István Chernel

Chernel was born in Kőszeg, son of the historian Kálmán from Chernelházi and Mária Tolnai Festetich from Tolna who both came from noble families.

[1] At school, he learned to skin birds from István Fászl and he recorded ornithological observations from the age of twelve.

Kálmán Chernel had an interest in natural history and in 1880, at the 21st meeting of Hungarian physicians and naturalists in Szombathely, he spoke on the migration of birds.

His sister Sarolta (1868–1953) married Baron Kálmán Miske (1860–1943) who was a museologist and a founder of the Vasvár County Museum.

After the death of Herman Otto, he headed the Hungarian ornithological centre from 1916 with Titusz Csörgey as a deputy director.