Pál Gombás (5.06.1909-17.05.1971) was a Hungarian theoretical physicist, a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1946) and its vice-president (1949-58). He was born in Selegszántó. He graduated from the University of Budapest (1933).
In 1938 — 39 he taught at the University of Budapest, in 1939 —40 he was professor at Szeged and in 1940—44 professor and director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Kolozsvár. From 1944 he was director of the Institute of Physics of the Technical University (Budapest), and from 1954 also director of the Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
His work was in atomic and nuclear physics and in quantum mechanics. He created a statistical theory of matter under high pressure, obtaining relations connecting the pressure and the density distribution, developed the method of the so-called pseudopotential, extended the statistical theory of the nucleus and studied atomic structures (he proposed several atomic models, in particular a statistical model of the atom which takes correlation into account and is more refined than its predecessors).
He founded a school of physicists. He was chairman of the R. Eötvös Physical Society.