Hungarian Catholic Mission

Famous Hungarians

Listing famous Hungarians is an enormous job, since there is no end of talent from the best in Hungary. Hungarians come from all walks of life and from all faiths. From engineering, medicine, literature, arts, music and business; Hungarians have improved the lives of their countrymen and the world. I have listed famous Hungarians, men and women that fall in this category. If you have other Hungarians you would like to list, please contact us. Listed in alphabetical order are the following. Please click on any of the names for more information.


Hungarian Catholic Mission



Ignacfulospemmelweis

Alexander Asbóth (Dec 18, 1810 – January 21, 1868). Alexander had many accomplishments. He was a colonel in the Hungarian Freedom fight of 1848-49, a marshal in the American Civil War and a US ambassador to Uruguay and Ar-gentina. As a civil engineer, Alexander prepared the city plan for Manhattan and designed Central Park.

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Oszkar Asboth

Oszkár Asbóth (March 31, 1881 – February 27, 1960) Aviation engineer often credited with the invention of the helicopter. He was a student of Tódor von Kármán, the Father of Supersonic Flight. In 1917, during World War I, Oszkár Asbóth, Tódor von Kármán, István Petróczy and Vilmos Zurovetz worked together on designing the helicopter. After many years of experimentation following the war, he built the Asbóth-helicopter. On September 9, 1928, witnessed by many foreign experts, his model AH 1 helicopter ascended from a standing position vertically to a great height for the first time in the world. Liptrot from the British Air Ministry, who travelled on the helicopter, wrote in a Journal of the Aeronautical Society in 1931: the Asboth-helicopter ascends vertically with a remarkable speed ... to any height where it can to float in air stationary for some time. It can be perfectly navigated and absolutely stable around all axes...

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Bela Bartok

Béla Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, music educator and member of the Hungarian Academy. After 1940, he lived in New York. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of ethnomusicology.

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Madeleine Forro Barnothy

Madeleine Forró Barnóthy (August 21, 1904 – March 1993). Astrophysicist, and pioneer in the study of Cosmic Radiation, Bio-Magnetism and Magnetic Therapy. First Woman to earn a doctorate in physics in Hungary! Barnothy studied in Budapest and Göttingen, Germany. From 1928 to 1948 Madeleine was a physics professor at the Budapest University. In 1948 she settled in the USA with Jenö Barnóthy, her husband and fellow scientist. Barnothy specialized in cosmic radiation, astro and nuclear physics and biomagnetism. She was the author of over 150 scientific papers and editor of the two-volume book Biological Effects of Magnetic Fields (1964). Already in 1964 Dr. Madeleine F. Barnóthy predicted that the magnetic field will in due time develop into a powerful new analytic and therapeutic tool of medicine. She was a member of numerous American and international scientific associations. Forró Barnóthy was a pioneer in the research of the phenomena of cosmic radiation, a prerequisite for conquering the universe.

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Donat Banki

Donát Bánki (June 6, 1859 – August 1, 1922). He was a Hungarian mechanical engineer and co-inventor of the carburetor and the Bánki-Csonka engine. Until 1893, there had been many problems with the ignition of petrol engines due to uneven mixing of gases. Most devices of the time could not produce the precise mixing proportions. The carburetor invented by Bánki and Csonka immediately eliminated these problems. Bánki and Csonka suggested that the fuel should be atomized into small particles and mixed with air in the right proportion before feeding it into the engine. This was the first carburetor in the world and ever since billions of engines, cars, powerboats, motorcycles and aircraft have used carburetors designed according to Bánki's and Csonka's theory.

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Laszlo Biro

László Bíró (September 29, 1899 – November 24, 1985) was an Inventor of the modern ballpoint pen. József László Bíró was born in Budapest and died in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He first studied medicine, but between 1921 and 1938, László was a journalist, sculptor, painter, art critic, stock broker, hypnotizer, race-car driver, car salesman and of course an inventor. Biró's most famous invention was the ballpoint pen. By 1938, he had patented it in over 100 countries. Finally in 1948 the Parker Company bought his patent. In the USA it became known as the BIRó PEN. His other important invention was the automatic gear shift In 1932, he traveled with his engineer friend Rigó from Budapest to Berlin (more than 1000 km = 625 mi) on a motorcycle with a sealed gear shift. General Motors bought his patent, just so the competition wouldn't be able to buy it.

