránd University, Szombathely, Hungary

GRANTS (AS SUPERVISOR)
2021 – 2026 “Chemical Mapping of the Milky Way”, Lendület (‘Momentum’) Programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
2020 – 2027 SDSS-V External Participant
2016 – 2020 "Galaktikus archeológia: a Tejútrendszer története a nagy égboltfelmérő programok korában", NKFI K-119517
2016 – 2019 Premium Postdoctoral Fellow, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (hosted by Gothard Astrophysical Observatory, Eötvös Loránd University
2015 – 2020 SDSS-IV External Participant

PREVIOUS POSITIONS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2022 János Bolyai memorial certificate, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
2019 – 2021 János Bolyai Research Scholarship, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
2020 The promising researcher of ELTE, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
2016 – 2019 Premium Postdoctoral Fellow, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (hosted by Gothard Astrophysical Observatory, Eötvös Loránd University), Szombathely, Hungary
2015 – 2016 János Bolyai Research Scholarship, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
2014 – 2016 Research fellow, Gothard Astrophysical Observatory, Eötvös Loránd University, Szombathely, Hungary
2013 – 2014 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Astronomy, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
2010 – 2013 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Canary Islands, Spain
2009 – 2010 Research fellow, Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

FELLOWSHIPS AS A STUDENT
2008 – 2009 PhD student, University of Szeged, supervisor: Dr. József Vinkó
2005 – 2008 Predoctoral Fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA
2004 – 2005 PhD student, University of Szeged, supervisor: Dr. József Vinkó
2003 National student competition in Astronomy, 1st place
2003 Summer student at the Space Telescope Science Institute, USA
2003 Pro Renovanda Cultura Hungariae alapítvány “Hallgatók a tudományért” award
1999 – 2004 Student of Astronomy, University of Szeged

Links to associated scientific database profiles:

• Publications in MTMT
• Publications in ORCID
• Publications in ResearcherID
• Publications in Scopus
• Publications in Google Scholar
• Publications in ui.adsabs.harvard.edu
• User profile at doktori.hu

Selected publications of recent years:

1. Mészáros et al. 2024, The updated BOSZ synthetic stellar spectral library, 2024, A&A, 688, 197, link: link
2. Almeida et al. 2023, The Eighteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: Targeting and First Spectra from SDSS-V, 2023, ApJS, 267, 44, link: link
3. Mészáros et al. 2021, Homogeneous analysis of globular clusters from the APOGEE survey with the BACCHUS code - III. ω Cen, 2021, MNRAS, 505, 1645, link: link
4. Mészáros et al. 2020, Homogeneous analysis of globular clusters from the APOGEE survey with the BACCHUS code - II. The Southern clusters and overview, 2020, MNRAS, 492, 1641, link: link