Astronomical causes of climate change. Milanković–Bacsák cycle and the last ice age

György Bacsák, a Hungarian polyhistor, was born 150 years ago and died50 years ago. He played an important role in refining and further developingthe Milanković cycle. Milanković's theory describes the effect of changes inEarth's movements on the climate. The theory came from its creator, MilutinMilanković, a Serbian geophysicist and astronomer. The Serbian scientist wasimprisoned in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy during World War I as a citizenof a hostile state. He developed his theory in the library of the HungarianAcademy of Sciences. Understanding the essence of the theory, György Bacsákenjoyed the theoretical support of Milanković in the form of regularcorrespondence between 1938 and 1955. In total, György Bacsák wrote 56letters to Milutin Milanković, while the Serbian scholar wrote 10 letters,all of which can be found in the Library of the Hungarian Academy ofSciences. The language of the letters was German, since both Bacsák andMilanković spoke German fluently. Three articles from György Bacsák, fromthe year 1940, were published in the Magazine “Weather” and a part of hisbook “Earth’s history of the last 600,000 years” was published in 1944 bothof them were based on this letter exchange.