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Ignac Fulop Semmelweis

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (July 1, 1818 – August 13, 1865). He was a physician, called by many in the field of medicine as “the savior of mothers.” Discovered the cause of puerperal (childbed) fever and introduced antisepsis into medical practice. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal, with mortality at 10%–35%. Under these procedures, the mortality rates in the first division dropped from 18.27 to 1.27 percent, and in March and August of 1848 no woman died in childbirth in his division. Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory.

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Janos Csonka

János Csonka (January 22, 1852 – October 27, 1939). The Szeged-born inventor was one of the most prominent figures in the history of Hungarian technology. Self-taught in many areas, he spoke Latin, German and French well. He went to Paris in 1874, where he studied the Lenoir-motor. Csonka constructed the first Hungarian gas motor in 1879 with tools and equipment devised by himself. In 1882 he built the blended fuel gas and petroleum motor as well He was the co-inventor of the carburetor with Donát Bánki, patented on February 13, 1893.

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Jozsef Dallos

József Dallos (January 7, 1905 – June 27, 1979) was a physician who invented the "Living Eye Impression Method" and developed the First Practical Contact Lenses. Dallos developed a molding technique using Negocol and Hominite - the first method to be used on the living eye to produce a successful contact lens. Dallos invented a glass-molding technique that allowed the lens to take on the characteristics of the sclerotic membrane. He made a copy of the eye’s top layer using a thin copperplate and molded the molten glass over its surface. In 1973, Dallos immigrated to London where he earned worldwide acclaim. George Nissel in London, Dallos’ brother-in-law, produced high quality lenses and Nissel laboratories still exists in England. Dallos was a real pioneer in scleral lenses and was one of the first to recognize and discuss internal or lenticular astigmatism.

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Krisztina Egerszegi

Krisztina Egerszegi (Aug. 16, 1974 - ) 5-time Olympic Gold Medalist: "Greatest Backstroke Swimmer of All Times. She is the Youngest Olympic Champion and only woman to win five gold medals in individual swimming events. Egerszegi was only 14 years old when she competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 1992, Egerszegi, by now a seasoned 18-year-old, won both backstroke events. She also entered and won the 400m individual medley, recording the fastest time since Petra Schneider's chemically augmented 1982 world record. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Egerszegi earned a bronze medal in the 400 m and then won the 200m backstroke to become only the second swimmer in history to win the same event three times. In 1996, Egerszegi did not enter the 100m backstroke; however her leadoff backstroke time in the medley relay, 1:01.15, was faster than the winning time in the 100m backstroke final.

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Jozsef Galamb

József Galamb (February 3, 1881 – December 4, 1955) was an engineer, born in Makó Hungary and died in Detroit, Michigan. József was an employee of the Ford Company who designed the famous Model-T car. He invented the planetary gearbox and the electrical ignition system (spark plug). At the same time, József designed the process for mass production of cars. The small Ford Company became a huge factory. In 19 years, they made 15 ˝ million Model-T cars. József Galamb also designed the Model-A car and the Fordson tractor.

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Mitzi Gaynor

Mitzi Gaynor (September 4, 1931) Legendary Actress / Singer / Dancer: Star of "South Pacific". Mitzi Gaynor has claimed to be descended from Hungarian nobility. The daughter of a ballerina, Gaynor made her own terpsichorean debut when she was barely a toddler; by age 12, she had joined the dancing chorus of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. In 1950, Gaynor was signed by 20th Century Fox as yet another potential Betty Grable replacement. She sang and danced her way quite prettily through such Technicolor confections as Golden Girl (1951, as Lotta Crabtree), Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952), and There's No Business like Show Business (1954). Mitzi Gaynor continued to be a major draw through the 80's on the nightclub and summer-musical circuit.

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Dennis Gabor

Dennis Gábor (June 5, 1900 – February 8, 1979). He was a Hungarian-British electrical engineer and inventor, awarded the Noble Prize in Physics in 1971 for his invention of holography. The father of the hologram was raised in Hungary and attended university in Germany and the United Kingdom. On January 1949, Dennis joined the Imperial College of Science & Technology in London, first as Reader in Electronics, and later as Professor of Applied Electron Physics. Dennis retired in 1967.

