Hungarian Inventors of the 19th & 20th Century

It was John von Neumann who jokingly suggested that Hungary was a front for aliens from Mars. (This is analogous to Enrico Fermi’s answer to the question whether extraterrestrial beings exist: “Of course, they are already here among us: they just call themselves Hungarians.”)

The famous quote was attributed to “The Martians” who were a group of prominent scientists (mostly, but not exclusively physicists and mathematicians) who emigrated from Hungary to the United States in the early half of the 20th century.

The following is a brief summary of some of Hungary’s greatest inventors within the fields of science, mathematics and technology during the 19th and 20th century.

Béla Barényi

Béla Barényi is regarded as the father of passive safety in automobiles. Throughout his career as an engineer, he designed crumple zones, frontal pedestrian protection, multi-piece steering columns, protection against side impacts and many other advances towards automobiles.

Ladislo Biro

A Hungarian journalist, Ladislo Biro is accredited with inventing the first ballpoint pen. Working with his brother Georg, a chemist, he developed a new tip consisting of a ball that was free to turn in a socket, and as it turned it would pick up ink from a cartridge and then roll to deposit it on the paper.

Loránd Eötvös

While researching the changes of gravitation, Loránd Eötvös invented the torsion balance. As well, his law of capillarity (weak equivalence principle) served as a basis for Einstein’s theory of relativity. Representatives of the international scientific world regard him as one of the master of classical physics.

Paul Erdos

Paul Erdos was an influential and itinerant mathematician. He published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators. Erdos worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory.

József Galamb

A mechanical engineer by trait, József Galamb became the chief designer of The Ford Motor Company in the early 1900’s. He devised many of the parts of the famous Model T and the Fordson tractor. He is highly regarded as one of the greatest automobile engineers in history.

Theodore von Kármán

Theodor von Kármán holds an important position among the contributors to aerodynamic theory, particularly in the area of supersonic flight. Known as “the father of supersonic flight,” he made major contributions to aviation and space technology, theoretical aerodynamics, and the application of theory to improve aircraft performance. He also helped develop the use of rocketry for creating weapons of defence.

Kálmán Kandó

Kálmán Kandó developed high-voltage three phase alternating current motors and generators for electric locomotives. He is known as the father of the electric train. His work on railway electrification was done at the Ganz electric works in Budapest. He was the first who recognised that an electric train system can only be successful if it can use the electricity from public networks.

Heller László

Heller László is known for inventing a cooling system for power stations. The Heller–Forgó system solved an important problem at power stations by utilizing cooling water more efficiently. The system is known and used all over the world.

Ernõ Rubik

Ernõ Rubik is the inventor of the “Rubik’s Cube”, a three-dimensional puzzle that became a worldwide sensation in the early 1980s. Rubik became one of Hungary’s richest entrepreneurs and went on to develop more games and puzzles, including Rubik’s Revenge and Rubik’s Snake.

Leó Szilárd

Leó Szilárd is best known for his pioneering work in nuclear physics including conceiving how an atomic bomb might work. Szilárd was directly responsible for the creation of the Manhattan Project. He drafted a confidential letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt explaining the possibility of nuclear weapons, warning of Nazi work on such weapons and encouraging the development of a program which could result in their creation. Szilárd also participated in the opposition to the nuclear arms race in the postwar era.

Edward Teller

Described by one Nobel Prize winner in physics as “one of the most thoughtful statesmen of science,” and by another as “a danger to all that’s important,” Teller led a very controversial career. He was an early member of the Manhattan Project in which he developed the first atomic bombs.

Kálmán Tihanyi

One of the early pioneers of electronic television, Kálmán Tihanyi made significant contributions to the development of cathode ray tubes, which were bought and further developed by the Radio Corporation of America (later RCA), and German companies Loewe and Fernseh AG. He is also invented and designed the world’s first automatic pilotless aircraft in Great Britain.

Eugene Wigner

Eugene Wigner is accredited for having laid the foundation for the theory of symmetries in quantum mechanics as well as for his research into the structure of the atomic nucleus, and for his several mathematical theorems. Some contemporaries referred to Wigner as the Silent Genius and some even considered him the intellectual equal to Albert Einstein, though without his prominence. In 1963, Wigner received the Nobel Prize in Physics.

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Category: History