[Tibor Péterfi, the founder of micromanipulation]

Tibor Péterfi (1883-1953) was an eminent and internationally renowned biologist. He made great advances in the field of experimental physiology focusing his cytological research on microscopic examination of living cells. For this task, he created a tool named micromanipulator basing the development of microsurgery and that of cell surgery as well. His histological and cytological researches took their beginning first in Kolozsvár/Cluj (then Hungary, now Romania), where he worked as an assistant of professor István Apáthy then in Budapest where he spent fruitful years under the tutorship of professor Mihály Lenhossék. His scientific career however was broken by the political persecution which followed the fall of the communist revolution in 1919. He emigrated and spent the following decades in Prague, in Jena, in Berlin and in Cambridge. The apogee however of his scientific career proved to be the period he spent in Istanbul as a guest professor of the local university. He returned home only after the war already mortally ill. His illness did not allow him to continue his activity any more. Present article evaluates Tibor Péterfi's scientific achievements based mostly on recent archival researches.