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Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gábor (February 6, 1917 - ). She is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress. She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She immigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that "exuded charm and grace". Her first movie role was as supporting actress in Lovely to Look At. She later acted in We're Not Married! And played one of her few leading roles in Moulin Rouge (1952), directed by John Huston, who described her as a "creditable" actress. Besides her film and television appearances, she is best known for having nine husbands, including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton.

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Peter Carl Goldmark

Peter Carl Goldmark (December 6, 1906 – December 7, 1977) Engineer and CBS Chief Scientist - Invented the Color Television, 33 1/3 LP Record, and the Electronic Video Recorder. Dr. Goldmark, responsible for over 160 inventions in his storied career, studied at the University of Vienna and from 1931–33 worked for a radio company in England. After immigrating to the United States in 1933, he worked as a construction engineer until joining the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1936. There he developed the first commercial color television system, which used a rotating three-color disk, and announced in 1940 that CBS had a marketable color television and broadcasted in New York. Later, Goldmark would achieve fame for the first electronic video recording system—the forerunner for the VCR in your home today. He became the chief engineer and President of CBS’s Laboratory in 1954. He also developed a scanning system used by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1966 to transmit photographs to earth from the moon.

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Andrew Grove

Andrew Grove (September 2, 1936 - ). He is a former president/CEO, Chairman of Intel, businessman, engineer, author and a pioneer in the semiconductor industry. Time’s Man of the Year of 1998. At the age of 20, Andy moved to the US from Hungary, where he finished his education. Within five years of graduation, he became CEO of Intel and was a pioneering figure in transforming the company into a giant. In July 1968, Dr. Grove participated in the founding of Intel Corporation. In 1979 he was named Chairman and CEO, and in May 1998 he relinquished his CEO title and remains Chairman of the Board. Dr. Grove has patented several semiconductor technologies and is the author of the book: “Only the Paranoid Survive.”

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Agoston Haraszty

Ágoston Haraszty (August 30, 1812 – July 6, 1869). He was a Hungarian aristocrat and founder of the American grape culture. ágoston is regarded by many as the true Father of California wines. In 1861, he imported over 100,000 grape vines to California in 1,400 varieties. Among his accomplishments was the introduction of the Zinfandel, Muscat and Tokaj grapes. In 1862, ágoston published a book entitled: Grape Culture, Wines and Wine Making. ágoston also invented an efficient gold refining process.

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Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay (January 23, 1964 - ). She is actress and a talented daughter of Jayne Mansfeild and Hungarian actor Mickey (Miklós) Hargitay. Now starring in "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit." Hargitay is also known to millions of viewers from her recurring role on ER as Dr. Greene's (Anthony Edwards) girlfriend Cynthia Hooper in the 1997-98 season of the top-rated show. She also gained notice as a cast regular in the sitcom: Can't Hurry Love, guest roles on NBC's Seinfeld, Ellen, Thirty something, Wiseguy, and In the Heat of the Night Hargitay was also seen in the made-for-television movies.

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Janos Irinyi

János Irinyi (May 18, 1817 – December 17, 1895) was a chemist and inventor of the noiseless and non-explosive match. He acquired his chemical knowledge at the Vienna Polytechnic. During one of his professor's experiments, he solved the puzzle of making silent matches. After long hours of experimentation he patented his invention of silent and non-explosive matches in 1836. In the heads of the matches he mixed phosphor with lead dioxide instead of calcium chlorate. Irinyi sold his invention to a manufacturer of matches and went for a study tour abroad. He was one of the most talented Hungarian chemists. He completely acquired the knowledge of the new chemistry developed in the spirit of A.L. Lavoisier. He contributed significantly to the development of the Hungarian professional terminology in chemistry.

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Anyos Jedlik

Ányos Jedlik (January 11, 1800 – December 13, 1895). He was an inventor, engineer, physicist, and Benedictine priest. ányos was also a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books. He is considered by Hungarians and Slovaks to be the unsung father of the dynamo and the electric motor. In 1827, Jedlik started experimenting with electromagnetic rotating devices which he called lightning-magnetic self-rotor and in 1828 demonstrated the first device. In 1829 he constructed the first rotating machine based on the electromagnetic impulse, which was the predecessor of the DC motor. He lectured at Benedictine schools up to 1839, then for 40 years at the Budapest University of Sciences department of physics-mechanics. He constructed a "single-pole electric starter", which exploited the principle of self-ignition. His machine was a unipolar generator with no brushes. With the single pole electric starter, he formulated the concept of the dynamo at least 6 years prior to Siemens and Wheatstone.

