Karcsi started at the Central Research Institute for Chemistry and had professional appointments in the UK and in Italy. At that time, Károly and his friend Árpád Somogyi came to Debrecen by train weekly to hold their university course on the topic of gas-phase ion chemistry for advanced chemistry students. We are three former students of Károly Vékey (known to friends and colleagues as Karcsi) with diverse backgrounds and ages but share one thing in common and it is the profound influence on our careers and our lives of having the opportunity to interact with Karcsi and to have him as a friend. During this period, PhD students from many different places attended Karcsi's lab, where late into the night, with varying degrees of success, we often tried to find the answers to the big questions in life. [Extracted from the article]