József Pálinkás is a Hungarian atomic physicist. He received his PhD in 1981 from Lajos Kossuth University of Debrecen.

From 1991 to 1996 he was the director of the ATOMKI, in 1995 he became a full professor and head of the Department of Physics at the Lajos Kossuth University of Debrecen.

From 1998 to 2001 Prof. Pálinkás served as Secretary of State and Minister in the Ministry of Education of Hungary.

Prof. Pálinkás is the member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and served as president of the Academy from 2008 to 2014. In this position he initiated and managed several important reform, and started several programs, among them the internationally known the Momentum Excellence Program

In 2015 he was appointed as president of the National Research, Development Office (NRDIO) of Hungary, which he initiated to set up. During his presidency until 2018 he built up the organization, worked out and managed its proper and transparent operation as a research funding organization.

Prof. Pálinkás is member of the Academia Europea. He was the vice-president of the European Academies Scientific Advisory Council, member of the Board of Science Europe, president of World Science Forum and represented the Hungarian Academy in many international organizations.

Prof. Pálinkás has authored or coauthored 985 scientific publications. He worked in several fields of experimental research: atomic and molecular physics, surface and plasma physics and particles physics.