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Kalma Kando

Kálmán Kandó (July 10, 1869 – January 13, 1931) was a Hungarian engineer and a pioneer in the development of electric railway traction. He is the Father of Modern Electric Trains! In 1894, Kálmán Kandó developed high-voltage three phase alternating current motors and generators for electric locomotives. His work on railway electrification was done at the Ganz electric works in Budapest. He was the first who recognized that an electric train system can only be successful if it can use the electricity from public networks.

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Todor von Karman

Tódor (Theodore) von Kármán - (May 11, 1881 – May 7, 1963) Aerospace engineer and physicist. He is responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics, notably his work on supersonic and hypersonic airflow characterization. Also is the Father of the Supersonic Flight, and the founder of the aeronautical and the astronautically sciences. Developed first helicopter tethered to the ground that was able to maintain hovering flight. He was one of the creators of scientific fluid mechanics. He designed the first rocket to reach interstellar space.

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John Kemeny

John Kemény (May 31, 1926 – December 26, 1992) was a computer scientist, Mathematician, co-inventor of BASIC, Einstein's mathematical assistant, President of Dartmouth College and "Father of Micro computing." During his undergraduate days, he also worked on the Manhattan Project (the A bomb) in Los Alamos, NM. Dr. Kemény developed Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) in 1964, along with Thomas Kurtz. In the 1980s, they developed True BASIC, a more powerful version of BASIC that met ANSI and ISO standards.

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Sandor Korosi Csoma

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma (March 27, 1784 – April 11, 1842) was a linguist and ex-plorer. Studied oriental languages in Göttingen, Germany and set out on foot to Asia, to find the ancient homeland and origins of the Hungarians. During his travels starting in 1819, he reached India through Iran and Afghanistan. He spoke 20 languages and compiled a glossary of 16 European and Oriental languages. Suffering unimaginable privations, he lived and studied in lama monasteries and laid down the foundations of the Tibetan language. He emerged with the world's first Tibetan dictionary (containing 40,000 words) and grammar book which were published in an English edition in 1843. Tragically, on his fourth journey to Tibet, having at last obtained some information about the Yougar people (a race possibly related to the Magyars), he was fatally struck with malaria and died in Darjeeling.

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Estee Lauder

Estée Lauder - (July 1, 1908 – April 24, 2004). Cosmetic Queen! She was a founder of Estee Lauder Companies Inc. This company employs some 10,000 people around the world. As a business woman, Estée controls 45 percent of the cosmetics market in US department stores under well recognized brand names: Estee Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Origins, M.A.C., and Bobbi Brown essentials, Tommy Hilfiger, Jane, Donna Karan Cosmetics, Aveda, Stila, Jo Malone and Kate Spade! Estée Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Queens, New York, to Max and Rose (Schotz Rosenthal). She is a Hungarian immigrant with a French Catholic mother and Jewish father. She grew up in the Corona section of Queens, New Jersey. After 20 years of slow hard work in the cosmetics industry, Estée started her career by selling a face cream made by her Hungarian uncle. Estée later brought out her own Youth Dew scented bath oil, which was an enormous success in the 1950s and 1960s. Innovative, with a talent for adapting, marketing and promotion, she built up an estimated one billion dollar a year business.

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Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 - July 31, 1886). Franz was a renowned composer, pianists, conductor, and teacher. He also established the Hungarian Music Academy. Liszt became famous throughout Europe during the nineteenth century and was remember for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age and perhaps the greatest pianist of all time. Franz Liszt was the only contemporary whose music Richard Wagner gratefully acknowledged as an influence upon his own. His lasting fame was an alchemy of extraordinary digital ability -- the greatest in the history of keyboard playing -- an unmatched instinct for showmanship, and one of the most progressive musical imaginations of his time. Hailed by some as a visionary, reviled by others as a symbol of empty Romantic excess, Franz Liszt wrote his name across music history in a truly inimitable manner.

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Kati Marton

Kati Marton (February 3, 1949 - ) is a Hungarian-American author and journalist. Her career has included reporting for ABC News as a foreign correspondent and National Public Radio, where she started as a production assistant 1971 in her 20s, as well as print journalism and writing a number of books. Marton is currently a director and formerly chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization founded to monitor abuses against the press and promote press freedom around the world. She also serves on the board of directors of the International Rescue Committee, Human Rights Watch’s Europe-Central Asia Advisory Committee, the New America Foundation and the Central European University. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, P.E.N. International and the Author’s Guild.

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Joszef Cardinal Mindszenty

József Cardinal Mindszenty (March 29, 1892 — May 6, 1975). The highest Catholic official in Hungary convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Communist People's Court. He was a Cardinal and the head of the Roman Catholic Church as the Archbishop of Esztergom in Hungary. He became known as a steadfast supporter of Church freedom and opponent of communism and the brutal Stalinist persecution in his country. As a result, he was tortured and given a life sentence in a 1949 show trial that generated worldwide condemnation, including a United Nations resolution. Freed in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he was granted political asylum and lived in the U.S. embassy in Budapest for 15 years. He was finally allowed to leave the country in 1971. He died in exile in 1975 in Vienna, Austria.

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John Von Neumann

John von Neumann (Dec 28, 1903 - Feb 8, 1957) was a legendary mathematician, physicist, logician, and Computing Pioneer. He is the father of Binary Code and the Stored Program Computer that are the keys for modern computer programming, and game theory. Proposed Implosion and co-developed the Atomic Bomb. He built a solid framework for quantum mechanics, and he played a key role in the development of the U.S. ballistic missile program. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians in modern history. Von Neumann was a pioneer of the application of operator theory to quantum mechanics, in the development of functional analysis, a principal member of the Manhattan Project and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was a key figure in the development of game theory and the concepts of cellular automata, the universal constructor, and the digital computer. Along with Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, von Neumann worked out key steps in nuclear physics involved in thermonuclear reactions and the hydrogen bomb.

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Ferenc Pavlics

Ferenc Pavlics (February 3, 1928 - ). He is a mechanical engineer and developer for NASA's Apollo Lunar and Mars Rover programs. Frank initially worked as a mechanical engineer and researcher at the Armored Vehicle Arsenal in Detroit, Michigan and General Motors in California before working for NASA. He developed for NASA the first vehicle in history that traveled on extraterrestrial terrain; the moon rover, used on the Moon by the Apollo 11 expedition in 1969. The rover, known as Newcomer, was improved by NASA under Pavlics' direction, and landed on Mars in 1997 with the space probe named Trail finder.

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Eszter Pesci

Eszter Pécsi (March 8, 1898 – May 4, 1975) Structural Engineer - designer of the first reinforced-concrete skyscraper! She was a First woman who received a degree in engineering in Hungary (1920). Eszter Pecsi prepared the structural design for the indoor swimming pool on St. Margit Island (Budapest, Hungary), and the first iron-framed tall building of Budapest, the Hospital on Fiume út. In 1957 she fled Hungary and worked in Vienna, Austria for a year where she designed the city's first multi-level parking garage. From 1958 she lived and worked in New York. She was the structural designer of the first reinforced-concrete skyscraper (Hotel Americana) and two skyscrapers erected for the professors of Columbia University. For these three works, Pécsi received the year's best structural engineering design award from New York City. She developed a special method to prepare the site of the foundation for the skyscrapers along the Hudson River, for which she was named the best structural engineer of the year.

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Zsuzsa, Judit, and Zsofia Polgar

Zsuzsa (Susan), Judit (Judith), and Zsófia (Sofia) Polgár. The sisters are Chess Grand Masters and Olympic Gold Medalists. Judith has been called the Greatest Female Player of all Time! By the early 1980s, the Polgar chess factory had stepped up its output. Susan's two younger sisters, Zsofia and Judit, were next on the genius assembly line and in a few years the family would be ready to take the world of chess by storm. At fifteen, Susan was already the top-ranked female player in the world. At the 1985 New York Open, she caused a sensation by beating a grand master for the first time. By 1989, twelve year old Judit had a winning streak of eight competitions in a row and, at fourteen; Zsofia annihilated four grand masters for one of the greatest tournament results of all time. Susan is still a powerful presence at the chessboard.

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Miklos Porkolab

Miklos Porkolab (March 24, 1939 - ), Professor and Director of Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Department of Physics. Researcher in controlled fusion research, radio frequency heating of plasma, experimental studies of plasma turbulence, and basic plasma physics, including magnetic reconnection. Born in Budapest, left Hungary in 1956, shortly after the Hungarian uprising. Emigrated to Canada and finished High School at Vancouver College in 1958, and attended UBC in Vancouver where he graduated in Engineering Physics in 1963. Then he attended Stanford University in 1963 and received his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1967. Thereafter joined the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory where he rose to the position of Senior Research Physicist and Lecturer with the rank of Professor in the Astrophysical Sciences Department in 1975. While at Princeton University, Professor Porkolab carried out pioneering experimental research in the area of nonlinear wave-wave and wave-particle interactions, parametric instabilities and high power RF wave-plasma interactions in tokamak fusion plasmas. In 1977, he joined MIT as a professor in the Physics Department and since then he has led several pioneering experiments in radio frequency heating and noninductive current drive on the Versator II, and the Alcator C and C-Mod tokamaks. Professor Porkolab shared the 1984 American Physical Society Excellence in Plasma Research Award. In 2007 he was awarded The Karoly Simonyi Memorial Plaque and Prize by the Hungarian Nuclear Society. In 2009 he won the James Clerk Maxwell Prize of the American Physical Society. In 2010 he was awarded the Fusion Power Associates Distinguished Career Award. In 2013 Professor Porkolab was awarded the Hannes Alfvén Prize of the European Physical Society. In 2016, he was elected an External Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Physics Section.

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Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Pulitzer (April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. In 1864 he emigrated from Hungary to the United States. Pulitzer, a journalist, editor and pioneer of modern journalism, founded the Pulitzer Prize. The prizes originally endowed with a gift of $500,000 from Joseph Pulitzer, are highly esteemed and have been awarded since 1917. He organized a donation drive for the erection of the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York. The fund he started covers the expenses for the statue’s lighting even today.

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Tivadar Puskas

Tivadar Puskás (Sept 17, 1844 – March 16, 1893) Hungarian inventor, telephone pioneer and Thomas Edison's colleague. He was an inventor of the telephone exchange, Telephonograph (forerunner to radio) and Telephone News. Puskás was working on his idea for a telegraph exchange when Alexander Graham Bell co-invented the telephone. This led him to take a fresh look at his work and he decided to get in touch with the American inventor Thomas Edison. Puskás now began to concentrate on perfecting his scheme to build a telephone exchange. According to Edison, "Tivadar Puskás was the first person to suggest the idea of a telephone exchange". Puskás's idea finally became a reality in 1877 in Boston.

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Jessica Rakoczy

Jessica Rakoczy (April 14, 1977 - ). She is a Boxer - IBA Lightweight World Champion! Jessica excelled at all sports. As a high school athlete she competed in hockey, baseball, football, soccer, track and swimming. She was twice voted her school's athlete of the year. She began working at 13, and, with trouble at home, moved out at 15 and struggled at school. She was introduced to boxing at the age of 17. Here too she excelled. Shortly after starting her training, she fought competitively for the first time in the Ontario Championships and won the gold medal. She went pro two years later. She is the 1 ranked boxers in the world in her weight class.

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Maria Judith Remenyi

Maria Judith Reményi (born 1946 - ) Remenyi was born in Denmark and grew up in Hungary after her father was transferred to an army post. Maria and her family left Hungary in 1956 and settled in El Cerrito, California. Maria won the Miss USA contest in 1966 and became the second Californian to win the Miss USA title. In July she competed in the Miss Universe 1966 pageant, placing in the top fifteen.

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Anna M. Rosenberg

Anna M. Rosenberg - (June 19, 1902 – May 9, 1983). Anna’s accomplishments include holding distinguished positions in the US government. Anna was Assistant-Secretary of Defense under the Truman administration and was a key advisor for President Roosevelt on labor relation issues. Anna received a Medal of Freedom in 1945 and Medal of Merit in 1947. Anna is one of the first pioneering women to shatter the glass ceiling. Anna is a naturalized US citizen having moved from Hungary.

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Erno Rubik

Ernő Rubik (July 13, 1944 - ). Ernő is an inventor, architect and professor of architecture. He is best known for the invention of mechanical puzzles including Rubik's Cube (1974), Rubik's Magic, Rubik's Magic: Master Edition, Rubik's Snake and Rubik's 360. Enthusiasts of the cube have organized clubs, contests and world championships. The Rubik’s Cube has entered the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1983, he founded the Rubik Studio in Hungary tailored to furniture and games. In 1987, Doctor Rubik became professor with full tenure and three years later became the president of the Hungarian Engineering Academy (Magyar Mérnöki Akadémia).

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Monica Seles

Monica Seles (December 2, 1973 -) She is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She won the European junior championship at the age of ten. She moved to the United States in 1986, and in 1989 turned professional. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007. She won nine Grand Slam singles titles; winning eight of them while a citizen of Yugoslavia and one while a citizen of the United States.

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Charles Simonyi

Charles Simonyi (September 10, 1948 - ). Charles is a Hungarian computer software executive who, as head of Microsoft's application software group, oversaw the creation of Microsoft's flagship office applications. In 2007, he became the fifth space tourist and the second Hungarian in space. Father of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) and Hungarian Notation. He moved to the United States in 1968. From 1972 to 1980, he worked at Xerox Corporations Palo Alto Research Center. Charles gained his American citizenship in 1982.

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Ingac Fulop Semmelweis

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (July 1, 1818 – August 13, 1865). He was a physician, called by many in the field of medicine as “the savior of mothers.” Discovered the cause of puerperal (childbed) fever and introduced antisepsis into medical practice. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal, with mortality at 10%–35%. Under these procedures, the mortality rates in the first division dropped from 18.27 to 1.27 percent, and in March and August of 1848 no woman died in childbirth in his division. Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory.

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Lili Steinchneider

Lili Steinschneider (January 13, 1891 – March 28, 1975). She was the first woman pilot of Hungary and, at the same time, of the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy. She decided to become a pilot at the international aviation contest which took place in Budapest during the summer of 1910. She studied aviation at Wienerneustadt. She received the Nr. 4 Aviation certificate on August 15, 1912. She was immediately hired by an Austrian aviation firm. She took part in various domestic and Austrian aviation contest and parades. Lili got married in 1914 and moved to her husband's residence in Czechia (Czech Republic). She lived a secluded life in the aftermath of Second World War in the South of France.

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Leo Szilard

Leo Szilárd (February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964). Physicist, biologist, co-developed the Atomic Bomb, patented the nuclear reactor, catalyst of the Manhattan Project. He was born in Budapest under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and died in La Jolla, California. Szilard first realized the potential use of nuclear fission in an atomic bomb, and worked with Fermi on the first nuclear reaction. His other ideas included the electron microscope, cyclotron, and linear accelerator. As an inventor, he even had numerous joint patents with Einstein. He proposed the term "breeder" to describe a nuclear reactor and holds a joint 1955 US patent on the nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi. In the spring of 1945, Szilard influenced a group of scientists to produce the Franck Report, which outlined the dangers of a nuclear arms race. The report advised against the use of an atomic bomb against Japanese civilians, advocating instead a non-combat demonstration.

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Maria Telkes

Mária Telkes (December 12, 1900 – December 2, 1996) a Hungarian-American physical chemist and engineer, she designed the first residential solar heating system. Developed the first thermoelectric power generator and thermoelectric refrigerator. A Pioneer of Solar Energy: "Mother of the Solar Home," The "Sun Queen," and world's most famous woman inventor in solar energy. Telkes is known for creating the first thermoelectric power generator in 1947 and the first thermoelectric refrigerator in 1953 using the principles of semiconductor thermoelectricity. She received the first Achievement award ever given by the Society of Women Engineers. In 1952 during her tenure at MIT, Maria was for her meritorious contributions to the utilization of solar energy. In addition, Dr. Telkes became known as one of the pioneers of solar energy usage when she received the Charles Greeley Abbot Award.

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Edward Teller

Edward Teller (January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003). He was a Nuclear physicist and key scientist in the development of the first atomic and hydrogen bombs. After attending schools in Budapest, Dr. Teller earned a degree in chemical engineering at the Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe. He then went to Munich and Leipzig to earn a Ph.D. in physical chemistry (1930). In 1935 Teller and his bride, went to the United States, where he taught at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Doctor Teller became a US citizen and joined Enrico Fermi’s team at the University of Chicago. Teller resolved to devote his energies to developing nuclear weapons. He was a member of the Manhattan Project scientific team, and took part in developing the nuclear chain reaction and the first atomic bomb. Dr. Teller was also known as the father of the hydrogen bomb (1952. He had an important part in the development of submarine torpe-does and the formulation of Star Wars (the United States missile defense system). Teller is strongly anticommunist and his scientific work regarding nuclear explosives significantly contributed to the United States’ peaceful victory of the Cold War.

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Adrienne Vittadini

Adrienne Vittadini (b. 1945, Budapest). She is a renowned fashion designer. When Adrienne was 12, her family fled Budapest during the 1956 Hungarian revolution. In 1979, she started what would become a multi-million dollar business as a hobby. The brand name Adrienne Vittadini is synonymous with designs that have a "Euro-American" point of view. She uses vibrant colors and prints and she is known for her clothing, handbags, swimsuits, shoes, and perfumes. Her company was purchased by Retail Brand Alliance in 2001. Adrienne was also ranked in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1992). Her designs are worn by Kim Basinger, Candice Bergen and Joan Lunden to name a few.

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Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny Weissmuller (June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984). He was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals in swimming and one bronze medal in water polo. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records. After his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Edgar Rice Burroughs's ape man Tarzan in films, a role he played in twelve motion pictures. Dozens of other actors have also played Tarzan, but Weissmuller is by far the best known. His character's distinctive, ululating Tarzan yell is still often used in films.

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Rachel Weisz

Rachel Weisz (March 7, 1971 - ), Actress and Model Film credits include: The Mummy, The Mummy II, and Enemy at the Gates, Stealing Beauty, Chain Reaction, and Swept from the Sea, Sunshine, and Beautiful Creatures. Rachel studied English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. She formed the Talking Tongues theater company and at 1991's Edinburgh Festival won a student drama award for a play she wrote and acted in. Her mother, Edith, is a Viennese-born psychotherapist (encouraged Rachel to try theatre). Her father, George, is a Hungarian-born inventor credited with inventing life-saving respiratory medical equipment.

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Eugene Wigner

Eugene Wigner (November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and mathematician. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles" A graduate of the Technical University of Berlin, Wigner worked as an assistant to Karl Weissenberg and Richard Becker at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, and David Hilbert at the University of Göttingen. Wigner and Hermann Weyl were responsible for introducing group theory into physics, particularly the theory of symmetry in physics. Along the way he performed ground-breaking work in pure mathematics, in which he authored a number of mathematical theorems. In particular, Wigner's theorem is a cornerstone in the mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics. He is also known for his research into the structure of the atomic nucleus. In 1930, Princeton University recruited Wigner, along with John von Neumann, and he moved to the United States.
Wigner participated in a meeting with Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein that resulted in the Einstein-Szilard letter, which prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to initiate the Manhattan Project to develop atomic bombs. Wigner was afraid that the German nuclear weapon project would develop an atomic bomb first. During the Manhattan Project, he led a team whose task was to design nuclear reactors to convert uranium into weapons grade plutonium. At the time, reactors existed only on paper, and no reactor had yet gone critical. Wigner was disappointed that DuPont was given responsibility for the detailed design of the reactors, not just their construction. He became Director of Research and Development at the Clinton Laboratory (now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) in early 1946, but became frustrated with bureaucratic interference by the Atomic Energy Commission, and returned to Princeton.
In the postwar period he served on a number of government bodies, including the National Bureau of Standards from 1947 to 1951, the mathematics panel of the National Research Council from 1951 to 1954, the physics panel of the National Science Foundation, and the influential General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1952 to 1957 and again from 1959 to 1964.
In later life, he became more philosophical, and published The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, his best-known work outside technical mathematics and physics.

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Adolph Zukor

Adolph Zukor (January 7, 1873 – June 10, 1976) - Founder of Paramount Pictures Empire and Leow's Theatres. He immigrated to the United States at age 16 in 1889. Zukor worked his way up to become a well-heeled Chicago furrier and, in 1903, teamed with Marcus Loew to open the first of a series of penny arcades. The business did very well, but soon he moved on to theatres. In 1914 he produced the first American made feature film, "The Prisoner of Zenda." Adolph received a special Academy Award in 1948 for his contributions to the industry.

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